FARGO, N.D. (AP) -- Marcus Williams returned an interception 98 yards for a touchdown Saturday to help North Dakota State blow open a close game and crush Youngstown State 48-7.
Williams stepped in front of a Kurt Hess pass at the NDSU 2 midway through the second quarter as the Penguins were driving for a possible tying score. That made it 21-7.
The defending Football Championship Subdivision champions tacked on two more touchdowns to go ahead 35-7 at halftime.
Ryan Smith and John Crockett each scored two touchdowns for the Bison (5-0, 2-0 Missouri Valley). Smith caught a TD pass from Brock Jensen and returned a punt 76 yards for a score, while Crockett ran for 103 yards.
Youngstown State (4-1, 1-1) was saddled with three turnovers, all in the first half.
The game was played before a record crowd of 19,065 at the Fargodome.
YOUNGSTOWN ST NO DAKOTA ST
First downs 12 21
Rushed-yards 30-94 40-164
Passing yards 117 200
Sacked-yards lost 1-8 1-6
Return yards 0 185
Passes 11-21-2 15-23-0
Punts 3-52.3 2-34.0
Fumbles-lost 1-1 1-0
Penalties-yards 2-25 4-38
Time of possession 26:48 33:12
Individual Statistics
RUSHING: YOUNGSTOWN ST-Jamaine Cook 9-43, Torrian Pace 6-35, Adaris
Bellamy 3-8, Andrew Williams 1-5, Demond Hymes 1-3, Andre Stubbs 2-1,
Patrick Angle 1-1, Kevin Watts 1-1, Kurt Hess 6-MINUS 3. NO DAKOTA
ST-John Crockett 25-103, Derrick Lang 7-22, Deveon Dinwiddie 2-15,
Ryan Smith 1-9, Brock Jensen 3-8, Matt Jones 2-7.
PASSING: YOUNGSTOWN ST-Kurt Hess 11-20-117- 2, Patrick Angle 0-1-0- 0.
NO DAKOTA ST-Brock Jensen 15-23-200- 0.
RECEIVING: YOUNGSTOWN ST-Kintrell Disher 3-34, Nate Adams 1-24, Andre
Stubbs 1-21, Andrew Williams 2-15, Christian Bryan 1-9, Will Shaw 1-7,
Jamaine Cook 1-6, Carson Sharbaugh 1-1. NO DAKOTA ST-Ryan Smith 7-82,
Zach Vraa 3-53, Trevor Gebhart 4-50, Derrick Lang 1-15.