LARAMIE, Wyo. -- For the first time in school history, the North Dakota football team came away the victor over an Football Bowl Subdivision opponent and did so in impression fashion Saturday, beating Wyoming 24-13 at War Memorial Stadium. The win was the first in eight tries over teams from the highest level of college football since UND (1-0) made the move to Division I in 2008. It was also the first season-opening win on the road at the DI level and first overall for the program since 2006.

"This was a good win and a big step for our program," UND head coach Bubba Schweigert said. "We have to keep things in the proper perpsective though. We'll enjoy this one tonight, but will get back to work tomorrow because we have not accomplished anything yet."

UND never trailed in the contest and led 21-0 early in the fourth quarter after the second rushing touchdown of the day by true freshman John Santiago. Wyoming would not let UND cruise to the victory, however, as the Cowboys put together a mini-comeback attempt with a pair of fourth-quarter touchdowns.

Santiago finished with 24 carries for 148 yards and two touchdowns in his collegiate debut as UND rushed for 276 yards in the contest, while the defense held Wyoming to only 41 rushing yards. The Cowboys finished with 330 yards of total offense and nearly half of those came in the fourth quarter when the home team was mounting its failed rally.

After having a 72-yard touchdown run negated by a penalty earlier in the first quarter, Santiago scampered 52 yards for UND's first score of the season with 4:44 left to go. There was a flag on the play, but the officials ruled it was a legal formation after huddling and the play stood.

On the next drive after forcing a three-and-out by Wyoming, sophomore quarterback Keaton Studsrud capped a 7-play, 80-yard drive with the longest run of his short career, going in from 44 yards out on the opening play of the second quarter. Studsrud's scoring run put his team up 14-0.

Santiago had a key run to keep that drive going, picking up eight yards on a draw after facing a 3rd-and-6. He finished his first half of college football with 11 carries for 90 yards.

Studsrud, who finished 13-for-23 for 153 yards through the air, got things going in the passing game late in the half, moving UND down to the Wyoming 2-yard line, but after a delay of game penalty negated a 19-yard field goal, sophomore Reid Taubenheim missed from 24 yards out to keep UND's lead at 14-0.

Wyoming moved the ball down into UND territory in the final three minutes, but a sack by Taj Rich followed by a holding penalty on the Cowboys pushed them back into their own territory, facing a 3rd-and-23.

A 21-yard completion set up a 4th-and-2 from the 38-yard line, but Rich came up with another big play, breaking up a pass that gave the ball back to UND. The visitors elected to take a knee and go into the locker room with a two-touchdown cushion.

Wyoming had five penalties for 60 yards in the first half and had to punt on its first four possessions as the home team only netted 141 yards, while UND racked up 272 total yards on the Cowboys' defense.

Both teams punted on their first two possessions of the second half and neither team scored in the third quarter. UND padded its lead early in the final quarter when Santiago scored from 1-yard out, but Wyoming quickly answered that score with its first touchdown of the game as Tanner Gentry scored on a 92-yard reception from Cameron Coffman.

UND would cap a 10-play, 47-yard drive that chewed five minutes and 53 seconds off the clock with a 45-yard field goal by Taubenheim, but things still were not comfortable for the visitors. Wyoming would move 53 yards on seven plays in just under 90 seconds to make it an 11-point deficit, but that would be as close as the Cowboys would get.

After a Mitch Meindel punt, UND would get a turnover on downs after Austin Cieslak and Brian Labat combined on a sack and the offense would go into victory formation to run out all but nine seconds of the clock.

GAME NOTES: Captains for the game were seniors Zach Adler, Brandon Anderson, Dayo Idowu and Will Ratelle … This was the first meeting between UND and Wyoming on the gridiron … Wyoming head coach Craig Bohl is now 0-2 against UND (also lost as North Dakota State's head coach in 2003), while UND head coach Bubba Schweigert moved to 1-0 against Wyoming … UND had 182 rushing yards in the first half, which was more than every total game except one last season (297 vs. Northern Arizona) … UND went 9-for-17 on third-down conversions, while Wyoming was only 3-for-13 … The team finished with 276 rushing yards as true freshman led those efforts with 148 yards on 24 carries ... Santiago's 148 rushing yards were the most ever by a UND freshman in his collegiate debut at the Division I level ... Studsrud's 13 completions were a career-high ... Arizona transfer Clive Georges (2 for 27), junior Luke Mathewson (1 for 14) and redshirt freshman Luke Stanley (3 for 28) all had their first career receptions in the contest ... Stanley and sophomore Josh Seibel (37 yards) shared the team lead with three receptions ... Ratelle led the team with seven tackles ... Sophomore Deion Harris had four tackles and a career-high three pass break-ups.

-- UND --