Chris Klieman finished at North Dakota State with his fourth FCS national championship. The Bison took down Eastern Washington in Frisco to win the title.
On Saturday afternoon in Frisco, Texas, the undefeated North Dakota State Bison completed their 15th win of the 2018 season with a 38-24 victory over Eastern Washington to secure the school’s seventh FCS national championship. For Chris Klieman, the head coach who finished his final game with the Bison before heading to take over for Bill Snyder at Kansas State, finishing his five-year tenure in Fargo with four national championships and 69 victories in that span.
Against the Eagles, North Dakota State quarterback Easton Stick threw two interceptions but otherwise dominated the Big Sky defense. Stick finished the day with 186 yards and two touchdowns through the air on 13-of-19 passing. The veteran gunslinger added 121 yards and three touchdowns on the ground.
Stick was one of three players to go over 60 yards against Eastern Washington. Junior Ty Brooks led the way among running backs for the Bison out of the backfield, finishing with 82 on nine carries. Lance Dunn pitched in 19 carries for 61 rushing yards, while Seth Wilson added another 20 yards on four carries. All told, the Bison finished with 291 net rushing yards to average 5.5 yards per carry as a group.
North Dakota State’s defense also got the job done against Eastern Washington. The did struggle some containing Eagles running back Sam McPherson, who finished the losing effort with 18 carries for 158 yards and a score.
Eastern Washington quarterback Eric Barriere finished just 13-of-25 for 198 yards, with two interceptions along the way. Though he had several nice long balls to beat the Bison over the top, Barriere was unable to account for any Eastern Washington touchdowns through the air, though he punched in a late score to pull the Eagles within a touchdown inside the final three minutes.
The Bison sealed the deal at Toyota Stadium with a 46-yard touchdown run from Stick that put the favorites back up by two touchdowns. That proved the final score, as Eastern Washington was unable to respond another time. Eastern Washington put in a solid performance, but there was little that they could do to contain one of the most dominant FCS seasons of all time.
Over the past five years, no team at either level of Division I football has been more dominant than North Dakota State. Pending the results of the College Football Playoff national championship game on January 7, the Bison have won at least one more game and one more title during Klieman’s tenure than Nick Saban pulled off with the Crimson Tide.
With their seventh national championship in eight years, it will be interesting to see if the Bison can keep up the momentum like they did once Craig Bohl handed the reins of the program to Klieman. As Klieman now heads to Manhattan, his defensive coordinator Matt Ertz will step into the head coaching role for the FCS national champions.