JOHNSON CITY, Tenn. — That went down as one of the worst, most embarrassing losses in North Dakota State history in the Football Championship Subdivision. This was crushed badly at Southern Illinois in the crazy 2021 spring season. This was crushed badly at North Dakota last season. Except worse. This was East Tennessee State.

East Tennessee State? Of the Southern Conference? Bison head coach Tim Polasek was about to marinate for a few days before being spit-roasted until the end of time. East Tennessee State? Unforgivable. Take the (blank) out of here.

Instead, the Bisons somehow resurrected the memories of Steve Walker and Kole Heckendorf and Carson Wentz and Darrius Shepherd and Easton Stick and RJ Urzendowski and whatever other oldies you can remember. This went from an unmitigated disaster to Cal Poly and Sam Houston circa 2007 in less than 5 minutes. Left for dead, only to claw their way out of the coffin to live another day.

It was NDSU 38, ETSU 35 on Saturday at rockin’ and rollin’ William B. Greene Jr. Stadium in a game in which the Bisons were outclassed, outplayed and outplayed for roughly 57 of the 60 minutes. It wasn’t pretty, and it certainly wasn’t good enough to make anyone want to book tickets to Frisco this week.

ETSU led 35-23 and took possession with 4:20 left in the fourth quarter. The stadium-record crowd of 11,040 was already partying, the Buccaneers’ sideline bouncing like a nightclub dance floor. This one was over. In the books. The stories and columns were literally written. Until the delete backspace was in full swing.

David Samson/The Forum

“I’ve never seen anything like this in my short career,” 33-year-old ETSU head coach Tre Lamb said at a postgame press conference, looking simultaneously devastated and stunned. He wasn’t angry or emotional, just stunned and confused about what had just happened.

“Absolutely heartbreaking, unacceptable,” Lamb continued. “There are a lot of words for it, but I’m hurting. The team is hurting. We beat the No. 2 team in the country. Let’s just call it what it was. We beat them. I mean, done. Put a fork in their mouth. The game’s over. And we let them go with an inability to finish.”

In the final 4 minutes of the game, the Bucs 1) were called for a crucial holding penalty that stopped the clock while they were trying to run out the clock, 2) failed to recover a failed punt by NDSU’s John Gores even though four ETSU players were in position to do so, 3) allowed the Bison to go fourth-and-10 when a defender fell and allowed a pressured Cam Miller to throw a pass down the sideline 21 yards to Gores for a touchdown one play later, and 4) allowed an onside kick to bounce off a senior team captain’s face mask, allowing the Bison to recover the ball with 1:57 left and drive for the game-winning touchdown.

Insanity.

“I can’t get over what just happened. I don’t believe it. I don’t believe it,” Lamb said. “It’s unfathomable that it just happened. We stole defeat from the jaws of victory. … It’s like I told the kids, if you just let teams like that hang around, they’ll find a way to win, because they’ve won nine of the last 13 national championships. That’s the lesson.”

David Samson/The Forum

It certainly didn’t feel like ETSU earned lose the game.

The Bison didn’t look like the #2 team in the Southern Conference, let alone the entire FCS. But for everyone who sent me direct messages and emails telling me this program was terrible and Polasek stinks and Matt Entz ruined this program before he left for USC, look at the bright side. Your team won, and that’s better than losing. Just ask Lamb, whose team had a historic win under its belt before it faded away like a moonshiner in the Appalachian fog.

Lamb called playing NDSU in Johnson City earlier this week a “program-changing” and “generational” opportunity. The Bucs played like it was a “program-changing” and “generational” opportunity. Their running game crushed the Bison defensive line before running backs like Bryson Irby (15 carries, 147 yards, three touchdowns) made the secondary look like they were walking through oatmeal. Lamb had a game plan, outplaying the Bison and taking advantage of NDSU’s linebackers and safeties.

ETSU ran for 270 yards. What will North Dakota or South Dakota State do?

David Samson/The Forum

That’s a question for the coming days, and there are sure to be more. A team from the Southern Conference, a league not known for its physicality or size on the line of scrimmage, exposed NDSU in a way that even Colorado couldn’t.

But the Bison found a way, and that counts for something. They woke up the echoes of Walker-to-Heckendorf just in time. Cam Miller is a guest, folks. That’s a place to start. Remember that.

David Samson/The Forum

Try to put yourself in ETSU’s shoes.

“I wouldn’t change anything we did at the end of that game. The ball just didn’t bounce our way. That’s the bottom line. I really don’t think we lost the game. I don’t feel like we lost the game. I think the ball bounced their way,” Lamb said.

The Bisons will accept it because it’s better than the alternative they faced with only a few minutes left in the game.

Mike McFeely is a columnist for The Forum of Fargo-Moorhead. He began working for The Forum in the 1980s while studying journalism at Minnesota State University Moorhead. He has been with The Forum full-time since 1990, except for a six-year hiatus when he hosted a local radio talk show.