Nov. 15, 2014 Final Stats | Quotes
Final Stats
SPRINGFIELD, Mo. - North Dakota State rode a season-best rushing day from John Crockett and a big performance from its defense to score 42 unanswered points against Missouri State in a decisive 45-10 victory Saturday afternoon at Robert W. Plaster Stadium.
Crockett plowed through the Bears' defense for 177 yards on 27 carries, while quarterback Carson Wentz recovered from a shaky start to toss five touchdown passes for the fourth-ranked Bison, who improved to 10-1 on the season and 6-1 in Missouri Valley Football Conference play.
It was the play of the North Dakota State defense that set the tone for the Bison's lopsided victory, however. NDSU limited the Bears to 240 yards of total offense, including a season-low 12 first downs, and held MSU scoreless for over 38 minutes to give its offense time to click. The NDSU defense would not yield a scoring drive without the help of a turnover until early in the fourth period, with the Bison already holding a commanding 42-3 lead.
Crockett, who also caught two passes for 49 yards, registered 226 all-purpose yards in the game, and Wentz completed 15-of-22 passes for 247 yards after failing to record a single completion in the opening quarter.
Defense was the name of the game for both squads in the opening quarter, as the two offenses combined for just 62 yards of total offense and three first downs over the first 15 minutes of play. MSU's defense struck the first blow on NDSU's second possession of the day, as Andrew Beisel stepped in front of a Wentz pass at the NDSU 29 and returned the ball all the way to the Bison 3.
The visitors stood their ground, however, stopping Calan Crowder for a loss of a yard and forcing a pair of incompletions to limit the damage to a 21-yard Marcelo Bonani field goal.
North Dakota State took advantage of a short field to put its first points of the game on the board early in the second period. Crockett, one of the few offensive participants to enjoy any success in the opening half, carried the load for the Bison on a 12-play drive that ate 6:35 off the clock. NDSU's senior running back toted the ball seven times for 32 yards, including a six-yard jaunt that put the Bison in the end zone with 7:55 to play in the half.
That possession opened the floodgates for NDSU, which would score two more times before the end of the half to take a commanding 21-3 lead into the break. First, the Bison would dodge another bullet after another Wentz interception on a Jeremy Springer deflection that was snatched out of the air by Christian Hoffmann at the NDSU 29.
Once again, the Bison defense put the clamps on MSU's offense, allowing just a one-yard Kierra Harris run on first down before a Kyle Emanuel sack on third down thwarted the drive. Bonani's 46-yard field goal fell short to keep the score at 7-3.
With just one completion on the day through the first 27 minutes of the game, Wentz suddenly heated up to lead NDSU to pay dirt again. After Crockett ripped off a 16-yard run to the Bison 48, Wentz connected on five consecutive pass attempts -- the biggest of which came to Zach Vraa, who was ruled to have pulled in a catch near the sideline for a 20-yard gain that moved the sticks to the MSU 27. Wentz hit Vraa two more times for a total of 14 yards, before the junior's strike to Connor Wentz resulted in a 13-yard scoring play and a 14-3 Bison lead.
With just over one minute left on the clock, the Bears attempted to mount a late drive. But Harris's third-down pass was picked off by Travis Beck and the MSU 37 and returned 21 yards. Wentz needed just one play to cash in for NDSU, finding a wide-open Andrew Bonnet for a 16-yard scoring completion with just 22 seconds to play.
The start of the second half brought more of the same for NDSU, which scored three times through the air to put the game out of reach. Wentz found Trevor Gebhart for a seven-yard touchdown to complete an 83-yard march midway through the third, then completed his second scoring pass to Connor Wentz -- this time from 14 yards out a little more than a minute later, following a 27-yard interception return by Emanuel.
Finally, Wentz capped a five-play, 98-yard drive by going over the top to Vraa, who hauled in a 40-yard toss to put NDSU in the driver's seat with a 42-3 advantage.
MSU engineered a scoring drive of its own, as Harris hooked up with Gannon Sinclair on a pair of long pass completions to snap the Bison's unanswered point streak early in the fourth period. After finding Sinclair on a 37-yard completion for the Bears' longest play of the day, Harris -- who completed 4-of-5 passes for 75 yards on the drive -- connected with his senior tight end on a 19-yard scoring toss with 14:31 to play.
Vraa recorded five catches for a game-high 119 yards, while Emanuel led the Bison defense with 10 stops, a pair of sacks and 3.5 tackles for loss to go along with his key interception return.
Harris completed 12-of-23 passes for 141 yards on the day, becoming the fifth MSU quarterback to surpass the 4,000-yard mark in career passing yardage with his third-quarter completion to Ryan Heaston. The senior also tossed the 33rd touchdown pass of his MSU career to move into a tie with A.J. Porter for fourth place on the Bears' all-time list.
Additionally, Crowder finished his day with 44 rushing yards to increase his season total to 684, which eclipsed the Missouri State freshman rushing record set by Kingjack Washington (674) in 2007. Julian Burton also enjoyed a strong afternoon, totaling seven catches for 53 yards to move into sole possession of the No. 2 spot on MSU's career receptions chart. He will enter his final game as a Bear needing just five more to match Clay Harbor's Missouri State record of 150 career catches.
Chris Sullens starred once again for the MSU special teams, averaging 44.7 yards on seven punts, including a long of 59 yards, to match the school single-season record for total punts (73).
In his final home game in Maroon and White, Caleb Schaffitzel paced the MSU defense with a game-high 11 stops and one sack, and his partner in the secondary, Mike Crutcher, tallied 10 stops.
Missouri State (4-7, 1-6 MVFC) will head north to Cedar Falls, Iowa to close out the 2014 season next Saturday (Nov. 22) with a 4 p.m. game against Northern Iowa.
