FARGO, N.D. (AP) - North Dakota State turned three Missouri State turnovers into first-half touchdowns and coasted to a 55-0 win over the Bears to clinch a share of the Missouri Valley Football Conference title on Saturday.
The four-time defending FCS champion Bison (9-2, 7-1) shares the MVFC title for a second straight year with Illinois State and earns the conference's automatic bid to the playoffs.
"Five straight in this league is really hard to do," North Dakota State coach Chris Klieman said. "Hats off to our seniors, our coaches and our players for hanging through a lot of adversity and getting that fifth one."
Easton Stick completed 15 of 20 passes for 189 yards and four touchdowns and the Bison ran for 412 of their 601 total yards.
"The defense played really well and the offense was able to run the ball," Klieman said.
Missouri State (1-10, 0-8) managed just 171 total yards.
Stick threw touchdown passes of 4 yards to Connor Wentz, 1 yard to Zach Vraa, 6 yards to Bruce Anderson and 30 yards to Jeff Illies.
Lance Dunn led NDSU in rushing with 125 yards on eight carries. He scored on a 60-yard run.
The Bison defense set the tone early by forcing three turnovers leading to 20 points in the first half.
The first time the Bears had the ball, Greg Menard hit quarterback Brodie Lambert from behind forcing a fumble that Caleb Butler recovered in the end zone just 1:27 into the game.
Menard, a sophomore defensive end, had two sacks, two tackles for loss and a forced fumble.
The Bears' second possession ended in a Brad Ambrosius interception, leading to a 1-yard King Frazier TD run with 5:28 left in the first quarter.
On the last play of the first quarter, MJ Stumpf forced a fumble that Menard recovered on the Missouri State 24. That led to Stick's 4-yard pass to Wentz and a 20-0 lead.
NDSU poured it on through the second quarter. Dmitri Williams ran 27 yards for a score with 9:32 left and Stick threw a 1-yard pass to Vraa for a 34-0 lead with 7:29 to play.
Vraa reached around the head of a defender for the second time this season to haul in his 27th career TD, breaking a tie with Tim Strehlow for the NDSU record.
"We haven't lost a beat," Vraa said of Stick's play. "It's been a heck of a day. We're so fortunate to be in the place we are."
NDSU outgained the Bears 317-67 in the first half.
Lambert completed just nine of 21 yards for 62 yards. Ryan Heaston ran 23 times for 91 yards.