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The defending Big Twelve champs took a nasty shot on the chin Friday night at the hands of the defending FCS champs as Kansas State fell, at home, to North Dakota State by a score of 24-21.
"They played harder than we did, they were tougher than we were, they were better coached than we were." - Bill Snyder
After falling behind, 7-0, in the first, the Wildcats responded by scoring three consecutive touchdowns through the second and third quarters. That's when the Bison went to work though.
With less than four minutes to play in the third, NDSU scored a touchdown, on a 9 yard pass from Brock Jensen to Kevin Vaadeland to cut the lead to 21-14. With just seconds left in the quarter Adam Keller kicked a 41-yard field goal to pull the Bison to within 21-14, putting Kansas State firmly on the ropes.
The knockout blow came with just 28 seconds left in the fourth quarter. That's when North Dakota State quarterback Brock Jensen capped off an 80 yard drive, that chewed up over eight minutes of clock, with a one-yard plunge into the end zone for the game-winning score.
Finding the culprit for Kansas State in this game isn't hard. The Wildcats were stonewalled on the ground and couldn't stop the Bison from chewing up yards. Kansas State ran for just 41 yards on 23 carries (1.8 yard per carry average) while North Dakota State averaged five yards per carry in route to a 215 yard performance on 43 rushes.