Former NU coach Bohl has success with Bison

FARGO, N.D. (AP) - The North Dakota State football team's upset victory over Montana has resulted in a flood of phone calls to the school's athletic department, prompting NDSU to fire up its football season ticket campaign.

The NDSU ticket office fielded an average of nine calls an hour Monday from prospective buyers, said Josh Hemingway, director of ticket sales.

"The phones have been ringing nonstop since 8 o'clock this morning," he said.

The Bison knocked off Division I-AA Montana 25-24 on Saturday in Missoula, Mont., to improve their season record to 2-0. NDSU, which is still competing in Division II, won two games all of last season.

Former Nebraska defensive coordinator Craig Bohl is NDSU's new coach.

"Based on the calls this morning, I think a lot of people were sitting back, kind of waiting to see what the product was going to be," said Troy Goergen, NDSU associate athletic director. "I think there's renewed pride and renewed interest."

About 4,300 season tickets were sold to start the season, down from about 4,700 last year, said Gene Taylor, NDSU athletic director. The Bison are at home Saturday against Cal-Davis, which is in its first year of Division I-AA football.

"I think after these two wins and with Cal-Davis coming in, we hope to get some of those folks back," Taylor said.

"There is a big buzz. We're going to play off of it."

A crowd of between 13,000 and 15,000 is expected for the Davis game, though Goergen said those estimates could be bumped up by midweek. About 3,000 seats are reserved for students, he said.

"We're hoping to fill all those (student seats) and address any additional needs in that area," Goergen said. "Typically the overflow student seating goes into general admission."

The Fargodome has a capacity of 18,900 for football.

The Bison rallied from a 24-2 halftime deficit to defeat Montana, a perennial power in Division I-AA that was ranked No. 3 coming into the game. Taylor said the end of the game was shown on the big screen of the stadium at Montana State, which had just finished its game against Gardner Webb.

"The Montana State athletic director said there were about 2,500 or 3,000 fans who were very, very excited," Taylor said. "We're very popular in Bozeman right now."

NDSU plans to move up to Division I-AA next season.