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<\/a> – by Adesina O. Koiki\nA Lot of Sports Talk<\/em> editor-in-chief
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FRISCO, Texas \u2014 Gathered around his 24 seniors at a team dinner in Fargo last July, North Dakota State head coach Chris Klieman did more than just lay out his expectations for what all of them hoped would become yet another special football season for the Bison in 2018. There was a tacit understanding, emanating from the coach and shared by each player present, that the end of the first Saturday of January would confirm their squad as one without an equal in college football history.<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n Having already left little doubt that their championship run put them amongst the greats in the history of the Football Championship Subdivision, the Bison, at least statistically, cemented themselves as the<\/em> greatest football program in the division by winning a record seventh national championship on Saturday. Quarterback Easton Stick accounted for all five of the Bison’s touchdowns — two passing and three more on the ground — as top-seeded North Dakota State defeated No. 3 Eastern Washington 38-24 in the championship game at Toyota Stadium, completing a perfect 15-0 season and bringing the FCS trophy back to Fargo for the seventh time in the last eight seasons.<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n The Bison’s seventh title broke a tie with Georgia Southern atop the list of teams with the most FCS national championships.<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n The continuation of the Bison’s dominance today also marked the last game at North Dakota State for Klieman, who was named head coach at Kansas State last month. But on that summer day before officially embarking on what would end up being his last go-round leading the Bison, he and his seniors gathered to make sure they were in sync with the prevailing message after the get-together, that this season was about much more than winning a championship. It was about becoming the sport’s new gold standard.<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n “We wanted to be perfect this year, Klieman said, “We knew it was going to be hard, but if we attacked every day and held each other to a high standard, we could do that.”<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n Stick, one of those 24 seniors, accounted for 319 total yards while rushing for two first-half touchdowns, the second coming on a four-yard run to the left pylon for a 17-3 lead midway through the second quarter. In a span of 68 seconds early in the third quarter, Stick threw his two touchdown passes — both to the game’s Most Outstanding Player, senior wide receiver Darius Shepherd. The second of those scoring passes, a bomb down the sideline, went for 78 yards and gave the Bison a 31-17 lead as the play turned out to be the game-winning score.<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n The win today was Stick’s 49th<\/sup> career victory, breaking a tie with former Bison quarterback Brock Jensen for most wins as a starting quarterback with an FCS team. He completes his NDSU career with a 49-3 record \u2014 not an entirely impeccable record, like his team’s 2018-19 season, but pretty darn close.<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n “We sat down as seniors with Coach in July and said, ‘Why can’t we be the greatest ever? Why can’t we be perfect?,'” Stick said. “I’m not saying we’re the greatest ever, but we worked and we tried to put ourselves in this position. And to go 15-0 and win another national championship is really hard to do.”<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n Though North Dakota State never trailed in the game, Eastern Washington pulled to within one possession of the Bison on four separate occasions after falling behind 10-0 after the first quarter. Quarterback Eric Barriere, who took over the starting job in October after two-time Walter Payton Award finalist Gage Gubrud suffered a season-ending toe injury, scored on a 5-yard run with 2:19 remaining in the game to cut North Dakota State’s lead to 31-24. The Bison recovered the ensuing onside kick and, three plays later, Stick faked a handoff and ran off right tackle for a 46-yard touchdown to seal the victory.<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n “It wasn’t a fantastic 60 minutes. But I thought, like I said, we more than held our own for a lengthy period of time,” said Eastern Washington head coach Aaron Best. “We came in aggressively. We played aggressive. We coached aggressive. And we’ll leave here aggressive.”<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n Running back Sam McPherson rushed for 158 yards on just 18 carries for Eastern Washington, including a 75-yard touchdown run early in the third quarter to cut North Dakota State’s lead to 24-17. The Eagles intercepted Stick twice in the third quarter, but were not able to convert those turnovers into points on the ensuing drives. Instead, the Bison were able to turn over the Eagles just four plays after Stick’s first interception, as senior defensive end Stanley Jones strip-sacked backup quarterback Gunner Talkington \u2014 who threw a 2-yard touchdown pass in the first quarter on a fake field goal attempt \u2014 and recovered the fumble at the Eagles’ 25-yard line.<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n Three plays later, Stick threw his first touchdown, a 23-yard pass to Shepherd for a 24-10 lead.<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n “We’re competitors. We earned the right to play in this game, too,” Best said. “And I’m excited to protect those players. They earned this opportunity. And we fell short. Very close but short.”<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n