NORMAL, Ill. – North Dakota State returned to the land of a familiar foe Saturday afternoon. The bison looked like themselves again.

Quarterback Cam Miller was virtually unstoppable. The Bison running game was punishing. And the NDSU defense found its wall against Illinois State after a few questionable plays focused on stopping the run. The Redbirds finished the game with an eight-yard run.

The 42-10 win at Hancock Stadium, NDSU's 13th straight win over Illinois State, was the Missouri Valley Football Conference opener for both teams and improved the No. 2 Bison to 4-1 overall. Miller completed 20 of 23 passes for 216 yards and three touchdowns, leading the way in just three quarters of action.

“He's playing near perfect,” Bison head coach Tim Polasek said, noting that two of NDSU's rushing touchdowns came as a result of Miller changing the play call at the line of scrimmage. “The way he was trained and the way the system is evolving. He simply took advantage of an opportunity within the system.”

Running back Marty Brown rushed for 100 yards, giving NDSU an impressive possession advantage. The Bison had the ball for 38 minutes of a 60-minute game.

Equally important, the Redbirds had no ground game. They had 13 yards through three quarters and by that point it was over with NDSU leading 35-7. The defense, which gave up more than 200 yards rushing in each of the last two weeks, was nowhere to be found.

“What a reaction from the defense,” Polasek said. “What a statement. I'm really happy with the coaching staff and the way the players bounced back with their preparation this week. We have to train like we did last week all the time.”

Miller started the second half with a 40-yard touchdown pass to running back Barika Kpeenu, a perfect performance against an all-out Illinois State blitz. That made it 21:7.

“He has to be disciplined and stay on task,” Polasek said of Miller. “That was an incredible third down conversion. They are a high-pressure team and I think we took advantage of those opportunities several times.”

A quarterback sack on third-and-10 by Bison defensive end Loshiaka Roques forced a Redbird punt. NDSU needed just six plays to score, getting a 14-yard touchdown run from Brown.

Kpeenu added his second touchdown on a nine-yard run to cap NDSU's 21-point third-quarter victory.

NDSU's defense came into action from the start, holding the Redbirds to three-and-outs on their first two possessions, overcoming two penalties and stopping ISU on its third drive. The Redbirds only had a 10-yard lead in the quarter.

NDSU held ISU running back Wenkers Wright, who came into the game with a productive non-conference performance, to 24 yards on nine carries.

“I didn’t see that (no-run) game coming,” Illinois State head coach Brock Spack said. “By no means did I think we would run for 200 yards as fast as we have the last few weeks, but I thought we would have success.”

Alyssa Goelzer/The Forum

The Bison, meanwhile, took a 7-0 lead and needed 11 plays to go 64 yards, with Bryce Lance taking a short flip from Miller for a five-yard touchdown play. NDSU once again went the distance and made it 14-0.

The Bison started at their 20-yard line after a Redbirds punt and needed over 10 minutes to score key third- and fourth-down conversions. Miller hit TK Marshall for nine yards on third-and-6, hit Braylon Henderson for nine yards on another third-and-6 that reached the ISU 39.

Brown converted a three-yard fourth-and-1 and the Bison were at the door. Mekhi Collins scored the TD on an 11-yard pass from Miller, who had more than enough time to throw.

The 10:09 a.m. time was NDSU's longest drive of the season in terms of time.

“Congratulations to the Bison, they really kicked our butts today,” Spack said. “We weren’t very good up front on either side.”

It didn't take long for the Redbirds to respond. A 43-yard pass from quarterback Tommy Rittenhouse to Eddie Kasper on a broken NDSU coverage led to a two-yard TD run by Wright.

That one play represented nearly half of ISU's total 100 yards rushing in the first half, which ended with NDSU leading 14-7.

Illinois State was never able to gain a significant lead until the fourth quarter behind backup quarterback Jake Rubley. But the Bison defense, which had reinforcements in the game, stiffened and forced a field goal.

Jeff would like to dispel the idea that he was there when Johannes Gutenberg invented the printing press, but he is now in his third decade of reporting for Forum Communications. The son of a reporter and an English teacher, and brother of a reporter, Jeff has worked at the Jamestown Sun, the Bismarck Tribune and, since 1990, the Forum, where he has covered North Dakota State athletics since 1995.
Jeff has covered all nine of NDSU's Division I FCS national football titles and has written three books: “Horns Up,” “North Dakota Tough” and “Covid Kids.” He is the radio host of “The Golf Show with Jeff Kolpack” from April to August.