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Charleston, S.C. — Barika Kpeenu ran for 79 yards on 12 carries and two touchdowns to lead the Bison to a blowout win over the Citadel Bulldogs in front of a home crowd of 10,691 at Johnson Hagood stadium on Saturday.
Dual threat quarterback Cole Payton threw for 192 yards on 11-for-17 attempts for a touchdown and ran for 101 more.
After a 2-yard rushing touchdown from Kpeenu capped off a 90-yard 12 play drive, the Bison marched back down the field to score on a 34-yard passing touchdown from Payton to RaJa Nelson to bring the score to a 17-0 lead before halftime.
The stout North Dakota State defense held Citadel quarterback Quentin Hayes to 14 yards and the Bulldog running core to 104 yards. Linebacker Logan Kopp forced a fumble to add to his resume and helped the Bison hold the Bulldogs to one redzone trip.
On the flip side, the Citadel’s Israel Benjamin led the team with 54 yards on 16 attempts. Cale Williams led the defensive efforts with 13 total tackles, including six solo. Je’Mazin Roberts tallied eight tackles with a tackle-for-loss.
“There’s a lot to learn from this game and I can’t wait to jump on the film and dig at the details so we can get better,” coach Maurice Drayton said following the game. “There were some positives, things we can take from this game and build on. We’re going to get back to the drawing board and figure out what we need to get better and move forward to become a playoff team.”
The Citadel heads to Alabama next to take on Samford. Kick-off is slated for 3:30 PM.
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