NATCHITOCHES, La. - Sophomore quarterback Steve Walker threw for 210 yards and three touchdowns Saturday night while No. 20 North Dakota State intercepted four passes, two by Joe Mays, in a 35-7 road whipping of ninth-ranked Northwestern State.

The Bison, 2-0, scored on the game's opening possession while building a 21-0 halftime lead. The Demons, 1-1, didn't score until the fourth quarter while absorbing their first regular-season homefield loss to a non-conference opponent in 11 years, snapping a 22-game winning streak in Turpin Stadium.

Northwestern was one of five top 10-ranked Division I-AA teams, including the top three teams, who lost Saturday. Defending national champion James Madison, the top-ranked team, lost 31-27 to unranked Coastal Carolina. No. 2 Furman fell 41-21 to unranked Western Carolina, while third-ranked Montana was beaten 47-14 at Oregon and No. 5 Georgia Southern fell at home to unranked McNeese State 23-20.

Walker and tight end A.J. Cooper connected on touchdown throws of 34 and 38 yards. North Dakota State got on the board when Walker's 12-yard pass to Kole Heckendorf ended an eight-play, 78-yard drive after the opening kickoff.

The Bison also scored on a 63-yard punt return by Shamen Washington and a 29-yard interception runback by Scott Walter.

Northwestern's touchdown came 11 seconds into the fourth quarter on a 23-yard run by Anthony Holmes, capping a 90-yard drive led by backup quarterback Ricky Joe Meeks. That drew the Demons within 28-7, but the Bison scored two plays later to blunt hopes of an NSU rally.

Washington ripped loose on a 55-yard kickoff return and Walker found Cooper open for a 38-yard touchdown on the next play to make it 35-7 with 14:32 remaining.

"That's a very good football team that has a long tradition of winning coming down here with no fear of playing on the road, and playing very well," said fourth-year Demons coach Scott Stoker. "We haven't played good in two weeks now. We were able to make enough plays to win last week (a 27-23 comeback win at Louisiana-Monroe) but we didn't make much happen tonight."

North Dakota State held a modest 321-300 edge in total yardage. Walker was 12-of-18 for 210 yards and suffered one interception, a pass deflected in the end zone and picked off by Russ Washington to quell a Bison bid for a 21-0 lead with 11 minutes left in the opening half.

The visitors made it 14-0 two minutes into the second quarter when Walker hit Cooper on the 34-yarder after the first of Mays' two interceptions and a 9-yard return.

After Washington's interception kept NDSU from padding the margin, the Bison's Washington broke three tackles on his punt return for a three-touchdown lead with 6:37 left in the first half.

A shanked punt set up Northwestern at the visitors' 25 with 54 seconds left, but a second-down pass from Davon Vinson skipped through the hands of intended receiver Chris Miller at the 15 and was picked off by Craig Dahl to keep the Demons off the board at halftime.

Vinson's third interception came with 3:05 to go in the third quarter, when Walter snared a pass off the hands of intended receiver Derrick Doyle and sprinted untouched for a touchdown that made it 28-0.

Vinson, who suffered a sprained neck earlier in the third quarter when speared on a tackle that resulted in the ejection of NDSU's Nick Schommer, didn't return after Walter's interception runback. Vinson finished just 5-of-19 passing for 48 yards with three interceptions. Meeks, whose first pass immediately after Vinson's injury midway through the third quarter was picked off by Mays, rallied to finish 8-of-13 for 96 yards with the interception.

Senior receiver/return specialist Toby Zeigler had 179 all-purpose yards, returning two punts for 46 yards, four kickoffs for 90 yards and posting 43 yards on two receptions for NSU. Zeigler is now 211 yards shy of the Division I-AA career record for punt return yardage.