Kolpack: Bison QB Miller takes advantage of guyless UNI – InForum

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The University of Northern Iowa has likely been warned not to tamper with the power North Dakota State can throw at an opponent these days. The Bison had the Olympic shot putter from the United States and Bison graduate Payton Otterdahl turned the toss for the match.

Otterdahl lost the toss after a rare defeat on home soil. UNI delayed the second half and the Bison would get the ball first on offense. Well, not quite.

Initially, TK Marshall appeared to hesitate after taking the opening kickoff a few yards into his own end zone. Once in full gear, and on the way to the field, a yellow referee’s flag flew in an area that is almost always an illegal block.

Marshall continued, eventually finding space down the left sideline and scoring, a 100-yard kickoff return. Still, fan reaction at Gate City Bank Field was somewhat muted with the flag on the lawn.

Marshall felt it too.

“I didn’t see the flag, but I felt the flag,” he said. “The vibe was like ahhhh…there has to be a flag somewhere, right?”

Even the Bison players started walking the other way. After a brief discussion, the officials picked up the flag and a touchdown was signaled. That pretty much summed up Northern Iowa’s season and this game, which ended with a 42-19 Bison victory in front of 14,528 fans who could have left the building with the same thoughts: What the hell happened, other than a few blowouts in the third quarter? to a UNI program for digging a 35-3 hole?

The only pressure Bison quarterback Cam Miller had on him in passing might have been the fear of waiting so long to pick his best open receiver. It didn’t matter if the Panthers just attacked their linemen or threw a blitz package at the Bison blockers; there were no cracks in that wall.

He didn’t have all day to throw, he had all night, and could have stayed in the bag until Sunday morning. UNI came in with five quarterback sacks all season and the Bison offensive line showed that was no fluke.

“I think this is probably the best protection we’ve had in the last four or five years,” Miller said. “I could have sat there for five to 10 seconds and made a throw. That makes my job a lot easier, the guys opened up and we made plays.”

They made plays like Bryce Lance’s spectacular 14-yard touchdown reception while dancing with the out of bounds line. Or Lance’s 42-yard catch over the middle, shielding a defender and preventing the ball from being knocked away.

Miller finished 17 of 20 passing for 216 yards and two touchdowns. Once again he spread the wealth, with seven different receivers receiving in the first half alone. It ended with the Bison leading 28-3, with the only drive that didn’t result in a touchdown coming a pair of plays to end the half after a UNI punt.

Coming in at 2-6, the Panthers looked defeated and deflated. At least there is an offseason transfer portal to try and find some defensive linemen in the mold of the Panthers of old, who had a number of guys over the years.

“It felt like his feet were never disturbed,” NDSU head coach Tim Polasek said. “I don’t know if they moved him from his spot and I don’t know if he was touched outside of the quarterback draw. Just very good.”

In the process, Miller and teammate Marty Brown further strengthened their case for a pair of postseason awards: Miller for the Walter Payton Award, which goes to the best offensive player in the FCS, and Brown for the Jerry Rice Award, which goes to the top freshman . .

Miller broke the school record for consecutive passes without an interception and now has 311 straight passes. Trey Lance reached the 307 mark, mainly in 2019, a year in which he won the Payton and the Rice.

“That’s an honor for a lot of guys,” Polasek said. “That’s an honor for a lot of coaches and a lot of people. I mean, it’s a big time to pass Trey Lance.”

Brown had 80 of his 124 yards in the first half and will most likely continue to hold his position as the leading rusher among all freshmen in Division I FBS or FCS.

NDSU improved to 9-1 overall and 6-0 in the Missouri Valley Football Conference with a much-needed week off ahead of it. It all started with a fast start from the opening kick-off, with Polasek hammering his team all week in the first quarter.

It started at the front.

“The offensive line is tough here,” he said. ‘Wherever it is appreciated, it is never good enough. Those guys, you can always pick them apart, but that protection seemed to be really good.

Jeff would like to dispel the idea that he was there when Johannes Gutenberg invented the printing press, but he is already in his third decade as a reporter at Forum Communications. The son of a reporter and an English teacher, and the brother of a reporter, Jeff has worked at the Jamestown Sun, the Bismarck Tribune and since 1990 at The Forum, where he has covered North Dakota State athletics since 1995 .
Jeff has covered all nine of NDSU’s Division I FCS national football titles and written three books: “Horns Up,” “North Dakota Tough” and “Covid Kids.” He is the radio host of “The Golf Show with Jeff Kolpack” from April to August.