GRAND FORKS, N.D. -- If ever a game summed up the North Dakota football team's "Leave no doubt" motto this season, it was this one.

Trailing 31-10 midway through the third quarter, the 12th-ranked Fighting Hawks (9-2, 8-0 BSC) scored 28 unanswered points to finish off Big Sky play with a perfect 8-0 record thanks to a 38-31 victory over Northern Arizona Saturday at the Alerus Center.

"I'm just so proud of this football team," UND head coach Bubba Schweigert said. "They never gave up and kept fighting right there until the end. We got huge plays in all three phases of the game and what a great way to cap the regular season for our senior class."

Junior Deion Harris clinched the comeback with his third pick-six of the season, breaking a 31-31 tie with a 40-yard interception return with only 2:43 left on the clock. The win closed out the regular season for the Fighting Hawks, who will have next weekend off before learning their postseason assignment.

NAU (5-5, 4-3 BSC) jumped ahead thanks to the play of senior quarterback Blake Kemp, who threw for 416 yards and three touchdowns. However, it was the home team that did not relent and found a new way to win in what was the Fighting Hawks' ninth-straight victory.

UND quarterback Keaton Studsrud was nothing less than heroic in his return following a one-game absence. He twice got knocked out of the game, but returned to lead the thrilling comeback.

The Fighting Hawks' largest comeback of the season started in the third quarter when sophomore John Santiago scored a 15-yard run to cut the deficit to 14.  He finished with 60 rushing yards and two scores.

After the teams exchanged punts, backfield mate Brady Oliveira got into the scoring act, only this time it came through the air on a two-yard halfback pass to Luke Fiedler with 7:58 on the clock. Oliveira posted his fourth 100-yard rushing game of the season with 103 yards and provided Fiedler with his first career touchdown reception.

After the defense forced a three-and-out, Studsrud pulled his team even on a 10-yard strike to junior De'mun Mercer, who had a career day for the Fighting Hawks.

Mercer finished with career-highs in catches (seven) and receiving yards (147). He hauled in three catches for 57 yards on the game-tying touchdown drive.

Following Mercer's second touchdown of the season, Kemp moved the chains once for NAU before Harris jumped an out route for his Big Sky-leading fifth interception of the season.

NAU had a trio of receivers with more than 100 yards in the contest and Kemp had 296 yards passing in the first half as the Lumberjacks built a 24-10 halftime lead.

The visitors would push their advantage to 21 points on a halfback pass of their own early in the third quarter when Kendyl Taylor connected with Jonathan Baldwin from 11 yards out.

The UND defense would pitch a shutout the rest of the way and come up with a stop inside the red zone on NAU's final drive of the game. Junior safety Cole Reyes had all of his career-high four pass break-ups on the Lumberjacks' final drive.

Studsrud finished the game 13-for-34 for 254 yards.

The NCAA FCS Playoff Committe releases its 24-team field on Sunday, Nov. 20 at 10 a.m. CT on ESPNU.

GAME NOTES: Captains for today's game were senior Luke Mathewson, junior Connor O'Brien, junior Cole Reyes and junior Keaton Studsrud ... Mathewson was part of a 14-man senior class that was honored in a special pre-game ceremony ... The win on Senior Day was the sixth straight for the Fighting  Hawks in their regular-season home finale ... UND improved to 9-2 on the season and the nine-game winning streak is the first for the program since the 2005 team started 9-0 ... The last UND squad to go undefeated in conference play was the 2003 Northe Central Conference champions ... Junior Deion Harris recorded his FCS-leading third pick-six of the season in the fourth quarter and now has a Big Sky-leading five interceptions ... O'Brien came up with his first career interception in the first half ... Reyes equaled his number of pass break-ups on the season with four on that final NAU drive in the fourth quarter ... Junior De'mun Mercer became the first UND wide receiver this season to post a 100-yard receiving game (career-highs with seven catches for 147 yards) ... The last UND player with a 100-yard receiving game was Clive Georges in the last year's regular-season finale at Cal Poly (5-for-141) ... The 21-point deficit in the third quarter was the largest UND faced this season ... Senior Dylan Bakker posted his third double-digit tackle effort of his career with a team-leading 10 takedowns ... UND won the turnover battle at 4-0 ... With two more interceptions, UND increased its FCS-leading total in that category to 20 ... The Big Sky title is the first conference title for the program since sharing the 2011 Great West crown with Cal Poly.

-- UND --