North Dakota State rallies to beat Northern Iowa 31-28

UNI’s 435 yards of offense and three forced turnovers – two interceptions of Wentz and a recovery on a Wentz fumble – simply weren’t enough.

Bailey faked to Miller out of the backfield and sprinted around left end untouched for 83 yards and a 28-24 Panther lead with 7:31 left. Over and over, he said the loss could be analyzed, diced up and replayed hundreds of ways, but the fact is it was a great game in which the Bison made one more play than UNI did. A late offensive drive by the Bison with 35 seconds left in the game sealed their victory, extending its home winning streak to 26 games. Wentz linked up with Shepherd for his second touchdown of the game (18 yards), making the final score 31-28.

“We witnessed maybe one of the better games of the season”, Farley said. Jody has helped the WDAY sports staff earn numerous awards, including the 2015 MBJA Sevareid Award for Sportscast/Program for the team’s submission of “First Down Friday”.Jody said the highlight of his career, although it’s so tough to pick only one, was covering the 2011 LPGA U.S. Open in Colorado Springs, CO when Oxbow’s Amy Anderson held the lead as an 18-year old. “They played their tails off, and so did NDSU”. “I would put that one in the hurt category”. “Because when you battle like that, you know… that was not frustrating”. Panther quarterback Aaron Bailey is eighth in the league for passing yards with 132.8 per game. Rice was back on the field for the Bulldogs last week after sitting out with an injury and couldn’t find his rhythm, finishing 12-of-27 passes for 114 yards. Bailey had a big 29-yard run to set up the score.

The Panthers kicked things off early in the first half, scoring just over a minute into the first quarter. “It was our 60 guys against the building”.

UNI got the start it needed when Kollmorgen, making his first start of the season, hit Fountain on a 67-yard touchdown pass on the third play of the game. Fountain beat Bison cornerback C.J. Smith down the right sideline and carried it into the end zone.

Wentz had gone 143 pass attempts without an interception, setting a Bison record, before the Panthers picked him off twice. UNI scored when Michael Malloy dove over the top of NDSU’s defense on a fourth-and-goal from the 1 to give UNI a 14-3 lead with 9:20 left in the second quarter.

NDSU answered that touchdown with an 11-play, 70-yard drive that ended with Jeff Illies hauling in a 2-yard touchdown pass from Wentz with 3:53 left to halftime.

– Two plays later, Wentz completed a 7-yard pass to junior running back Chase Morlock to the Bison 44-yard line. His 40 pass attempts Saturday were the most by a Bison quarterback since Nick Mertens attempted 44 passes in 2009 loss against Northern Iowa at the Fargodome.

“Unfortunately we lost, but also appreciate that I respect this football team”, Farley said. “We don’t have to go back out there, do we?”