Bison capture unprecedented fifth consecutive FCS championship

Associated Press

FRISCO, Texas

Carson Wentz got one more game as North Dakota’s quarterback before the NFL draft — and another FCS title.

A potential first-round pick, Carson threw for a touchdown and ran for two more scores in his first game since breaking his right wrist in mid-October, and the Bison won their unprecedented fifth consecutive FCS championship with a 37-10 victory Saturday over top-seeded Jacksonville State.

“I felt good. I felt good for the last couple weeks now. That kind of showed a little today,” said Wentz, a two-time champion after Brock Jensen won three in a row for the Bison. “The rust people might have wanted to talk about it, that didn’t show.”

Five days after a CT scan showed his wrist was completely healed, Wentz was 16 of 29 for 197 yards with two interceptions. He accounted for two touchdowns in an 86-second span early in the second quarter.

“So happy for Carson to come in and play the way he did,” coach Chris Klieman said. “A lot of people may have questioned if he was going to be rusty. I didn’t question it at all. I know what kind of competitor he is. I know what kind of player he is.”

The Bison (13-2) won their 20th consecutive playoff game, including all five times they have made the trip from Fargo to Frisco for the title game at a professional soccer stadium. Fans clad in green and gold made up a majority of the stadium-record crowd of 21,836 — and stormed the field to celebrate once again.

Jacksonville State (13-2) was playing in the title game for the first time. It had won 12 games in a row since an overtime loss Sept. 12 at Auburn, one of the two SEC teams from its home state of Alabama. The other, the Crimson Tide, plays No. 1 Clemson on Monday night in the College Football Playoff championship game.

The Gamecocks were held to a season-low 204 total yards, 325 below their average and 181 under their previous season low. North Dakota State held all four of its playoff opponents well below their season averages, but this was the most dominant.

“It was not our best day, of course,” JSU coach John Grass said. “But take my hat off to North Dakota State. They played a great game. We just didn’t give them a good game today.”

Eli Jenkins, the dual-threat quarterback for the Gamecocks, finished 7-of-20 passing for 57 yards with two interceptions, and ran 15 times for 88 yards and their only touchdown.

“We needed to hop up him early and try to get him off schedule and stop the run game. So, that was huge,” said middle linebacker Nick DeLuca, who had nine tackles, an interception and a forced fumble.

Cam Pedersen had field goals of 29, 31 and 38 yards for North Dakota State after making only one of seven attempts the first three playoff games.