Bison stampede Bobcats
12/4/2010 3:43:41 PM | Football, General
Behind a massive offensive line, North Dakota State wore down Montana State’s defense, rushing for 286 yards in the second half on the way to a 42-17 playoff win.
D.J. McNorton finished with 207 yards and four touchdowns. The 25th ranked Bison (9-4) stampede into a Football Championship Subdivision quarterfinal game next week.
The game was sixth-ranked MSU's first home playoff game since beating Furman in 2006 and only its second home playoff in 26 years. A sellout crowd of 14,277 was on hand to see Bobcat coach Rob Ash's first playoff game in his 31-yard coaching career.
The halftime score was 7-7 and McNorton had only 44 yards rushing. Running behind an offensive line that averaged 304 yards from tackle to tackle, McNorton found pay dirt four times in the second half to break open what had been a tight game.
The Bison scored in the first quarter on a quarterback sneak by Brock Jensen. Not too long afterward, the redshirt freshman took a tremendous hit from Bobcat defensive back Sean Gords and left the game with a concussion. MSU made it 7-7 on a 16-yard pass from Denarius McGhee to Julius Lloyd.
After McNorton's first score, a 3-yard dash, Jason Cunningham kicked a 28-yard field goal to make it 14-10 in favor of the Bison. The Bobcats (9-3) took their only lead of the game, 17-14, on the first play of the fourth quarter when Orenzo Davis bounced outside to score on a 1-yard scamper.
From then on, it was all McNorton. The junior gained 162 yards in the second half. As a team, NDSU of the Missouri Valley Conference finished with 376 yards rushing. In the fourth quarter alone, McNorton scored on runs of 19, 38 and 52 yards.
Because of an open date on their schedule and a bye last week, the Bobcats were playing in only their second game in four weeks. Davis led MSU with 64 yards, but lost two fumbles as the Bobcats turned it over four times. McGhee completed 19 of 32 passes for 223 yards, but was sacked five times.
The Bobcats finished with 380 total yards to 432 for the Bison.
NDSU completed only 5 of 19 passes for 56 yards. Jose Mohler, who came in after Jensen's injury, only threw six passes in the second half.
