Cornerback's effort a key to the victory

North Dakota State cornerback Nate Agbetola plays football, not basketball. But he won a jump ball in the fourth quarter that kept the University of Minnesota offense from mounting a rally in NDSU's 27-21 victory at the Metrodome.

Agbetola's interception near midfield in the beginning stages of the fourth quarter came against a player eight inches taller than him.

"The short man won," Agbetola said.

Facing third-and-10, Gopher quarterback Adam Weber lofted a pass near the first down marker. But the 5-foot-8 Agbetola wrestled the ball away from

6-5 receiver Ernie Wheelwright and the Bison got their first turnover against the Gophers in two games.

Agbetola was playing man coverage against Wheelwright.

"So you play like the ball is going to come to you all the time," Agbetola said. "I had one hand on it, he grabbed it, but I had the leverage and brought it down.

"Basically, height doesn't matter. It was effort going for the ball."

NDSU turned the turnover into a

21-yard Shawn Bibeau field goal with 7:46 left.

Dragosavich puts some creativity into penalty

NDSU punter Mike Dragosavich has done a halftime dancing show in front of a Bison basketball crowd. He put on another show of sorts on Saturday.

Minnesota's Dominique Barber was flagged for a 15-yard roughing-the-kicker penalty with 1:36 remaining, an infraction that gave the Bison a first down and prevented the Gophers from a chance at a last-minute rally.

Dragosavich said he saw Barber coming up the middle, so he shortened his plant step and got the punt off. Barber, after diving, rolled into Dragosavich's leg.

"I got hit pretty good," he said.

But he also put some Hollywood into it. "I went down as hard as I could and I sold it as hard as I could," he said. "That's part of the game, to try and draw that flag."

Kickoff coverage pins Gophers deep late

NDSU's kickoff coverage, which has been strong all season, had some lapses against the Gophers. Minnesota had returns to its own 46- and 42-yard lines during the game.

After NDSU took a 27-21 lead on Bibeau's field goal, Marcus Sherels only got to the 12 on the ensuing kickoff. NDSU's John Majeski broke free on the left side to tackle Sherels.

"I think they wanted to go right and Bibeau put it just perfect," Majeski said. "We didn't want to give them any momentum. They didn't block me at all."

That poor field position may have contributed in NDSU stopping the Gophers on three plays.

Gratzek comes up big in the middle of Bison 'D'

Bison freshman defensive tackle Matt Gratzek is no stranger to the Metrodome, having played there seven times in high school playoff games for Stephen-Argyle. He looked at home with his most productive game of the season.

He had four tackles, two for lost yardage, and part of a quarterback sack.

"In high school we played in front of a couple thousand," he said. "It was unreal to be in here today. It was almost like a home game."

Etc. etc. etc.

Tyler Roehl's 77-yard touchdown run off a behind-the-line swing pass from Steve Walker was the longest run of his career. Roehl also broke Lamar Gordon's single-game rushing record of 260 yards, set in 2000 against South Dakota. ... Bibeau's 37-yard field goal with no time left in the second quarter was the 11th time in the last 18 games NDSU has scored in the final two minutes of the first half.

Readers can reach Forum reporter Jeff Kolpack at (701) 241-5546.

Kolpack's NDSU media blog can be found at www.areavoices.com Cornerback's effort a key to the victory Jeff Kolpack 20071021