North Dakota St. beats Air Force 38-32, win first Mountain West Conference game

AIR FORCE ACADEMY, Colo. -- — Nathan Hayes threw two touchdown passes and scored on a 17-yard run, and North Dakota State beat Air Force 38-32 on Saturday night in the Bison's first Mountain West Conference game. North Dakota State (3-0, 1-0) joined the MWC as part of its move to the FBS in the offseason. NDSU won 10 FCS national championships from 2011-2025. Hayes completed 15 of 23 for 228 yards with an interception and had scoring strikes of 44 yards to Mekhi Collins with 5:20 left in the second quarter and 41 yards to Logan Conklin early in the third. Myles Mitchell ripped off a 31-yard run that capped a nine-play, 75-yard drive a little more than 5 minutes into the game and the Bison led the rest of the way. Hayes threw a long pass to Jackson Williams for a 51-yard gain to set up Mitchell's 1-yard TD run that made it 28-13 with 29 second left in the first half. North Dakota State safety Darius Givance — a second-team All-Missouri Valley Football Conference pick last season — was ejected for targeting with 1:20 to play. Air Force safety Cade Paterson was ejected for targeting following a huge hit that forced an incompletion on the fifth play from scrimmage. North Dakota State's Drew Klein kicked a 56-yard field goal, the longest in program history. Liam Szarka was 5-of-10 passing for 103 yards and added 88 yards rushing and a TD on 21 carries for the Falcons (1-1, 0-1). Air Force's Mason Hayes caught a lateral from Szarka and then hit Adam Hrynciw for a 36-yard touchdown and Blake Fletcher returned an interception 85 yards for a score. Up next North Dakota State: Play next Saturday at Sacramento State. Air Force: Visits Nevada on Sept. 26. ------ Sign up for Top 25 poll alerts here, visit the Top 25 here and see AP’s full college football coverage here