Missouri State football no match for North Dakota State as Bison bounce back
North Dakota State football controlled both sides of the line of scrimmage en route to handing the Bears their fourth loss of the 2023 season.
Missouri State (1-4, 0-2) dropped its second-straight game to open Missouri Valley Football Conference play in a 38-10 loss to FCS No. 7 North Dakota State (4-1, 1-1) on Saturday afternoon at Plaster Stadium.
The Bears have now lost 12 straight games to the Bison and haven't beaten the FCS powerhouse since 2010. Although the Bison might not be the shoo-in national champion this season, they were no match for the Bears, who are in a clear down year under a first-year head coach.
The Bears will be on the road next week at Western Illinois (0-5, 0-2), which lost 49-10 at North Dakota on Saturday.
More: Missouri State football's season is going nowhere. What we took away from loss to NDSU.
Missouri State played Saturday's loss without starting quarterback Jacob Clark who has been dealing with shoulder issues for the majority of the season. Head coach Ryan Beard announced after the game that Clark will have season-ending surgery.
Backup quarterback Jordan Pachot started the game Saturday and had to carry an offense that continued to struggle to get anything going on the ground. He completed 25 of 44 passes for 269 yards and a touchdown but was intercepted three times in Bison territory.
On the flip side, the Bears' defense didn't do much against either the run or pass. Bison quarterback Cam Miller was extremely efficient through the air while the team's batch of ball carriers ran with ease behind an offensive line that opened big holes consistently.
North Dakota State put up 534 total yards on the Bears' defense which was the unit's worst outing of the year. Seven different Bison combined for 258 yards and two touchdowns on the ground. Starting quarterback Cam Miller threw for 256 yards and two scores while completing 16 of 20 passes.
Missouri State struggled, again, on the ground. It rushed for 82 yards with 43 coming on its final drive of the game.
As the Bears have done throughout the season, they started the game in a hole as they quickly went down 14-0. They cut the Bison lead to seven on a Raylen Sharpe 21-yard reception before NDSU scored two more times before halftime to take a three-touchdown lead into the break.
Playing from behind, the Bears could only muster three points in the second half, which came on their opening drive. The Bison scored 10 unanswered to finish the game while forcing four total turnovers.
Sharpe finished the game with 13 catches for 153 yards and a touchdown.
Scoring Summary
1Q 9:31 — Cam Miller 23-yard touchdown pass to Zach Mathis. NDSU 7-0.
1Q 5:18 — Cam Miller nine-yard touchdown run. NDSU 14-0.
1Q 1:40 — Jordan Pachot 21-yard touchdown pass to Raylon Sharpe. NDSU 14-7.
2Q 11:02 — Cole Payton 20-yard touchdown run. NDSU 21-7.
2Q 0:39 — Cam Miller 33-yard touchdown pass to Zach Mathis. NDSU 28-7.
3Q 8:49 — Owen Rozanc 44-yard field goal. NDSU 28-10.
3Q 2:40 — Griffin Crosa 40-yard field goal. NDSU 31-10.
4Q 11:56 — Cole Payton four-yard touchdown pass to Jake Lippe. NDSU 38-10.
Wyatt D. Wheeler is a reporter and columnist with the Springfield News-Leader. You can contact him at 417-371-6987, by email at wwheeler@news-leader.com or X at @WyattWheeler_NL. He's also the host of the weekly "Wyatt's World Podcast" on Spotify, Apple Podcasts and other podcasting platforms
This article originally appeared on Springfield News-Leader: North Dakota State football bounces back with win at Missouri State
