Lance has dazzling debut in NDSU's 57-10 win at Target Field

Sep 1, 2019, 12:54 am

MINNEAPOLIS -- Trey Lance threw for four touchdowns and ran for two more and defending FCS champion North Dakota State rolled to a 57-10 victory over Butler on Saturday.

Lance, a redshirt freshman making his first start and one of 36 players from Minnesota on the Bison roster, dazzled a crowd of 34,554 at Target Field, home of the Minnesota Twins. He had all four of his passing touchdowns and a rushing score by halftime with NDSU leading 36-0.

The game was the first as a head coach for North Dakota State's Matt Entz, who had been the program's defensive coordinator the past five seasons.

This was the second football game played at Target Field. St. John's and St. Thomas drew a Division-III record crowd of 37,555 on Sept. 23, 2017.

The Bison, winners of seven of the past eight FCS championship games, including the last two, are again top-ranked and showed why, piling up 605 yards offense while holding the Bulldogs to just 198 -- 67 in the first half -- in the season opener for both teams.

Lance broke up the middle to score on a 33-yard run for the first touchdown. Then he threw a perfect 47-yard pass on a fly pattern to Phoenix Sproles for another score. Two of the TD passes went to Josh Babicz, who was wide open in the end zone on both occasions.

Lance ran 61 yards for a third-quarter TD. He finished 10-of-11 passing for 185 yards and a 116 rushing on five carries. Ty Brooks had 93 yards on 10 carries, including a 36-yard score.

NDSU has won 22 consecutive games, the longest current streak in Division I and tied for the fifth-longest in FCS history.