The North Dakota State Bison began their 2015-16 campaign with a 38-35 loss on the road to the Montana Grizzlies Saturday afternoon, August 29th, in front of a record crowd in Missoula.

The Bison started the scoring on their first drive of the game, when quarterback (and Bismarck native) Carson Wentz connected with Chase Morlock for a 27-yard touchdown pass.

The Griz responded just a few minutes later with a 7-yard touchdown of their own from quarterback Brady Gustafson to Jamaal Jones. Montana added a 22-yard field goal with a little over two minutes left to go in the first quarter to take a 10-7 lead after 15 minutes of play.

Wentz put the Bison back in front 14-10 with a 19-yard touchdown run early in the second quarter. The Griz responded with another field goal, this one from 24 yards out, to bring them within one point, 14-13.

But, Wentz ran it in again just a few minutes later, this time from 11 yards out, to bring the Bison's lead to eight, 21-13. The Griz responded once again with a 38-yard touchdown pass from Gustafson to WR Ben Roberts. They elected to go for the two-point conversion, which Gustafson once again completed to Roberts, to tie the game at 21 with a little over six minutes left in the first half.

Wentz threw his second TD pass of the game with less than thirty seconds left in the first half to WR Zach Vraa to give the Bison a 28-21 lead heading into halftime.

The Griz tied the game up at 28 with over six minutes left to go in the third quarter, when Gustafson hit WR Ellis Henderson for a 62-yard touchdown pass.

The Bison then took the lead back, 35-28, after a 7-yard touchdown run from RB King Frazier, with ten-and-a-half minutes left to go in the game. The Griz added a field goal, with 2:47 left to go in the game, to inch within four points, 35-31

The Griz had one last shot at the end zone and with six seconds left in the game, they were able to punch it in, giving them a 37-35 lead. They'd add the extra point and upset the Bison 38-35.

Wentz final stat line looked like this: 16-26 for 198 yards passing and two touchdowns. He also had 70 yards on the ground with two touchdowns to lead NDSU.

The Bison are off next week, but they will return to Fargo on Saturday, September 12th, to take on Weber State.

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