After running for over 280 yards on the ground against Arizona, North Dakota State decided to go for it on fourth-and-2 at the Arizona 23-yard line in the final quarter instead of attempting a field goal to make it a seven point game. Jalen Harris and Jerry Roberts combined to stuff the run up the middle to turn the Bison over on downs. With the momentum on the Arizona side, Jayden de Laura drove the Wildcats down the field on a 10-play drive capped off with a touchdown pass to Jacob Cowing to give Arizona a 31-28 lead which wound up being the final score.

"I appreciate our fans," Jedd Fisch opened the press conference saying. "The Zona Zoo was awesome and I think we're continuing to build that up the way we want it which is just a great atmosphere. Our fans showed up and I think our fans will continue to show up and continue to build and continue to get this thing better, so I want to thank them for being here."

It was a back-and-forth battle between the Wildcats and Bison with the North Dakota State fans loud all night. The highlight early in the game was Jayden de Laura's willingness to run the ball after missing out on so many opportunities last week. This was a big factor early with multiple first downs gained by de Laura using his legs as well as a touchdown on a quarterback draw play inside the 10-yard line.

The Wildcats were able to get a huge field goal right before the half to take a 17-14 lead into the break highlighted by a big throw to Dorian Singer.

The Bison took a 21-17 lead early in the third quarter on a drive highlighted by all running plays. After Arizona answered back with a touchdown drive capped off by Jonah Coleman's first career touchdown run, North Dakota State answered right back with a 38-yard touchdown run by Hunter Luepke who totaled 180 yards from scrimmage and three touchdowns.

It was looking downhill for Arizona when Tyler Loop missed his first career field goal attempt that would have cut the deficit to one point.

"I made the decision at 28-24 to kick the field goal," Fisch said. "I wanted to make sure that we kept the game within seven or eight or four [points]."

The Wildcats were able to get a huge stop on downs on that next Bison offensive drive followed by what wound up being a game-winning touchdown drive.

"I mean not only the last offensive drive, I would say the whole game we stuck to our game plan," de Laura said. "We executed when we needed to on certain plays and then like I said, I used my legs to open the offense a little more."

Despite it looking like Arizona might have been in the trouble after the field goal miss, Fisch was never worried.

"We emphasize resiliency in our program," Fisch said. "We emphasize the next play mentality and I didn't feel we were on the ropes. I felt like they moved the ball and we moved the ball, they moved the ball and we moved the ball. I felt no flinch. There was no flinch at all and when our team went out there after we scored to make it 31-28, I heard our defense say 'One stop wins the game' and that was the mentality we had."

They were then able to force a three-and-out and able to run the clock out to secure the victory.

The defense stepped up at times in a huge way, beginning with a fumble forced by Hunter Echols and recovered by Jerry Roberts early in the second quarter. That gives them six turnovers forced on the season through three games, which matches the turnover total for the Wildcats defense all of last season.

"We talked all offseason about the importance of taking the ball away," Fisch said. "We take it away six times in these three games... Our goal now is to each week take it away again and keep taking it away and you can see it's a mindset and it's a mentality. I appreciate coach Nansen embracing what I have asked for there which is just an absolute mentality that you go after the ball at all times."

de Laura bounced back in a huge way for Arizona, not turning the ball over and making fantastic decisions all night. The Wildcats were able to get the ground game back and running, led by 51 yards on nine carries from Michael Wiley. de Laura also totaled a career-high in rushing with 50 yards on the ground, while spreading the ball around to the wide receivers and tight ends.

"I would say yes but I mean if you double cover somebody, you got to stop the two guys on the outside and then our tight end and then when we're running the ball," de Laura said on if Cowing was being bracketed by the Bison defense in the first half. "It is pretty much pick your poison and I pretty much told [Cowing] towards the end of the game that you're gonna get a play that we need so just be ready."

After winning one game all of last season, the Wildcats have now opened up the season 2-1 to already beat last year's win total.

"We are just trying to build," Fisch said. "We have asked our players to trust the process... We knew that we were going to take some lumps and do some things different and bring in a bunch of new players and make some changes. On top of that, we were able to build a program and we are just getting started. This is just the very beginning of this process, but I do believe that our guys love the fact that they're Wildcats. If you love being a Wildcat, you're going to work hard and you're going to give extra and you're going to do more."

Arizona will open up Pac-12 play next Saturday heading to Cal with kickoff scheduled for 2:30 p.m. MST.

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