McFeely: With an unforgettable finish, the Dakota Marker is finally here to stay – InForum

FARGO — North Dakota State players sprinted from their sidelines as time expired Saturday night at the Fargodome and made their way to the rock slab that had been gone for too long.

The Bison defeated South Dakota State. Finally.

Finally, the Dakota Marker Trophy up for grabs in this great competition will remain in Fargo for one year.

The final, exhausting and unforgettable score was NDSU 13, SDSU 9 in a slugfest for the ages.

Anna Paige / The Forum

Cam Miller, the Bison senior quarterback who had never beaten the Jackrabbits in his stellar career, finally had his moment.

He led the Bison on a 92-yard drive in the game's final minutes, capping his heroics with a perfect 20-yard touchdown pass in the corner of the Dome's north end zone, which receiver RaJa Nelson caught as he was up fell on the yellow grass.

The bolts holding the old dome's roof in place rattled just a little as the standing-room-only crowd, which stayed until the emotional end, erupted in joy.

And when NDSU linebacker Logan Kopp intercepted a pass from SDSU quarterback Mark Gronowski a few minutes later to seal the win, five years of frustration erupted among fans and the Bison themselves.

NDSU players remained standing after grabbing the rock. They ran to thank the student section, which was loud and rowdy throughout the game. They jogged through the south end zone with the Dakota marker and waved to fans at the end of the stadium.

Anna Paige / The Forum

For a football program with so many memorable moments and dramatic victories that they probably wouldn't fit in the Bison's fancy new practice facility, just off the dome on University Drive, this one isn't going away anytime soon.

It felt like the old days in the Fargodome, when many fans were frankly bored with all the wins and national championships.

The Jackrabbits had taken the title from the Bison as the best team in the Football Championship Subdivision and are the two-time defending national champions.

This one felt personal.

It met all expectations.

David Samson/The Forum

A full house. An electric shock as NDSU ran onto the field before the game. The opposing team received penalties because the crowd was so loud.

There was even a skirmish between the Bison and Jackrabbits as tempers flared in the second quarter. The officials kept yellow penalty flags in the air.

It was a good old-fashioned slugfest. A slobberknocker between the #1 ranked Jackrabbits and #2 ranked Bison, just as it should have been.

As the game entered its final minutes with the Jackrabbits defending their slim lead and the Bison pushing for victory, it was hot and steamy in the dome. Very few, if any, fans left – unlike most Bison home games.

It was like it was 2012 all over again and Georgia Southern was here for a playoff game to remember. It was wonderful. It was fun.

The Bison had not defeated SDSU since 2019. That made five straight games in four seasons, as the Jackrabbits also defeated NDSU once in the Football Championship Subdivision title game in Frisco, Texas. The ultimate insult.

David Samson/The Forum

There was a time when this was unthinkable. The Bison were the kings of the FCS. They beat SDSU eight straight times at once. The marker almost took up permanent residence in the dome.

Bison fans did everything they could to flip the script this time. A packed crowd of 18,807 was in attendance, the highest attendance since 18,923 for a game against North Dakota in 2019.

The tightly packed parking lots west of the dome were packed with thousands of fans hours before the game. On a near-perfect day in mid-October, yellow bison flags waved in the wind. Beer flowed freely. Blue and yellow SDSU fans mingled with the green and gold hordes. There was a little more juice for the party crowd.

David Samson/The Forum

Things continued inside the dome. As the lights were turned off for the Bisons' walk from their locker room to the field, fans stood roaring and waving green lights. As Bison head coach Tim Polasek led the team onto the field, he punched the air hard three times and shouted for the fans to be even louder.

But it was nothing like when Miller found Nelson for the touchdown that won't soon be forgotten. It was like old times. The noise. The joy. The victory.

The bison defeated the jackrabbits.

The Dakota Marker stays here.

Mike McFeely is a columnist for The Forum of Fargo-Moorhead. He began working for The Forum in the 1980s while studying journalism at Minnesota State University Moorhead. He has been at the Forum full-time since 1990, except for a six-year hiatus when he hosted a local radio talk show.