FARGO, N.D. -- Bryce Lance caught three touchdown passes from Cam Miller, including a one-handed game winner, to give North Dakota State a 28-21 win over two-time defending national champion South Dakota State on Saturday and a berth in the FCS title game.
The second-seeded Bison (13-2) will take on Montana State for the championship on Jan. 6 in Frisco, Texas. NDSU, winner of nine FCS titles with its last coming in 2021, won its 20th straight home playoff game and beat the Jackrabbits for the second time this season. Those two teams and South Dakota tied for the Missouri Valley Football Conference title.
After the third-seeded Jackrabbits (12-3) tied the game at 21-all, the Bison drove 75 yards and scored with 4:18 remaining when Lance snagged a pass with his right hand and managed to get control and a foot down in the right corner of the end zone. The play was initially ruled as incomplete but overturned on review.
On South Dakota State's final possession, Mark Gronowski was sacked on fourth-and-17 at the Jackrabbits' 31.
The teams traded touchdowns in each of the first two quarters before both punting three times in the third quarter.
Miller found Lance deep for a 47-yard score early in the fourth and the Jackrabbits tied it midway through the period on Gronowski's 14-yard pass to Grahm Goering.
Lance, brother of NFL quarterback Trey Lance, made six catches for 125 yards, his other TD coming on a 21-yarder. Miller was 13-of-19 for 179 yards and also rushed for 93 yards and a TD.
Gronowski was 14-of-25 passing for 204 yards and he also ran for a score. Amar Johnson rushed for 77 yards and a touchdown.
Montana State 31, South Dakota 17
Tommy Mellott rushed for two touchdowns and passed for another to lead the top-seeded Bobcats (15-0) in Bozeman, Montana.
NDSU defeated Montana State 38-10 for the 2021 championship. The Bobcats' only FCS title came in 1984 when they beat Louisiana Tech 19-6.
Mellott fumbled a bad shotgun snap but the ball bounced back into his hands and he went up the middle, hurdling a defender for a 41-yard TD run and a 31-14 lead early in the third quarter.
After a field goal, South Dakota (11-3) drove to the Montana State 11 midway through the fourth quarter but came up short on a fourth-down pass to the 2. The Coyotes again drove deep into Montana State territory but a bad snap cost yardage and a down before a fourth-down pass to the end zone was broken up. A final possession ended on the first play with a fumble.
The Bobcats went in front 24-14 at halftime on Scottre Humphrey's 1-yard run to finish a long drive midway through the second quarter and Myles Sansted's 28-yard field goal.
In the first quarter, Mellott hit Taco Dowler with a 34-yard TD pass and scored on a 5-yard run. South Dakota's Travis Theis scored on a 55-yard run in the first quarter and Charles Pierre Jr. went 45 yards to tie at 14-all early in the second.
Mellott rushed for 125 yards and passed for 134.
South Dakota's Aidan Bouman passed for 236 yards and Theis rushed for 110.
Information from The Associated Press was used in this report.