FRISCO, Texas — Cam Miller ran for two touchdowns and threw for two more in his 54th consecutive start as North Dakota State’s quarterback, and the Bison won their record 10th Football Championship Subdivision title, beating top-seeded and previously undefeated Montana State35-32 on Monday night.
North Dakota State (14-2) made the trip from Fargo to Frisco for the 11th time in 14 seasons. Its previous title there was three years ago, in a game that also had Miller and Montana State’s Tommy Mellott as the starting quarterbacks.
North Dakota State’s 10 FCS championships have all come in the past 14 seasons (no other school has more than six FCS titles), according to ESPN Research. The Bison’s only title game loss in Frisco was two years ago to South Dakota State. They are still the only team in modern college football to have a 16-0 season, five years ago when the Bison also won the national title.
Miller completed 19 of 22 passes for 199 yards and ran 18 times for 121 yards to win his 45th game (out of 56 starts) and his second national title.
“Cam Miller was the best quarterback on the football field today. There was no doubt about it,” said first-year NDSU coach Tim Polasek, who was an assistant for the Bison’s first two titles in Frisco at the end of the 2011 and 2012 seasons. “Tommy’s a good football player, there’s no question about that either. But all year long, these guys have answered the bell with complimentary football.”
Montana native Mellott had a 44-yard touchdown run that got the Bobcats (15-1) to within 28-25 early in the fourth quarter. He won the Walter Payton Award this season as the top offensive player in the FCS in a close vote over Miller.
Mellott ran for 135 yards on 14 carries and was 13-of-24 passing for 195 yards and two touchdowns. He threw a 19-yarder to Taco Dowler with 1:09 left before an unsuccessful onside kick attempt.
“Our offense was a little bit stagnant there in the first half unfortunately and we came up short because of it,” Mellott said. “Guys kept fighting, it’s very easy 21-3 to quit … and we came back out there and we had a group of guys that fought for this team, fought for the seniors.”
The Bison never trailed after Miller capped the game’s opening drive that took more than seven minutes with a 2-yard plunge. Miller had an empty backfield behind him on their second possession when he got the snap and sprinted 64 yards untouched up the middle for another touchdown.
“It was a draw play with an option to pass as well … they played the perfect front and the perfect coverage for it for us. It just parted,” Miller said. “It didn’t feel real honestly. Usually when we run draws, you’ve got to make a few guys miss. And there was nobody there.”
Miller threw a 1-yard touchdown pass to Bryce Lance right before halftime for a 21-3 lead. Lance’s FCS-best 17th TD came one play after a catch near the front pylon when he was ruled out of bounds inside the 1 after a replay review. He is the younger brother of former NDSU quarterback Trey Lance, who on Sunday made his first start for the Dallas Cowboys before attending the FCS title game.
Bryce Lance, who finished with nine catches for 107 yards, had a diving 38-yard reception on the final play of the third quarter to set up Miller’s 1-yard TD pass to Joe Stoffel to restore a 10-point lead.
Montana State (15-1) has now gone 40 years since winning its national title. The Bobcats have a 21-18 series lead over North Dakota State but have lost the past six meetings — all in the FCS playoffs since 2010. They lost 35-34 in the second round last season after a blocked extra point attempt in overtime.
“The way the game played out, they played better than us and, you know, ultimately put ourselves in a big hole,” said Montana State coach Brent Vigen, a former NDSU player and assistant coach. “Obviously this is a low point … having 15 victories and you can’t finish it off.”
Up next
North Dakota State opens the 2025 season at The Citadel on Aug. 30, which will be the first time since midway through the 2021 season that someone other than Miller will start at quarterback for the Bison.
Montana State plays its 2025 opener at Oregon of the Big Ten on Aug. 30. The only previous meeting in that series was in 1947.
Information from The Associated Press was used in this report.
Rachel Doerrie is a professional data consultant specializing in data communication and modelling. She’s worked in the NHL and consulted for professional teams across North American and Europe. She hosts the Staff & Graph Podcast and discusses sports from a data-driven perspective.
The 2025 NHL trade deadline featured some major players on the move and vaulted both the Florida Panthers and Dallas Stars to the top of the Stanley Cup contender conversation.
How will those prospects impact their new teams? When will they play meaningful minutes at the NHL level? Teams and their fans are asking all those questions. Here are scouting notes on eight of the most prominent, including Calum Ritchie, Fraser Minten and Brendan Brisson.
They weren’t even among the 11 players assessed 10-minute misconduct penalties in the final frame. Six were from Buffalo, the other five from Detroit.
The final tally from the third: 136 of the game’s 150 penalty minutes, all but two of those either roughing, fighting or misconducts.
The scuffles, including a near-brawl with multiple simultaneous fights, overshadowed the fourth five-point night of Patrick Kane‘s 18-year career in the highest-scoring game of the season for the Red Wings, who stopped a six-game losing streak. Kane had two goals and three assists.
The Detroit lead was 6-3 when Tuch and Rasmussen faced off with eight minutes remaining. They posed with their fists raised for almost as long as the fight lasted, which was only a few seconds.
Less than a minute later, Detroit’s J.T. Compher and Jordan Greenway of Buffalo got tangled up. After the whistle, their scrum was very brief — but bad enough that both went to locker room with game misconducts. Greenway gave officials an ear full on his way off the ice.
The other nine misconducts came at the 16:51 mark, punctuated by one of the referees announcing a roughing penalty for Detroit defenseman Simon Edvinsson before saying, “All the other guys are going to have a misconduct.” The list included Edvinsson.
Buffalo had just five players on the bench by game’s end after Beck Malenstyn was sent off for roughing in the final minute along with Detroit’s Moritz Seider.
“There was a lot of emotion out there,” the Sabres’ Tage Thompson told reporters. “And we had a lot of frustration with how things had gone during the game.”
Information from The Associated Press was used in this report.
FRISCO, Texas — Newly acquired Dallas Stars forward Mikko Rantanen says he’s pleased with where he landed while denying his former coach’s claim that he gave Carolina a list of teams he preferred in a trade, and the Hurricanes weren’t on it.
Rantanen addressed reporters after his first practice with the Stars on Wednesday. He played two games in Canada on a four-game road trip interrupted at the halfway point by a four-day break.
The star forward had a goal and an assist in a 5-4 loss to Edmonton on Saturday, then scored again on an empty-netter in a 4-1 victory in Vancouver the next night.
The Stars play at Central Division-leading Winnipeg on Friday before a Sunday visit to Colorado. Rantanen was abruptly traded by the Avalanche to Carolina on Jan. 24, then moved again with the Hurricanes worried they would lose the 28-year-old in free agency without getting anything in return.
Carolina coach Rod Brind’Amour told a radio station in Raleigh, North Carolina, this week that Rantanen told the front office he was only willing to sign his next contract with four teams, and Carolina was not on that list.
“I saw some things were said that I had a list of teams ready when I went (to Carolina), but that’s false,” Rantanen said. “Obviously, it was a big shock to leave Colorado, but I went (to Carolina) with an open mind and tried my best on the ice.”
The Dallas deal came together the morning of the trade deadline Friday, after Stars general manager Jim Nill went to bed the night before believing the sides wouldn’t be able to agree on a contract extension to complete the deal.
Rantanen signed an eight-year, $96 million contract with Dallas as part of the trade. The Hurricanes acquired promising young forward Logan Stankoven along with two first-round picks and two third-rounders.
“When I put the jersey on there, I tried my best and just decided just a little bit before the deadline that Carolina would probably get a better return for me if I would do a sign and trade,” Rantanen said. “That it would be better for their team rather than me being a rental and going somewhere to play. So that was the decision. I want to make it clear that I was open-minded in Carolina and really thought about staying there.”
Rantanen will have to wait to see how fans react to his return to Colorado. The 10th overall pick of the 2015 draft spent his first nine-plus seasons with the Avalanche, getting 681 points (287 goals, 394 assists) in 619 regular-season games. He has 101 points (34 goals, 67 assists) in 81 playoff games.
“Colorado was always where I wanted to stay, but I understand it’s business and they made a decision,” Rantanen said. “I tried my best in Carolina and I’m here now and I’m so happy to be here, locked in for eight years with a good team and with good coaches. I’m thankful for Dallas to have the trust in me.”
