FARGO - Not a bad first impression by North Dakota State University redshirt freshman quarterback Jose Mohler.

Not good enough, though.

Mohler fell short of driving the Bison to a win, as Missouri State beat NDSU 21-17 Saturday night in Missouri Valley Conference football at the Fargodome.

Mohler, who replaced senior Nick Mertens as NDSU's starting quarterback this week, was 2-for-5 during NDSU's final drive, which stalled on the Missouri State 32-yard line. He threw an 18-yard pass to Warren Holloway for a first down, but then went 0-for-3.

On fourth down, Mohler connected with Titus Mack, but it was 3 yards short of a first down.

"I wanted to win for the team," Mohler said.

"Jose went out there and competed hard," Bison coach Craig Bohl said. "Some things he did well. Some things he needs to improve on."

Mohler finished the game 7-for-14 for 101 yards. Bohl hasn't decided if Mohler or Mertens will start next Saturday at Western Illinois.

"I can see why Craig picked him," Missouri State coach Terry Allen said of Mohler. "He's quick and elusive."

The loss dropped the Bison to 1-7. And that has the players frustrated.

"It comes down to playing a complete game, and we haven't done that yet," said running back Pat Paschall, who ran for 148 yards - the seventh time this season he has rushed for more than 100 yards. He also passed the 1,000-yard rushing mark for the year.

But the Bison have been bitten by the bad-luck bug all season, and that bug even struck Paschall. Earlier in the fourth quarter, after a blocked Missouri State punt, NDSU got the ball to the Bears' 6 yard line with a strong chance of scoring a tying touchdown. Mohler handed the ball to Paschall, but two Missouri State defenders stripped the ball, and the Bears recovered on the 1.

"It was a good play by the opponent," Paschall said. "They caught me on a trap."

"That's tough. That's hard," Bohl said of Paschall's fumble. "... He's been a sure-handed running back throughout his career."

Bad luck also struck the Bison defense at the start of the second half. On the second play, Missouri State running back Mikael Cooper-Falls went to his right, then dashed to his left and found wide-open running room, enough for a 57-yard touchdown run that gave the Bears a 21-14 lead.

Mohler didn't get a lot of chances to show off his arm, although he did make one huge early impression. Mohler found wide receiver Gary Williams open for a 48-yard pass midway through the second quarter. It would have been a touchdown, except Williams couldn't stay on his feet. Two plays later, Paschall finished off the drive with a 2-yard touchdown run.

Mohler couldn't help but credit his big-rushing teammate for coming through for the Bison most of the day.

"Oh, it's great," Mohler said of playing with Paschall. He said it's always great to know you stand a chance of scoring, if you're 99 yards away or 2 yards away."

NDSU was playing catch-up ball most of the game. The Bears scored first, on a 13-yard run by quarterback Cody Kirby. The Bison followed with a 21-yard TD pass from Mohler to Lee Vandal.

Then the Bears scored on a 10-yard pass from Kirby to Clay Harbor. Then came Paschall's 2-yard touchdown run.

While the Bison were able to counter Missouri State in the first half, they had trouble capitalizing in the second half.

"The execution is not where it needs to be," Bohl said. "We need to get that done, and we didn't."

So the losses keep adding up, as does the frustration.

"Something will fall our way. It has to," Paschall said.

Missouri St. 7 7 7 0 - 21

N. Dakota St. 0 14 0 3 - 17

First Quarter

MoSt-Cody Kirby 13 run (Matt Hottelman kick), 11:55.

Second Quarter

NDSt-Lee Vandal 21 pass from Jose Mohler (Ryan Jastram kick), 12:56.

MoSt-Clay Harbor 10 pass from Kirby (Hottelman kick), 5:26.

NDSt-Pat Paschall 2 run (Jastram kick), 3:12.

Third Quarter

MoSt-Mikael Cooper-Falls 57 run (Hottelman kick), 14:11.

Fourth Quarter

NDSt-FG Jastram 35, 3:01.

A-15,122.

MoSt NDSU

First downs 15 18

Rushes-yards 52-220 37-203

Passing 104 126

Comp-Att-Int 9-12-0 9-21-0

Return Yards 28 47

Punts-Avg. 5-30.0 5-33.8

Fumbles-Lost 3-0 2-1

Penalties-Yards 4-46 5-40

Time of Possession 33:07 26:53

INDIVIDUAL STATISTICS

RUSHING-Missouri St., Cooper-Falls 16-105, Warren 10-34, Douglas 5-32, Davis 9-28, Kirby 8-20, C.Dotson 2-6, Team 2-(minus 5). N. Dakota St., Paschall 26-148, McNorton 5-29, Ojuri 3-15, Mohler 3-11.

PASSING-Missouri St., Kirby 9-12-0-104. N. Dakota St., Mohler 9-21-0-126.

RECEIVING-Missouri St., Harbor 3-31, Emery 1-28, C.Dotson 1-24, Fuselier 1-7, Saffold 1-5, A.Williams 1-5, Warren 1-4. N. Dakota St., Holloway 3-30, Vandal 2-24, Williams 1-48, Washington 1-11, Mack 1-7, Brown 1-6.