Bison stop Nevada in wild affair, reach bowl eligibility

FARGO — When the dust settled from the 33-year-old brick building in north Fargo around 9:30 Saturday night, with 18,261 fans probably not having much of a voice left, North Dakota State left Gate City Bank Field at the Fargodome bowl eligible in its first season of Division I FBS. That was the prize. The fight was something else. The Bison held off Nevada 31-17 to move to 6-1 and 3-1 in the Mountain West Conference. It takes at least six wins to qualify for a postseason bowl game, all the while NDSU remained near the top in the Mountain West standings. It was a wild affair that featured two unlikely plays in a 100-yard touchdown return of a missed field to conclude the first half by Jackson Williams and a return of a fumbled Nevada two-point conversion by Matthew Stenbroten — worth two points for NDSU. Stenbroten s play came early in the third quarter and gave NDSU a 21-17 lead. NDSU one series later was on the doorstep after a Marion Moore leaping interception at the N