Fordham arrived already reeling. A 1-11 season a year ago, 1-6 in the Patriot League, was followed by a season-opening loss to Colgate, 24-14. NDSU, meanwhile, had flattened Jacksonville State in its own FBS unveiling, 33-7, and the Fargodome turned out for a Military and First Responders Appreciation Day with a crowd that had every reason to expect the rout the market was already pricing.
The scoreboard backed that up in stages. NDSU led just 3-0 after the first quarter before pulling away with 14 more in the second and 21 in the third, methodically burying Fordham without ever needing to lean on anything flashy.
Then the Bison simply stopped scoring — a scoreless fourth quarter with the outcome long decided, and a defense that never let Fordham find the end zone at all. That's as complete a shutout as a debut season at a new level can produce, and it says as much about NDSU's floor as its ceiling: the offense could have kept the throttle down and didn't need to.
For Fordham, the trip to Fargo is one data point in what's shaping up as a long climb back from last year's 1-11 finish, with Gunnar Smith and an experienced quarterback room still the closest thing to a building block. For NDSU, it's two wins and zero points allowed in a two-game sample as a new FBS program, with a full Mountain West slate still to prove itself against.