North Dakota State has won five straight FCS national titles, and now, they've pulled off the second biggest FCS-FBS upset in college football history. The Bison became just the third FCS team to beat a top-13 FBS team (JMU over #13 Virginia, Appalachian State over #5 Michigan) by beating #13 Iowa, 23-21.
North Dakota State set the tone early and got on the board first, thanks to a 21-yard pick six by linebacker M.J. Stumpf:
Iowa seemed to recover from there as quarterback C.J. Beathard threw two touchdown passes to give the Hawkeyes a 14-7 lead at the half. NDSU used their opening drive of the second half to tie the score (courtesy of a one-yard TD run from King Frazier) before Iowa appeared to regain control with Beathard's third TD pass of the day:
The score stayed the same until late in the fourth quarter, when NDSU quarterback Chase Morlock found Easton Stick for the 7-yard TD. However, the Bison went for two and failed, meaning the needed to get one more stop to get the ball back. They did just that, setting up kicker Keith Duncan for a 37-yard game winning field goal attempt - and he drilled it as time expired.
North Dakota State now has won six straight games against FBS opponents, although none have been on the level of Iowa. The Hawkeyes were 12-0 last season before losing int he Big Ten title game and in the Rose Bowl, and came into the season with expectations of winning the conference this year.
Frazier led the way for the Bison with 99 yards and touchdown on 16 carries. However, the real star of the game was NDSU's defense, as they held Iowa to just 231 yards of total offense.
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