NCAAF Game Recap - Central Arkansas at North Dakota State
Sat Oct 3, 2020 3:30 PM EDT

UVA
23
Clem
41
F
TxAM
24
Bama
52
F
SCar
24
Fla
38
F
Aub
6
UGA
27
F
TCU
33
Tex
31
F
Tuls
34
UCF
26
F
UNC
26
BC
22
F
SoFL
7
Cin
28
F
Ark
21
MissSt
14
F
OkSt
47
Kans
7
F
Okla
30
IASt
37
F
LSU
41
Vand
7
F
MIZ
12
Tenn
35
F
LT
14
BYU
45
F
NCSt
30
Pitt
29
F
Mem
27
SMU
30
F
Camp
14
Wake
66
F
ArkSt
23
CoCar
52
F
Bayl
21
WVU
27
F(1OT)
ECU
29
GASt
49
F
UTSA
13
UAB
21
F
N AL
7
Lib
28
F
Abil
23
Army
55
F
TxTch
21
K St
31
F
JacSt
24
FlaSt
41
F
Miss
42
KY
41
F OT
VaTec
38
Duke
31
F
UNCC
17
FlAtl
21
F
W Ky
20
MidTN
17
F
Navy
7
AF
40
F
GaSo
35
ULMon
30
F
SMiss
41
NorTx
31
F

North Dakota State 39, Central Arkansas 28

Oct 3, 2020, 3:30 PM EDT

Final

1

2

3

4

T

Central Arkansas (2-2)

3

3

14

8

28

North Dakota State (1-0)

0

10

8

21

39

Lance, NDSU rally to win in their only fall appearance
Sat Oct 3, 2020 8:46 PM

FARGO, N.D. (AP) Trey Lance threw two touchdown passes and ran for two more scores and three-time FCS defending champion North Dakota State rallied with a 21-point fourth quarter to beat Central Arkansas 39-28 on Saturday in the Bison's lone fall game

The Bison extended their winning streak to 38, the longest in FCS history, and home streak to 29, the longest active run in Division I. They will take part in the Missouri Valley Football Conference's spring season with an eye on winning a 17th national championship.

"It wasn't as if we were off," North Dakota State coach Matt Entz said. "It's a game of inches. We needed to settle down a bit and get into our comfort zone."

The game was a de facto audition for Lance, judged to be a potential first-round pick if the redshirt sophomore declares for the NFL draft. As last season's Walter Payton Award winner, he threw 28 touchdown passes with no interceptions in 287 attempts but that run ended Saturday when he had a pass picked by Nick Nakawaasah in the third quarter. That led to Breylin Smith's TD toss to Lujuan Winningham that gave the Bears a 20-18 lead.

Lance, who had thrown 307 passes without an interception, had little to say about the end of that streak and declined to talk about whether he is turning pro.

"It's just playing football," he said about the interception. "I really don't have anything else to say about that."

In the fourth quarter, Lance ran for a score and, after Smith and Winningham connected for another TD, threw to Hunter Luepke for a 32-28 lead. Luepke added the final points on a 13-yard run with under two minutes remaining.

"I'm just doing what I can to help the team win on Saturdays," Luepke said.

Lance rushed for 143 yards on 15 carries and was 15-of-30 passing for 149 yards.

Smith was 25 of 38 for 226 yards, three scores and two interceptions.

Central Arkansas (2-1) opted out of a potential spring season with the Southland Conference and is playing a 10-game schedule this fall. The Bears were conference co-champs with Nicholls State last season.

Fan attendance at the usually packed 18,700 capacity Fargodome was limited to players' families. The official attendance was 471.

"It was tough right away," said linebacker James Kaczor, who led the Bison with 11 tackles. "I think we were a little bit flat coming out but we all picked it up after that."

---

More AP college football: https://apnews.com/Collegefootball and https://twitter.com/AP-Top25

Passing

C Ark Att Cmp % TD-Pa Yds-Pa LgPa Int Rat
B. Smith 38 25 65.8 3 226 39 2 86.1
NDSU Att Cmp % TD-Pa Yds-Pa LgPa Int Rat
T. Lance 30 15 50.0 2 149 23 1 72.8

Rushing

C Ark Att Yds-Ru Avg LgRu TDRu
B. Smith 10 34 3.4 14 0
K. Crossley 10 20 2.0 10 0
NDSU Att Yds-Ru Avg LgRu TDRu
T. Lance 15 143 9.5 54 2
S. Wilson 7 55 7.9 13 0

Receiving

C Ark Rec Yds-Rc Avg LgRc TD-Rc
T. Hudson 4 58 14.5 23 1
L. Winningham 4 55 13.8 39 2
NDSU Rec Yds-Rc Avg LgRc TD-Rc
B. Henderson 3 36 12.0 15 0
J. Babicz 3 35 11.7 21 1

Fumbles

NDSU F FL
T. Lance 1 1

Returning

C Ark KR Avg KRTD LgKR PR Avg TD LgPR
C. Myers 3 15.0 0 20 0 0 0
T. Hudson 0 0 0 2 3.5 0 0
NDSU KR Avg KRTD LgKR PR Avg TD LgPR
C. Watson 2 9.5 0 17 0 0 0
B. Henderson 0 0 0 1 19.0 0 0

Punting

C Ark Punt Yds Avg LgPu
S. Hughes-Ford 9 404 44.9 62
NDSU Punt Yds Avg LgPu
G. Wegner 7 329 47.0 58

Takeaways

C Ark Int Yds InTD
N. Nakwaasah 1 16 0
NDSU Int Yds InTD
J. Price 1 9 0
D. Weber 1 0 0

Team Stats Comparison

C Ark NDSU
Points For 28 39
Total Yards 297 424
Rushing Yards 71 275
Passing Yards 226 149
Passing Completions / Attempts 25/38 15/30
Turnovers 2 2
Interceptions Thrown 2 1
Fumbles - Lost 0/0 2/1
First Downs 14 26
Penalties - Yards 3/36 2/30
Time Of Possession 38:38 05:05
Third Down Conversions/Attempts 2/14 3/13
Fourth Down Conversions/Attempts 0/0 1/1
Punts - Average Yards 0/0 0/0

Scoring Summary

1st Quarter C Ark NDSU
C Ark 06:34 FG Hayden Ray 33 yd FG 3 0
2nd Quarter C Ark NDSU
C Ark 03:07 FG Hayden Ray 41 yd FG 6 0
NDSU 06:00 TD Josh Babicz 13 yd pass from Trey Lance (Jake Reinholz kick) 6 7
NDSU 12:28 FG Jake Reinholz 27 yd FG 6 10
3rd Quarter C Ark NDSU
NDSU 00:47 TD Trey Lance 54 yd run (JAMES KACZOR 2pt run) 6 18
C Ark 02:13 TD Tyler Hudson 22 yd pass from Breylin Smith (Hayden Ray kick) 13 18
C Ark 05:16 TD Lujuan Winningham 3 yd pass from Breylin Smith (Hayden Ray kick) 20 18
4th Quarter C Ark NDSU
NDSU 01:39 TD Trey Lance 14 yd run (Jake Reinholz kick) 20 25
C Ark 04:25 TD Lujuan Winningham 11 yd pass from Breylin Smith (BREYLIN SMITH 2pt run) 28 25
NDSU 07:25 TD Hunter Luepke 23 yd pass from Trey Lance (Jake Reinholz kick) 28 32
NDSU 13:09 TD Hunter Luepke 13 yd run (Jake Reinholz kick) 28 39

Game Information

Stadium: Gate City Bank Field at the Fargodome, Fargo, North Dakota
Attendance: 471
Game Time:
Weather: