SEARCY -- A whole bunch of Andrew Miller was all the Harding Bisons needed to move forward in the NCAA Division II playoffs Saturday.
Miller, a junior out of Harding Academy, posted 195 rushing yards and a touchdown while running backs Braden Jay and Christian Franklin added two touchdowns each, leading the Bisons to a 38-16 victory over Northwest Missouri State at First Security Stadium.
Miller's straight-ahead runs proved to be equally too physical and too fast for a Bearcats defense stretched to its limits by Harding's run-first Flexbone offense, which rolled up 475 yards of total offense with 427 rushing.
Harding took its first victory against Northwest Missouri State, which entered with a 4-0 lead in the series. The Bisons (12-0) will host Pittsburg State, which beat Chadron State 21-17, for a second-round game next Saturday.
"What a day," Harding Coach Paul Simmons said. "I felt like something special was going to happen today. Certainly, we've been on the wrong side of this (against Northwest Missouri State) four times. What our guys did was a tremendous testament to preparation and the focus of our guys all week."
Miller's runs were made possible by an offense line whose run-blocking mostly succeeded in prying open Northwest Missouri State's interior front, while Jay and Franklin racked up yards, 77 and 56, respectively, around the edge. The Bisons entered Saturday's game with the third-ranked offense in all of Division II, facing a Bearcats offense that was 12th in the country offensively.
Harding forced Northwest Missouri State (9-3) to be far more one-dimensional than it anticipated, with quarterback Chris Ruhnke being limited to just five completions for 57 yards in the first half. The Bisons, owners of the top-ranked defense in Division II, kept steady pressure on Ruhnke and backup Zechariah Owens throughout the day from their defensive line, allowing their secondary to stay on top of the Bearcats' receivers.
"They stay within themselves and they don't hurt themselves," Northwest Missouri State Coach John McMenamin said. "Then they get you in some third-and-long scenarios and let those defensive linemen go loose. You have to stay out of those scenarios."
Harding limited the Bearcats to 79 yards passing.
The Bisons logged the first big play of the afternoon on their first possession, with Jay breaking free for a 20-yard run to the Bearcats' 11. A few plays later, Jay plunged into the end zone from 5 yards out, giving Harding its first points of the game.
The Bisons quickly got the ball back after an incomplete pass from Ruhnke bounced off the foot of a receiver and landed in the hands of linebacker Jordan Mays for an interception. Harding converted that turnover into a field goal, then took a 17-0 first-quarter lead after Jay scored again on a 10-yard touchdown run.
Northwest Missouri State's lone first-half touchdown came when redshirt freshman running back Quincy Torry broke free for a 75-yard touchdown run early in the second quarter, closing the Bisons' lead to 17-7. Torry proved to be the Bearcats' biggest offensive threat, rushing for 94 first-half yards and 116 overall.
"Coming into the game, I was probably the most nervous about that offense," Simmons said. "They had been so dangerous all year, so balanced. I thought we did a really good job of picking our spots, bringing a little more pressure."
Northwest Missouri State rarely did enough to bog down Harding's offense, which continued to lean on Miller to move the football until Franklin scored on a pitch to the right edge, running 10 yards and pushing the score to 24-7. Harding held to a 24-10 lead at halftime and opened the second half with a 30-yard pass from senior quarterback Cole Keylon to Brady Barnett. Barnett's catch put the Bisons at the Bearcats 25-yard line, setting up another 10-yard touchdown run from Franklin.
McMenamin said he and his defensive personnel were well aware of Miller, who has now accumulated 1,558 rushing yards for the season.
"They ran a lot of traps today," McMenamin said. "They ran their fullback a little wider than they had in the past. They made some nice adjustments, so that was a little different than what we've seen."
Pittsburg State will prove to be more familiar for Harding. The Bisons traveled to Kansas a year ago for a first-round playoff game against the Gorillas, rolling to a 48-3 victory. They tallied 583 rushing yards in that matchup.
"I think the way this program is, the way our guys handle business and the way our strength coach (Michael Gragg) does things, the longer we can stay alive, it's advantage Bisons," Simmons said. "Pitt State is really, really talented. It will be interesting to see how they change things defensively after the contest last year."
Up next:
HARDING VS. PITTSBURG STATE
WHAT Division II playoffs second round
WHEN 1 p.m.
WHERE First Security Stadium, Searcy
RECORDS Pittsburg State 10-2; Harding 12-0