GREELEY, Colo. - The first conference game of the inaugural season of the Great West Football Conference is in the books. The University of Northern Colorado Bears defeated the North Dakota State University Bison 15-13 on Saturday afternoon at Nottingham Field in Greeley bringing the Bears' home winning streak to 16 games. The point total represented the lowest output between these heated rivals since 1981.
Defense was the theme of the day as the Bears (1-0, 1-0 GWFC) intercepted the Bison (1-1, 0-1 GWFC) offense five times and recovered a fumble. North Dakota State did some defensive work of their own by pulling down two interceptions, recovering a fumble and denying the Bears offense admittance to the end zone.
Leading the defensive effort for the Bears was junior safety Reed Doughty who had two interceptions, a forced fumble and game-high 17 tackles. Teammates Thomas Smith, junior linebacker, and Ryan Palmer, senior linebacker, who had 11 and nine tackles respectively, complemented Doughty's effort. Palmer also had one of the Bears' five interceptions.
On a day where senior All-American wide receiver Vincent Jackson was on the verge of reaching the 100 reception milestone, it was another Bear who made some history of his own. While Jackson came up one catch short, junior place kicker Justin Zaitz came up one kick short of becoming the sole leader for most field goals in a game. Zaitz made five field goals tying a Bears all-time record. It was the Bears inability to reach the end zone that led to Zaitz's record-breaking performance.
The Bears' offense only posted 233 total yards compared to 428 yards by North Dakota State. On paper the Bison beat the Bears in almost every statistical category but it was the ineffective performance of the Bison senior quarterback Tony Stauss that led to the Bears' victory. Stauss tossed five interceptions before finally being replaced by redshirt freshman Steve Walker who mounted a productive comeback charge.
Walker came off the bench after trailing 15-0 to lead his team down the field for two touchdowns late in the fourth quarter although NDSU failed ona two-point conversion attempt that would have tied the game. Walker went 10-for-10 for 112 yards on the afternoon giving his a team a chance to win the game with a final field goal attempt with eight seconds to go.
But it was the Bears' defense that rose to the challenge again. After a poor snap by the Bison center, the Bears' Jacob Carlson was able to get a paw on the field goal attempt causing the miss and leaving three seconds on the clock. The Bears were able to take a knee and put the first Great West Conference football game in the history books.
UNC is back in action next Saturday when they travel across the country to Orono, Maine to battle the University of Maine, ranked No. 11 nationally, at 4 p.m.
