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North Dakota State opened a 21-3 halftime lead, then held on for a 35-32 win over Montana State in the FCS National Championship game on Monday night in Frisco, Texas.
It's the first national title since 2021 for North Dakota State and the 10th since 2011 as the Bison improved to 10-1 in FCS championship games. The lone loss came in 2022 to South Dakota State.
Montana State was seeking it second title, and first since 1984.
This marked the end of a 15-year run of Frisco, Texas hosting this game as it moves to the Vanderbilt campus in Nashville for the 2025 and 2026 seasons.
This game matched the Walton Payton Award winner, quarterback Tommy Mellott of the Bobcats, against runner-up Cam Miller, the QB of the Bison. Their stats on this night were about as identical as they could get with Miller throwing for 199 and 2 TD's while Mellott threw for 195 and 2 scores. On the ground, Miller had 121 and 2 more touchdowns while Mellott had 135 and 1 TD.
Miller was extremely accurate, completing 19 of 22 throws.
Bryce Lance was huge on the receiving end for the Bison as he came up with clutch catch after clutch catch and finished with 9 receptions for 107 yards and a touchdown. CharMar Brown added 77 yards and scored the Bison's decisive touchdown with 2:41 to play on a 3-yard run.
The teams were 1 first down apart (19-18, MSU), 8 yards apart (401-393, NDSU), 4 rushing yards apart (202-198, NDSU) and 4 passing yards apart (199-195, NDSU).
North Dakota State surged to a 14-0 first quarter lead with touchdowns on the first two possessions on Cam Miller runs of 2 yards and 64 yards. Montana State didn't get on the scoreboard until there was 5:38 to play in the first half when Mules Sansted kicked a 32-yard field goal, but the Bison answered with another touchdown just before halftime on Miller's 1-yard toss to Lance for a 21-3 advantage at the half..
Montana State quickly rallied in the third quarter with touchdowns on its first two possessions, wrapped around a NDSU 3-and-out. Scottre Humphrey struck first on a 1-yard run and the second came on Mellot's 5-yard pass to Rohan Jones. After a successful two-point conversion pass to Ryan Lonergan, the Bobcats only trailed 21-18.
They would get no closer.
North Dakota State answered MSU's mini run with an 8-play, 78-yard drive that culminated with another Miller toss - this time, a 1-yarder to Joe Stoffel that pushed the lead back to ten points at 28-18. Mellott struck back with a 44-yard burst down the right sideline to make it 28-25 and held the Bison offense to a 3-and-out., but the Bobcats also failed to achieve a first down and punted right back to NDSU.
It wound up being costly to Montana State as the Bison took 5 minutes off the clock on a 66-yard drive that ended with Brown's TD run.
Undeterred and trying to keep hope alive, the Bobcats only needed 1:32 for a 10-play, 73-yard march that ended with Taco Dowler's 19-yard TD catch on 4th down with 1:09 on the clock. Afterward, the first onside kick attempt was interrupted with a Bison time-out and the second attempt was recovered by North Dakota State to seal the win.
These teams were loaded with players who took individual national honors. Not only were the QB's the top two vote recipients for the Payton Awards (FCS equivalent to the Heisman), but Mellott also collected the FCS ADA Offensive Player of the Year Award and the Walter Camp FCS Player of the Year Award.MSU coach Brent Vigen won the 2024 Eddie Robinson FCS Coach of the Year Award. NDSU 's CharMar Brown won the Jerry Rice Award as top FCS freshman,
This was the second appearance for Montana State in the championship game since Brent Vigen became head coach for the 2021 season. The Bobcats also lost that title game to the Bison, 38-10.
Montana State is now 21-18 all-time vs. North Dakota State, but 1-6 since 2005 with all 6 losses in the FCS playoffs.
The Final FCS Congrove Computer Rankings at CollegeFootballPoll.com have North Dakota State jumping Montana State and South Dakota State to finish at the top of the heap by a mere 0.07 ranking points over the Bobcats, with the Jackrabbits in 3rd.
South Dakota State was looking to three-peat as National Champs, but was eliminated in the semifinals at North Dakota State.
South Dakota remains 4th and UC Davis 5th.
Jackson State, the HBCU national champs, move up 3 spots to No. 6, while Delaware stays put at No. 7 in its final FCS season as the Blue Hens will move up to the FBS in 2025.
Incarnate Word slips two spots to 8th, Ivy League co-champ Harvard rises from 13th to 9th, and Richmond jumps from 15 to 10.
Home team on bottom
| 12/7 | 12/14 | 12/21 | C'ship (Frisco) (1/6, 7 PM) |
|---|---|---|---|
| UT-Martin 17 1 Montana St. 49 |
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| 8 Idaho 19 1 Montana St. 52 |
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| Lehigh 13 8 Idaho 34 |
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| 4 So. Dakota 17 1 Montana St. 31 |
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| 12 Illinois St. 10 5 UC Davis 42 |
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| 5 UC Davis 21 4 So. Dakota 35 |
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| 13 Tarleton 31 4 So. Dakota 42 |
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| 1 Montana St. 32 2 NDSU 35 |
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| 14 Montana 18 3 SDSU 35 |
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| 6 UIW 14 3 SDSU 55 |
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| 11 Villanova 6 6 UIW 13 |
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| 3 SDSU 21 2 NDSU 28 |
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| 10 URI 10 7 Mercer 17 |
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| 7 Mercer 7 2 NDSU 31 |
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| 15 ACU 31 2 NDSU 51 |
All games November 30
Home Team in CAPS
Winner in BOLD
UT Martin (9-4) 41, (16) NEW HAMPSHIRE (8-5) 10
Lehigh (9-3) 20, (9) RICHMOND (10-3) 16
(12) Illinois State (10-3) 35, SEMO (9-4), 27
Drake (8-3) 29, (13) TARLETON (10-3) 43
Tennessee State (9-4) 27, (14) MONTANA (9-4) 41
Eastern Kentucky (8-5) 17, (11) VILLANOVA (10-3) 22
CCSU (7-6) 17, (10) RHODE ISLAND (11-2) 21
Northern Arizona (8-5) 0, (15) ABILENE CHRISTIAN (9-4) 24
All games December 7
Home Team in CAPS
Winner in BOLD
(14) Montana (9-5) 18, (3) SOUTH DAKOTA STATE (11-2) 35
(11) Villanova (10-4) 6, (6) UIW (11-2) 13
(10) Rhode Island (11-3) 10, (7) MERCER (11-2) 17
UT Martin (9-5) 17, (1) MONTANA STATE (13-0) 49
(13) Tarleton (10-4) 31, (4) SOUTH DAKOTA (10-2) 42
(15) Abilene Christian (9-5) 31, (2) NORTH DAKOTA STATE (11-2) 51
(12) Illinois State (10-3), (5) UC DAVIS (11-2) 42
Lehigh (9-4) 13, (8) IDAHO (10-3) 34
Home Team in CAPS
Winner in BOLD
Friday. December 13
(1) MONTANA STATE 52, (8) Idaho 19
Saturday, December 14
(3) SOUTH DAKOTA STATE 55, (6) Incarnate Word 14
(4) SOUTH DAKOTA 35, (5) UC Davis 21
(2) NORTH DAKOTA STATE 31, (7) Mercer 7
Saturday, December 21
(2) NORTH DAKOTA STATE 28, (3) South Dakota State 21
(1) MONTANA STATE 31, (4) South Dakota 7
MONTANA STATE - Had won 15 straight overall. Won 6 straight road games. Won 9 straight conference games (tied Jackson State).
Last: No.1 seed lost 35-32 to No. 2 seed North Dakota State in the National Championship on Monday January 6 in Frisco, Texas.
Next: Season complete.
JACKSON STATE - Won 10 straight overall. Won 9 straight conference games (tied with Montana State).
Last: Won 28-7 over South Carolina State in the Celebration Bowl for the HBCU National Championship on Saturday, December 14.
Next: Season complete
SOUTH DAKOTA STATE - 29-game home winning streak.
Last: No. 3 seed lost 28-21 at No. 2 seed North Dakota State on Saturday, December 21.
Next: Season complete.
NW STATE - Lost 20 straight over-all. Lost 10 straight home games (tied with Northern Colorado)
Last: Lost 62-24 at Houston Christian on Saturday, November 23.
Next: Season complete.
NORTHERN COLORADO - Lost 10 straight home games (tied with NW State, LA).
Last: Lost 45-13 at Portland State on Saturday, November 23.
Next: Season complete.
NORTH CAROLINA A&T - Lost 16 straight conference games.
Last: Lost 31-21 at home to Elon on Saturday, November 23.
Next: Season complete.
MURRAY STATE - Lost 18 straight road games. Lost 15 straight conference games (second to NC A&T).
Last: Lost 62-0 at Southern Illinois on Saturday, November 23.
Next: Season complete.
FBS schools were 115-6 in FBS-FCS games this season, and are a cumulative 1,915-158 (.924) since we began tracking this in 2003.
In 2024, there were 121 matchups scheduled between FBS and FCS schools with 119 playing one such game, while Hawaii and UMass each play two.
15 schools were not scheduled to play a FCS opponent. Of those fifteen schools, 5 are in the B1G (Michigan, Ohio State, Penn State, USC and UCLA). Texas is the only school in the SEC that will not play a FCS program. The same is true for Virginia Tech in the ACC. In fact, Texas and Virginia Tech, along with Michigan and Houston, were repeats from the list of schools in 2023 that played all FBS programs.
2024 FCS wins vs. FBS:
August 24: Montana State 35, New Mexico 31
September 7: St. Francis (PA) 23, Kent State 17
September 7: Idaho 17, Wyoming 13
September 7: Southern Utah 27, UTEP 24 (OT)
September 21: Monmouth 45, FIU 42
September 28: UT-Martin 24, Kennesaw 13
In 2023, FBS schools were 114-4. These were the FCS wins last year:
September 9: Idaho 33, Nevada 6
September 9: Southern Illinois 14, Northern Illinois 12
September 9: Fordham 40, Buffalo 37
September 16: Sacramento State 30, Stanford 23