The Bison scored first, going 11 plays for 80 yards that ended with a Hunter Luepke touchdown run. After drawing first blood, there was no stopping NDSU and they would go on to defeat Montana State 38-10.
North Dakota State rushed for 380 yards and four touchdowns on 53 carries against Montana State. Hunter Luepke rushed for 82 yards and 3 touchdowns, while Kobe Johnson rushed for 106 with one touchdown and Quincy Patterson rushed for 98 yards.
On defense, the Bison held the Bobcats to just 335 total yards of offense and stopped them on third down for ten of their 15 third down conversion attempts.
A key factor in Montana State's struggles on offense was the fact that freshman quarterback Tommy Mellott suffered a leg injury on the first drive of the game and was removed from the game.
Junior quarterback Tucker Rovig replaced Mellott and struggled to get anything going. Rovig threw for only 156 yards, one touchdown, and one interception going 13-of-28 passing.
The game was pretty much out of reach going into the half with NDSU up 28-0. However, rather than allowing Montana State to have any hope of coming back, quarterback Cam Miller extended NDSU's lead to 35-0 with a 35 yard pass to tight end Josh Babicz.
Montana State was able to eventually find the end zone, but it was a little too late, as the Bison had already started their celebration.