FARGO – North Dakota State players sprinted from their sidelines Saturday night as time expired in the Fargodome, heading toward the rock slab that had been left too long.

The Bison defeated South Dakota State. Finally.

Finally, the Dakota Marker trophy, up for grabs in this great river, will reside in Fargo for a year.

The final, exhausting, unforgettable score was NDSU 13, SDSU 9 in a slugfest for the ages.

Anna Paige / The Forum

Cam Miller, the Bison senior quarterback who had yet to beat the Jackrabbits in his stellar career, finally had his moment.

He led the Bison on a 92-yard drive in the final minutes of the game, capping his heroics with a perfect 20-yard touchdown pass in the corner of the north end zone of the dome that receiver RaJa Nelson caught as he stood on the yellow grass fell.

The bolts holding the roof of the old dome rattled slightly as the standing crowd, which remained until the emotional end, erupted with joy.

And when NDSU linebacker Logan Kopp intercepted a pass from SDSU quarterback Mark Gronowski to seal the victory minutes later, five years of frustration roared from the fans and the Bison themselves.

NDSU players hung around after grabbing the rock. They ran to thank the student section, which was rowdy and loud throughout the game. They jogged past the south end zone with the Dakota Marker in hand and waved to the fans on that side of the stadium.

Anna Paige / The Forum

For a football program with so many memorable moments and dramatic victories that they probably wouldn’t fit in the Bison’s fancy new practice building just off University Drive from the Dome, this isn’t going away anytime soon.

It felt like old times in the Fargodome, honestly a lot of fans got bored with all the winning and national championships.

The Jackrabbits had taken the title of best team in the Football Championship Subdivision from the Bison and are the two-time defending national champions.

This one felt personal.

It met every expectation.

David Samson/The Forum

A full house. An electric shock as NDSU ran onto the field before the game. The opponent was awarded penalties because the crowd was so loud.

There was even a skirmish between the Bison and Jackrabbits as tempers flared in the second quarter. Officials filled the air with yellow penalty flags.

It was an old-fashioned brawl. A slobber between the number 1 ranked Jackrabbits and the number 2 ranked Bison, just as it should have been.

As the game entered its final minutes, with the Jackrabbits holding on to their slim lead and the Bison heading for what would be the game winner, the dome was hot and steamy. Very few, if any, fans were out, unlike most Bison home games.

It was like it was 2012 again and Georgia Southern was here for an unforgettable playoff game. It was glorious. It was fun.

The Bison had not defeated SDSU since 2019. That was five straight games over four seasons, as the Jackrabbits also once defeated NDSU in the Football Championship Subdivision title game in Frisco, Texas. The ultimate insult.

David Samson/The Forum

There was a time when this was unthinkable. The Bison were the kings of the FCS. They defeated SDSU eight times in a row during one stretch. The Marker took up almost permanent residence in the dome.

Bison fans have done everything they can to flip the script this time. A packed crowd of 18,807 showed up, the largest turnout since 18,923 showed up for a game against North Dakota in 2019.

The parking lots west of the dome were packed with thousands of fans hours before the game. On a near-perfect day in mid-October, yellow bison flags fluttered in the wind. The beer flowed. Blue and yellow SDSU fans mingled with the green and gold hordes. There was some extra juice for the party crowd.

David Samson/The Forum

It continued into the dome. When the lights were turned off for the Bison’s walk from their locker room to the field, fans were roaring while flashing green lights. As Bison head coach Tim Polasek led the team onto the grass, he punched the air three times and shouted for the fans to be even louder.

But it was nothing like the moment Miller found Nelson for the touchdown that won’t soon be forgotten. That was like old times. The noise. The joy. The victory.

The Bison defeated the Jackrabbits.

The Dakota Marker resides here.

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