The Citadel Stumbles in Season Opener, Falls to No. 1 North Dakota State, 38-0

Saturday, August 30

Charleston, S.C.

Noon

The Citadel

0-1 , 0-0

North Dakota State

1-0 , 0-0

Team	1st	2nd	3rd	4th	Final F
North Dakota State	0	17	14	7	38
The Citadel	0	0	0	0	0

Photo by: Ridge Tate / The Citadel Athletics

The Citadel Stumbles in Season Opener, Falls to No. 1 North Dakota State, 38-0

8/30/2025 4:33:00 PM | Football

Box Score

By: The Citadel Athletics

CHARLESTON, S.C. -- Despite a home crowd 10,691 strong, The Citadel football program struggled to find an offensive rhythm throughout the team's 2025 season kickoff against No. 1 North Dakota State, faltering to the Bison by a final 38-0 margin Saturday afternoon at Sansom Field at Johnson Hagood Stadium.

"There's a lot to learn from this game and I can't wait to jump on the film and dig at the details so we can get better," head coach Maurice Drayton said. "There were some positives, things we can take from this game and build on. We're going to get back to the drawing board and figure out what we need to get better and move forward to become a playoff team."

KEY NOTES
- Offensively, The Citadel logged 100 rushing yards on 47 attempts while completing a pair of passes for six yards
- Israel Benjamin led the ground game for the Bulldogs, racking up 54 yards on 16 carries; Quentin Hayes tacked on 24 yards on eight carries
- Defensively, Cale Williams paced the squad with 12 total tackles, including six solo, while Bradlee Jones racked up a solid nine as well with one pass breakup; Tyrik McDaniel tallied eight tackles with a tackle-for-loss while Je'Mazin Roberts and Mikey Rosa logged seven tackles apiece as well
- In spite of a pair of rushed kicks, James Platte booted multiple field-flipping punts, finishing with a 45.3 yards per attempt average with a grand total four pinning the Bison inside their own 20-yard line
- The Citadel opened the game with back-to-back stops of the NDSU offense before surrendering six consecutive scoring drives, the final five of which concluded with a touchdown
- The Bulldogs wrapped up the contest with zero penalities while North Dakota State tallied six for 35 yards, a first for the program since Sept. 6, 2014 at No. 1 Florida State
- Four true freshmen -- Abijah Webb, Ky'Mani Carpenter, Sayre Smothers & Aiden Wiles -- plus Cooper Tankersley, Peyton Betts, Eli Calhoun, Ryland Mitchell, Sebastien Boyle, Daniel Turpin, Cameron Sutton, James Brockington and Adam Comer all made their collegiate debuts

-- #FireThoseCannons --