Miller, Payton lead North Dakota State to 35-10 win over Eastern Washington

Updated Sep. 2, 2023 7:32 p.m. ET

Associated Press

MINNEAPOLIS (AP) — Cam Miller threw two touchdown passes to Joe Stoffel, Cole Payton ran for 104 yards and a touchdown and North Dakota State rolled to a 35-10 win over Eastern Washington in the season opener on Saturday.

The Bison, last year's FCS runnerup and ranked second in the coaches poll, appeared right at home on the Minnesota Vikings' turf, rolling up 513 yards of offense. The first college game in U.S. Bank Stadium drew 22,546.

Miller was 18 of 25 while the running game piled up 337 yards. Miller's touchdown passes of 7 and 3 yards to his tight end opened and closed the scoring for the Bison and were also their shortest scoring plays among NDSU's five touchdowns.

TaMerik Williams, who finished with 93 yards, went 54 yards to make it 14-0. Payton, the running quarterback who was 1 of 3 for two yards, had a 70-yard run to make it 21-7 at halftime. Miller, who finished with 83 yards on the ground, made it 28-7 with a 14-yard run in the third quarter.

Eastern Washington finished with 338 yards but only 72 came on the ground. Kekoa Visperas was 23 of 39 for 266 yards passing with a first-quarter 34-yard touchdown pass to Nolan Ulm on a fourth-and-8 to make it 14-7.

The Eagles also had a field goal with four minutes left in the game.

___

AP college football: https://apnews.com/hub/college-football and https://apnews.com/hub/ap-top-25-college-football-poll