UPSET CITY: North Dakota St tops No. 13 Iowa on final play

Part of that risk-taking will involve forcing the ball through small windows as they target two of the most sure-handed receivers in college football – North Dakota State’s R.J. Urzendowski and Iowa’s Matt VandeBerg. And after they kicked a 37-yard field goal as time expired Saturday to beat No. 11 Iowa, 23-21, it didn’t even seem like that much of an upset.

The 13th-ranked Hawkeyes moved to 2-0 behind a defense that limited the Cyclones to 126 yards on the ground, 291 total yards and three points.

Iowa head coach Kirk Ferentz, while speaking on a conference call this week, said it’s stunning that NDSU won a national championship previous year despite not having the No. 2 pick in the NFL Draft (Carson Wentz) for most of the season.

“They’re no strangers to having success on the road, going into venues and playing well, ” Ferentz said. Five national championships in a row, that’s awfully impressive.

This was NDSU’s sixth consecutive win against FBS competition. Expect Kirk Ferentz to lean on the run early to wear down North Dakota State’s defense, loosening things up for his offense to hang more points in the second half than in the first. They know what it takes and they’ve got good players who are well coached.

“They play with fullbacks, multiple tight ends, run the ball, throw it”. Not with teams like the Bison, or UNI, or Illinois State. “So it’s a different kind of challenge for us”.

North Dakota State won’t be intimidated stepping into Kinnick Stadium.

Saturday will be a different game from the ones Iowa has played the first two weeks of the season.

“That’s a great football team we beat”, said Klieman, a native of Waterloo and a graduate of Northern Iowa.

The Bison offense is clearly the strength of the team, and it will be interesting to see how Iowa’s defense responds. North Dakota State allowed four TDs in five red-zone trips, escaping 50-44 in OT. Holding Iowa State to only a field goal while giving up 165 passing yards and 126 rushing yards.

Marty has become a tradition in recent years for gearing up Bison fans in Frisco, Texas during the championship games. Coach Chris Klieman’s team has used a rotation of four running backs at the onset of the 2016 season, opting to go with the hot hand. They’ve successfully avoided any slip-ups against inferior squads since the start of last season, and pride themselves on the fact they don’t take any teams lightly. “We don’t want anybody coming in here thinking that they can walk away with a ‘W.’ It’s our house and we’re prepared to do whatever it takes to protect it”.