Bryce Lance shines on biggest stage, the same one on which his older brother did

FRISCO, Texas The Lance family is probably sad to see the Football Championship Subdivision move away from this city.

It's been good to brothers Trey and Bryce.

Five years after Trey Lance had a game for the ages as North Dakota State's quarterback in the national championship, younger brother Bryce Lance was a star as a receiver in the same game at the same stadium.

The result of each game was the same, too.

The Bison won a national championship.

Bryce Lance had a nine receptions for 107 yards and a touchdown, helping the lead the Bison over Montana State 35-32 in the Football Championship Subdivision game at Toyota Stadium on Monday.

The FCS title game is moving to Nashville, Tenn., for two years as Toyota Stadium is being renovated.

The memories for the Lance family and Bison fans are undeniable, even if the game goes away.

In 2019, Trey led NDSU over James Madison in Frisco by rushing 30 times for 166 yards in a 28-20 victory.

Included was a weaving 44-yard touchdown run on a scramble that made national highlights.

"I don't think you can really compare the two because there are different journeys," Bryce said.

He's not wrong in saying he took a different path to stardom than his brother.

Trey earned the starting quarterback job in 2019 as a redshirt freshman and took the FCS by storm, leaving the next year to enter the NFL Draft.

He was taken third overall by the San Francisco 49ers.

Bryce redshirted in 2021 and played mostly special teams the last two years.

He had one career catch coming into this season.

But NDSU head coach Tim Polasek said early in fall camp he saw something in Bryce and believed he could be a top weapon for the Bison offense, which was in need of playmakers.

Good eye.

Bryce had 66 catches and 16 touchdowns receptions going into the national title game, including a game-winning one-handed grab in the playoff semifinals against South Dakota State that went viral.

Montana State was his latest victim.

Lance's diving catch from Cam Miller near the pylon for a 9-yard gain to the Bobcats' 1 late in the second quarter set up his crucial touchdown on the next play on a slant pass just before halftime that gave NDSU a 21-3 lead.

But it was Lance's 38-yard diving grab of Miller's pass on the final play of the third quarter that'll probably have his cell phone pinging with greetings from the big-boy schools in the Big Ten and other power conferences.

On a critical third-and-6 when Montana State already owned the game's momentum after cutting into NDSU's halftime lead, Lance stretched out on a full run to beat Bobcats cornerback Simeon Woodard and make the catch at the 2.

Miller hit tight end Joe Stoffel for a TD two plays into the fourth quarter to give the Bison a 28-18 lead.

"I dropped one earlier, so I knew I had to go make a play.

And for Cam to trust me with that meant a lot," Lance said.

"I knew the ball was in the air and I had to go get it." Polasek and the NDSU coaching staff deserve credit, too, for giving Lance a chance when he was buried on the bench the last two seasons.

"For some young people, it's just a matter of someone believing in them," Polasek said.

"I flash to (former NDSU head coach Craig Bohl) believing in me.

He's long, big, fast and he catches it.

That's about it.

I mean, I'm not some genius.

He just kind of stood out." Even in Frisco, where his brother stood out five years earlier..

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