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fense. • Bohl said clinching a portion of the conference title "is a huge step. The next step is to win the whole thing outright." • SDSU (7-3, 5-2) settled for 46 yards rushing and 163 yards passing. NDSU linebackers Travis Beck and Grand Olson combined on 17 tackles, and the Bison sacked quarterback Austin Sumner five times. • "I thought we had a real good game plan going in, stopping the run," Olson said. "In a rivalry game like this, you don't need any more motivation." • The Jackrabbits had just 135 yards of total offense before a 74-yard scoring drive in the final minutes, capped by a 3-yard pass from Sumner to Trevor Tiefenthaler, pulled the visitors within 20-17. But NDSU quarterback Brock Jensen recovered the ensuing onside kick and the Bison ran out the clock. • "I'm just lucky I got a pair of gloves before I went out there," Jensen said. • The Bison had their own tough sledding on offense, finishing with 251 yards of total offense and two turnovers. But they scored on a 24-yard pass from Jensen to Kevin Vaadeland in the first quarter and a 3-yard run by Sam Ojuri with 2:39 left in the game to make it 20-10. • Ojuri's touchdown came after SDSU was penalized for an illegal substitution while NDSU kicker Adam Keller was lined up for a possible third field goal. Instead, the Bison went for it on fourth-and-inches, and Ojuri scampered around left end to score. • SDSU head coach John Stiegelmeier said it was his fault. • "If we don't have 12 men on the football field, maybe I'm smiling right now," Stiegelmeier said. "That's how fickle the football game is." • The Jacks also were saddled with nine penalties, including a handful of false-start mistakes that NDSU players said were the result of noise created by 18,721 fans inside the Fargodome. • "It's definitely a great atmosphere out there," SDSU linebacker Ross Shafrath said. "I'm sure it's not too easy to hear the calls. There were a couple of false starts that hurt us. That's part of the game. That's something we know that's going to happen up here." • Shafrath, who leads FCS in solo tackles, topped all defenders with 15 total stops Saturday. • Ojuri led the Bison with 75 yards rushing, but Jensen added 67 yards on the ground in a rare showing from the quarterback spot. That included a career-long 56-yard run in the third quarter that led to a Keller field goal for a 13-10 NDSU lead. • SDSU's other touchdown came on a 26-yard pass from Sumner to Brandon (Continued on page 23)
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