No. 13 Iowa Not Looking Past FCS Power North Dakota State

They received more votes than teams like Boise State, Notre Dame and the team they beat, Iowa.

A 37-yard field goal by sophomore kicker Cam Pedersen as time expired gave North Dakota State a stunning 23-21 victory over No. 13 Iowa.

The Bison went for a 2-point conversion down 21-20 with 3:41 left, but couldn’t punch it in. Bison head coach Chris Klieman said Kuhnert may also see some action at guard, spelling either Zack Johnson at left guard or Jack Plankers at right guard. I thought I hit it well contact wise and I thought it was going to go in. North Dakota State isn’t just another Football Championship Subdivision team, though. After winning five straight national titles, they clearly weren’t intimidated by the moment or scared of the challenge down the stretch.

If NDSU’s defense could hold Iowa to 231 total yards, what are the Badgers or Wolverines going to be able to do?

“I thought if we got it into the fourth quarter – this is no disrespect to the University of Iowa – they hadn’t played in one of those yet”, Klieman said, “I thought that would be an advantage to us”.

Quarterback Easton Stick led the Bison to an 8-0 record while former star Carson Wentz was injured last season, throwing 13 touchdown passes with a completion percentage of 61.2.

“As an offense we preach: if we get the chance to end the game with the ball in our hands, we have to do it”. Armstrong converted a fourth-and-9r with a 14-yard pass to Jordan Westerkamp before taking off on his winning run for the Huskers (3-0).

Beathard completed just 11 of 22 passes for 152 yards with three touchdowns and an interception and the Hawkeyes – who rely heavily on a potent ground attack – managed just 34 net rushing yards on 25 carries.

“I’ll go out on a limb and predict this will be a really strong team, a really tough opponent for us”. Yeah, to an extent. This is our house, ” defensive tackle Nathan Bazata said. NDSU reach Iowa territory four times in the second half (TD, missed FG, TD, FG).

Today it was North Dakota State that dictated tempo all game long en route to one of the biggest victories in school history.

NDSU kept the game close all day. The Bison obviously are far from a run-of-the-mill FCS squad, and the Hawkeyes have plenty of company in a club that now includes six FBS programs who made the mistake of paying the Bison to visit. The Associated Press sent an E-mail to AP voters saying NDSU is eligible for the AP Poll, because so many voters asked if they could cast a ballot for the Bison. The Associated Press began allowing voters to put FCS schools on their ballots after Appalachian State stunned MI in 2007.

Klieman believed the fourth quarter, and thus the game, would go NDSU’s way. But a hold brought the play back.

“The bottom line is they have good players and are well-coached”, Hawkeyes coach Kirk Ferentz told reporters. The Hawkeyes won’t be overlooking anybody and should be able to overpower the Bison in the trenches.

“We came here to win”.

“I prefer it to be none”, he said.

Running back Mark Walton rushed for 130 yards and two touchdowns as the Hurricanes were largely smooth in their first road game of the season.

On the other side of the ball, the Bison played a classic game of power football.

You can call North Dakota State’s 23-21 win over No. 11 Iowa on Saturday an upset.

Iowa failed to move the ball forward on three plays and punted the ball back to the Bison with just less than 2 minutes left and one timeout.