Sept. 22, 2007

Mount Pleasant, Mich.--The North Dakota State Bison surprised much of the college football world following their 44-14 runaway win over Division I Football Bowl Subdivision (FBS) member Central Michigan here Saturday. North Dakota State gave the Great West Football Conference its fourth win over a Football Bowl Subdivision team when the Bison crushed Central Michigan 44-14 Saturday afternoon in Mount Pleasant, Mich. This is the second consecutive year North Dakota State defeated a FBS and Mid-American Conference team as the Bison beat Ball State in 2006.

In other action, UC Davis upended Northeastern 28-10 for the Aggies' first win in their new stadium.

Recaps of both games are found below:

North Dakota St. 44, Central Michigan 14

Thanks in part to a career-high eight catches from Alex Belquist, 152 yards rushing from Tyler Roehl and a 25-for-30 day from quarterback Steve Walker, the Bison defeated the Mid-American Conference (MAC) champion Chippewas in front of 16,522 fans.

This was the second win for NDSU (3-0) against a FBS school is as many years and is now 4-0-1 all-time against current MAC schools. CMU (1-3) was 10-4 a season ago and were champions of the Motor City Bowl. The 30-point home loss is the worst for Central Michigan since 2001 when the Chippewas lost 34-3 to Ohio.

Belquist finished with 122 yards receiving while Roehl carried the ball a total of 30 times and added three touchdowns. Walker finished with 261 yards passing and one touchdown to Jeremiah Wurzbacher. Pat Paschall also found the end zone on one of his eight carries.

NDSU was efficient in time of possession but struggled to find the end zone early. A pair of Shawn Bibeau field goals gave the Bison a 6-0 lead early in the second quarter. Bibeau added another field goal in the first half to match his own career-high of three set last season against Minnesota, Ball State and Northeastern.

After a CMU touchdown Walker then led the Bison 60 yards in just 1:43 to set up Bibeau's final field goal. It was the ninth scoring drive in the final two minutes led by Walker in the last 14 games for NDSU. The Bison led 16-7 at halftime.

Third quarter touchdowns by Roehl and Paschall gave NDSU a comfortable lead at 30-7 before CMU responded with seven points of its own and brought the score 30-14 heading into the fourth quarter.

Two more Roehl touchdowns put the final tally on the game.

Defensively, the Bison were lead by Joe Mays, who recorded the fifth double-digit tackle game of his career. The senior linebacker finished with two solo stops and 11 total tackles. Ramon Humber added nine tackles and Nick Schommer eight.

Mike Maresh recorded an interception that halted an early CMU drive and David Earl recorded his second interception is as many games late in the fourth quarter. The Bison had no turnovers on the day.

The win for the Bison comes on the same day that fellow FCS member and top-rated Appalachian State lost 42-31 to Southern Conference member Wofford.

CMU was the first of two FBS opponents the Bison will face this season as they travel to Minneapolis to play the University of Minnesota on October 20. NDSU will now travel to Malcomb, Ill., next weekend to play Western Illinois starting at 1:05 p.m. (Central time) Saturday, September 29.

UC Davis 28, Northeastern 10

DAVIS, Calif. -- Quarterback Tim Plough threw for 313 yards and two touchdowns, and running back Joe Trombetta rushed for 104 yards and scored three touchdowns, as the UC Davis football team earned its first-ever win at Aggie Stadium with a 28-10 nonconference win over Northeastern on Saturday before 7,140 fans.

UC Davis improved to 2-2 on the season while Northeastern fell to 1-3. Running back Maurice Murray rushed for a 88 yards and scored a late touchdown to lead the Huskies who had just 76 yards of total offense in the second half.

Plough, who threw for 388 yards in last week's 41-31 loss at Eastern Washington, completed 31 of 39 passes, tossing scoring passes of five yards in the second quarter to Trombetta and seven yards to receiver Bakari Grant in the third. He was intercepted once.

Trombetta posted his second 100-yard rushing day of the season, carrying the ball 22 times for 104 yards. He scored from a yard out late in the first quarter to help give UC Davis a 7-0 lead, then added a 23-yard yard down the Aggie sideline with 2 minutes, 40 seconds left in the third quarter.

Receiver Brandon Rice caught eight passes for a career high 114 yards while Grant and Trombetta each had six grabs. UC Davis, which had 440 yards of total offense, controlled the clock for most of the game, amassing 39:47 of possession time.

UC Davis grabbed the lead with 2:04 left in the first quarter, putting together a 14-play, 80-yard drive that culminated in Trombetta's one-yard run. A 23-yard field goal from the Huskies' Mat Johnson on their next drive made it 7-3. A second consecutive scoring drive, this one covering 66 yards in 11 plays, led to Plough's first touchdown pass. Trombetta was on the receiving end, scoring from five yards out and making it 14-3.

The Aggie defense, meanwhile, was strong in the first half against Northeastern, forcing punts in three of four drives and allowing just 130 yards of offense. UC Davis head coach Bob Biggs said the defense was particulary effective after the Huskies' initial scoring drive.

"After that first drive they pretty much held them in check for most of the day," he said. "(Northeastern) wanted to run the ball and they had to get out of what they wanted to do fairly early in the game and do something they're not comfortable with. That's a real credit to the defense when you can take away their strength and force them to do something they don't want to do."

UC Davis stretched the lead to 28-3 in the third quarter, getting a seven-yard touchdown pass from Plough to Grant with 8:49 left to cap a 12-play, 72-yard drive, and then scoring on Trombetta's 23-yard scamper six minutes later.

"It was the most complete game on both sides of the ball that we've had all year," said Biggs. "There's no question about it. I was very, very pleased with the execution on the offensive side. It seemed as though every time we needed a third down play, we converted."

UC Davis was 10 of 15 on third down while the Huskies were just 2 of 9.

Murray tallied Northeastern's lone score with just under a minute to play in the game, plowing through from two yards to finish off a 59-yard drive, just one yard shy of the team's longest of the day.

The Huskies were held to just 206 yards of total offense. Quarterback Anthony Orio was 10 of 21 for 92 yards with no interceptions and was sacked once, that coming from Aggie defensive end James Amos.

UC Davis ran 82 offensive plays in the game while Northeastern was held to just 49. The Huskies held the ball 30 seconds longer than the Aggies in the first quarter but UC Davis had it for 10:35 in the second, 11:31 in the third and 10:26 in the fourth.

Trombetta added to his strong collegiate start and now has seven touchdowns.

UC Davis will play its third NCAA Division I Football Bowl Subdivision team in as many years when the Aggies travel to face San Jose State next Saturday at 1 p.m.