Eight Unanswered: How UND Earned a Series Sweep over Canisius and Now What?

On By terpaneseIn Ice Hockey, Uncategorized, UND, UNDLeave a comment

(Photo Credit: Kelsey Lee-Violet Turtle Photography)

In front of a nearly sold out Ralph Engelstad Arena crowd, the Fighting Hawks played Canisius similarly to start the match like they did last night, and in their ignominious series sweep at the hands of the Golden Griffins last January. Griffins Head Coach Trevor Large noted that his team needed to be better at shortening their passes and simplifying their game.

Ausin Alger got that message for the visitors as he took a feed from David Melaragani and walked in a mere 4:05 into the first period and stunned the crowd. He went bar down on UND netminder Adam Scheel to give the Griffins their first lead of the weekend.

That lead would last into the second period. Once again the Fighting Hawks were presented with a chance to score a bushel of goals before their opening salvo as Canisisus again spent most of the evening down a skater. J.D Pogue earned the honor with a kneeing major penalty and a game misconduct 12 minutes into the first period. While no goals were scored, the penalty kill tired out the Griffins and it would bear dividends later on in the evening. UND was able to build off of the major penalty and used the extra skater it had with Canisius being down a man to their advantage later on in this one.

In the second, 1:03 after a Shane Pinto penalty shot was stopped by Jacob Barczewski, 7:24 in to the frame, Mark Senden took a feed from Jordan Kawaguchi and wired it home on the weak side to start the scoring bonanza that followed. Colin Adams and Gabe Bast would pitch in markers to end the second period and put the lead at two.

The third period is where the deluge of goals came as Cole Smith twice added to the tally along with, Harison Blaisdell, Andrew Peski, and Westin Michaud all pitched in markers to secure the 8-1 win. Jordan Kawaguchi lead the assists on the evening with three and earned second star honors on the evening. Again, Jasper Weatherby had another good night in the faceoff circle (11-4) along with Shane Pinto (11-7).

With key players like Rhett Gardner moving on, we have begun to see the staff rely on Weatherby and Pinto so far to win faceoffs in key moments. For instance, Head Coach Brad Berry singled out Pinto for winning a faceoff on his off side in UND’s end at a key point in the game. UND’s faceoff numbers are good for those two, but Berry noted a need for it to be by committee and those two were the only skaters to win double digit draws.

While Scheel finished with 11 saves on the evening, his biggest challenge was staying engaged during the countless times UND seemed to take up residence in the Canisius defensive zone. He looked pretty good but does not have enough of a body of work to judge yet, like the rest of this team.

Now What? 

Their next test against Minnesota State Mankato, one of the best teams in the nation, will tell us a lot more about the potential for this team the rest of the year. If this team can put together a complete game, like it did tonight, and force the Mavericks to play perfect hockey to beat them, things could go well on the road. If UND gets away from rebound goals, cross crease goals, and tries too much to score off the rush, then we will be in a repeat of the last season.

A test against a top ten team in the nation next weekend on the road is a good measuring stick for this team, and will provide them plenty of film before they return home in two weeks to take on the always defensively sound Bemidji State Beavers.

Fighting Hawks Earn 5-0 Season Opening win Over Canisius: Two Thoughts

On By terpaneseIn Ice Hockey, Uncategorized, UNDLeave a comment

(Photo Credit: Kelsey Lee-Violet Turtle Photography)

Tonight, in front of over 11,000 brave souls who braved the terrible conditions of a fall blizzard, the Fighting Hawks of the University of North Dakota Men’s Hockey team earned a season opening win over the Golden Griffins of Canisius 5-0.

Shane Pinto opened up the scoring for UND in the first period, he was joined later on by Dixon Bowen who potted two markers on the evening along with Gabe Bast and Grant Mismash. This deluge of scoring included three third period goals to ice the game and that provided the final 5-0 margin

Bowen benefited from the strong play of Jasper Weatherby who keyed his line. Again Weatherby’s faceoff performance (13-4) proved important on the evening. He and Pinto drove the success up front by combining to win 27 of UND’s 37 faceoff wins.

Over time look for Weatherby’s line to see more ice time as the coaches see his ability to continue sucess in the faceoff dot, a welcome supplement to the strong physical game that he plays.

Adam Scheel finished the evening in net for the Fighting Hawks with an 11 save shutout, and outside of a nice barrage from Canisius in the first few minutes of the third period, did not face a lot of chances on the evening.

Beyond the Box Score 

For UND: Don’t Overreact 

This team played a solid third period that saw their three goals put the game out of reach for Canisius. The Fighting Hawks tonight were the better team and all of the normal metrics from shot attempts, to goals and possession time bore that fact out. With that being said, we saw something similar to the formula other teams used to beat this Fighting Hawks side last year.

When Canisius was at their best, they were almost allowing low percentage shots and cleaning up in front of the net as needed. They got some key saves from Matt Ladd and his replacement, Jacob Barczewski who both used their lateral quickness to stymie a lot of backdoor looks where it seemed that UND was telegraphing where they would shoot.

Canisius Head Coach Trevor Large did not commit to which goalie we would see in net tomorrow, but the Griffins goalies, despite the top line score showed that when the defense cleaned up the loose change in front of the net, that for the most part they could hang with this stacked Fighting Hawks side.

Why am I not screaming praises of this Fighting Hawks team? Well simply put, I believe seeing more from this team is needed. I am not sure what to expect out of this team. When you earn a five minute major and get the other team’s captain ejected you need to convert on that power play throughout the season.

Despite nearly four minutes of zone time UND did not do so.  In addition, while I was impressed with the consistent all out pressure of this team, regardless of the result Saturday, their next opponent in the Mavericks of Minnesota State Mankato will present an entirely different test.

This win for UND is cathartic after the sweep they endured last January where a lot of those following this team saw as the low point for the 2018-2019 side. It was like that because UND could not convert rebounds. The Fighting Hawks did that tonight against a high effort Canisius side and took the drama out of the game early in the third period. What happens tomorrow, and further on in the season will prove much more to the long-term success or failure than 60 minutes against a team that had not even played an exhibition against another team before this one. Now that Large and his staff have game tape to dissect, what changes will they make and how will UND Head Coach Brad Berry react?

For Canisius: Short and Sweet 

If you are reading this and a Canisius fan, thank you for reading this far first off. I was impressed with the ability of this team deprived of one of the best offensive players in the country last year and called “instant offense” to hang around against a superb UND side. The Griffins showed that they can hang in for two periods and execute a game plan to keep the game at least close against a team replete with NHL-caliber talent.

Large noted after the game that the one reason why Canisius had some success later on in this one in finding better chances was the passing game. When the Golden Griffins kept their passes a little shorter, they did not give UND as much of a chance to limit their ability to get to higher percentage areas. The Griffins effort on defense reminded me a bit of the effort shown by AIC against St. Cloud State last March in Fargo. The difference between the two was offense. Last March, AIC did what Large wants his team to do tomorrow which include keeping the passes short and focusing on quality over going for stretch passes like Canisius did tonight. Doing that while limiting penalties and focusing on your effort and ability to block shots could keep this game closer than the highly partisan crowd at the Ralph Engelstad Arena would like.

 

UND Hockey: Unpacking a 5-1 Exhibition Win

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(Photo Credit:Kelsey Lee-Violet Turtle Photography)

Tonight, the University of North Dakota Fighting Hawks Men’s Hockey team earned a 5-1 exhibition win over the Bisons of Manitoba. This game did not require overtime like last year’s version, and there were some marked improvements for this team to keep an eye on going forward.

To open up the scoring, UND took advantage of a five-on-three power play.  San Jose Sharks’ prospect Jasper Weatherby provided a wonderful screen of Bisons goalie Riley Lamb leaving home no time or space to see a wired home shot from Ottawa Senators’ prospect Jacob Bernard Docker.

Weatherby did not make the score sheet tonight but was singled out by UND Head Coach Brad Berry for his net-front presence and his prowess taking faceoffs. This is something to keep an eye on as he won 11 of the 15 draws he took. Only Weatherby and another Senators prospect, freshman Shane Pinto won double digit draws (both won 11) with the next best Fighting Hawk winning four (Westin Michaud).

Grant Mismash was the star of this game. The Predators’ prospect finished with four assists and helped establish UND’s offense for the evening. His precision passing provided primary assists on the first four goals for the Fighting Hawks. If Mismash can add this passing element to his game this season to complement the heavy shot he brings and ability to play in all three zones consistently, then we could see a lot more out of him this year.

In net, the line chart read Adam Scheel, Harrison Feeney, and Peter Thome in that order, but Berry cautioned people to not read anything into the order in which the goalies played. All had some highlights with the only real down moment coming on a late-stage power play goal from Colton Veloso against Adam Scheel.

Veloso picked one side of the net, and Scheel looked the other way. Other than that, with limited chances, Scheel, Feeney, and Thome all looked solid. Scheel finished with two saves on three shots, Feeney finished with four saves on four shots faced and saved a penalty shot as well, and Thome finished with six saves on the evening rounding out the evening.

Each goalie played a full period. As to who starts and earns the backup role, that is still to be decided. I would not look at the order that the goalies played in as indicative of anything other than wanting to give each goalie an equal sample on which to be evaluated.

What does all of this mean? Well going forward, what stood out to me most was where UND earned its chances. The vast majority of UND’s 49 shots on net came from the higher percentage area, not a common theme last season. When UND gets to the slot area, with the skill on this team, combined with their ability to screen the goalie, good things can happen for this team.

They have an opportunity next week to make up for their season defining sweep at the hands of the Canisius Golden Griffins in Buffalo last season. What happens next weekend at the Ralph Engelstad Arena will be determined in a large part by how well this team can earn the slot and get rebounds, if they replicate their effort from tonight, the season could start quite well.

UND Soccer: What a game

On By terpaneseIn UncategorizedLeave a comment

(Photo Credit: Russ Hons-UND Athletics)

Yesterday, in a game defined by two teams battling on a slow and wet field, Mimi Eiden and Emma Bangert rose above a tough South Dakota Coyotes back line and exploited their weaknesses to score the two goals needed for UND to take a 2-1 victory to earn their first Summit League win against a team they could see again should both make the postseason tournament in the Summit League.

This game featured a lot for UND. First, Eiden earned the goal sprinting past and holding off three defenders all trying to foul her and put home a superb shot to give UND its lead. From there the Coyotes had the better run of play despite a few chances from the Fighting Hawks. Olivia Knox drew a penalty kick but her penalty shot was parried aside by Emma Harkleroad, South Dakota netminder.

Here is where the game got interesting, towards the end of the game, South Dakota had multiple chances in the 18 yard box to equalize things. Initially with about 15 minutes left, they looked to have earned a penalty kick off a handball. To his credit, official Connor Dunn checked with his assistant referees that had a better view, and the call was changed to an inadvertent whistle as the ball looked to go off the back of a UND defender, not their hand.

A few minutes later Alexis Mitchell would capitalize on a penalty kick for the Coyotes to tie things up in a game that looked to be going  to overtime. However, after a lot of good chances in the game, including a quality one earlier on stopped by Harkleroad, Emma Bangert found the back of the net for her first goal of the year with 1:18 left in the match. That deciding goal lifted up the Fighting Hawks to a 1-0 record in Summit League play by defeating a Dakota-based rival.

Why wow? Well, this was a game that showed us again how good Mimi Eiden is at running past everyone. Three Coyotes tried to foul her on her goal, and she still paced through them and did not let them alter her superb shot. In addition, credit to the officiating, I have seen UND play a lot of games and I have never seen an official chat with an assistant official to get the call right.

The officials called this game evenly, and even UND Head Coach Chris Logan thought the penalty kicks called both ways could have been not called. Connor Dunn and the officials that worked yesterday kept their cool despite an understandably upset Coyotes bench after the overturned penalty kick.Give full credit to the officials for keeping the game going and being as even as they could be.

Finally, this win is monumental for this team because they showed as Logan has hammered home every time he has spoken that they truly can compete with anyone. South Dakota is a team that plays physical soccer with speed, at points in the game they manufactured chances and kept UND from exploiting their speed advantage on the wings. For this team to grit out a win like they did yesterday shows their is not limit to how they can win. Their next test is in Brookings on Sunday against the Jackrabbits of South Dakota State, Summit League Tournament hosts. How this team competes against the class of the Summit League will go a long way to determining their finish.

Zips race past UND Volleyball to clinch UND Classic Title 3-0

On By terpaneseIn Uncategorized, volleyballLeave a comment

Tonight, the University of North Dakota Volleyball team faced one of their toughest opponents of the season. Slow starts in sets one and three, and a resilient Akron Zips side in set two did in the Fighting Hawks at home and secured the UND Classic Title for the Akron Zips (25-14, 25-23, 25-15).

The Zips won by playing consistently physical volleyball, relying on strong attacks, and capitalizing on unforced errors to keep UND hitting out of its system tonight. When the Fighting Hawks kept it closest was when their blockers, lead by Lexi Ahrens in the second set, were able to hang with the Zips. Every time UND got close, minus the tie at 23 in the second set tonight, an error at the service line or the Zips would push the margin right back out again.

With all of that being said, there were some positives on the weekend for these Fighting Hawks.  Coach Jeremiah Tiffin was happy that the team got some bench contributions on the weekend from players like Sara Antic among others who picked up their team, especially against Eastern Washington, when needed.

Going forward, one thing is clear after the non-conference slate of this season being done. This team will rise or fall based on its starts. Keep an eye on who gets to five first and what the margin is. If UND can stay in front of that margin and force teams to play perfect volleyball, they will win a few more games than expected and have results more mirroring the pacing of set five against Eastern Washington.

When that does not happen, the results will largely replicate sets one and three from tonight where they have to answer back against a tough Summit League schedule.

UND now heads on the road to take on a very good Omaha team with some quality non conference wins, and South Dakota after that before returning home October 4 to take on Western Illinois.

UND Soccer: Why you should be watching

On By terpaneseIn Soccer, UncategorizedLeave a comment

(Photo Credit: Russ Hons- UND Athletics)

Tonight, the University of North Dakota Fighting Hawks Soccer team struck first against a team featuring an All American, Boise State, on an early tally before the Broncos came back to win.

Think about that sentence, why am I including a detail about a loss to a really good Mountain West team on the road?

Well, Chris Logan has built this team up so much to where competing with anyone regardless of conference or talent level is now possible. The Fighting Hawks played a determined game today and now have more things to build on heading into their non conference finale on Sunday against Idaho.

Let’s go back to the Fighting Hawks’ last win. It was a 2-0 defensive affair over Grand Canyon University where the speed of the Fighting Hawks shined in the desert as said speed opened up set pieces and drew a penalty kick to provide the final tally. In that game, one of the best goalies in UND history, Catherine Klein saved a penalty kick 65 minutes in that would have tied things up. She did so despite an interesting choice of fouls to call. Her prowess on the goal line for this team leaves a legacy other goalies will have a lot to do to match in the Summit League for future iterations of this team.

In that game, and the one before it, against Minot State, we saw the speed of this team, a constant all year, shine through. Although not scoring against Grand Canyon, one of the fastest forwards to suit up for UND in their history, Mimi Eiden, tracked back to block shots and make life tough for the Lopes of Grand Canyon while using her speed to push the pace up front. Eiden is one of many stars on a team full of talent. Every time she is on the pitch, be it reporter, fan, or defense, you have to keep an eye on what she does because she is liable to run down half the pitch or more and score any time she gets a good pass. She will cause a problem for the defenses Summit League this year because of her speed and this team’s depth in making the other team adjust to them as a whole.

Speaking of depth, this team has multiple freshman already doing great things. One that has stood out already is Bailey McNitt. She is not only fast like Eiden, but technically Coach Logan and the staff have beamed about her skill and potential. How often can you sub off a star like Eiden and end up getting the winner off that decision?

Well it happened this year. Against the Gaels of St. Mary’s College, McNitt came on for Eiden in double overtime and laced a superb corner into the box that found the back of the net off Meghan Wilson. Every game she is earning the conference of this coaching staff more and more, and like the rest of this talented freshman class look to have an impact in Grand Forks for years to come.

On October 4th and the rest of this season, when this team is home, I humbly ask you, the fans, to come and watch this team. Attendance has been great so far and the atmosphere wonderful at the freshly renovated Bronson Field, but it can always be greater. This team could be on the cusp of their first top four finish this season if their depth and speed can continue to manifest itself in conference play against a talented slew of Summit League sides. When this team is on the road, watch the streams of games when you can, most are either free or really cheap on ESPN Plus (five bucks a month) or some other platform for not much more.

These Fighting Hawks have been in every game they have played. Their only two loses have come on the road to the Citadel, a superb Southern Conference side, and Boise State, a Mountain West side that should challenge for an at-large bid this year.

With all of that being said, this team is worthy of your time and attention. They finish their non-conference slate on the road Sunday at 4 PM against Idaho on the road. Watch the game for free on Pluto TV. Then come out and support arguably the best all around team North Dakota has seen in their time in Division One October 4th against South Dakota at home to open up Summit League play. This team deserves the full attention of a community that already has a lot of supporters, I am asking everyone to join UND’s eventual ascent of the Summit League. They are fun to watch and cover for this site, oh and fans in case you did not know it is free to watch them! Come out to Bronson Field on October 4th to check out this team in action at 3 PM, you will not regret it.

 

Defense and flashes of brilliance mark UND Volleyball five set win over Eastern Washington

On By terpaneseIn Uncategorized, volleyballLeave a comment

(Photo Credit: Russell Hons-UND Athletics )

Tonight, in front of a decent crowd at the Betty Engelstad Sioux Center, we saw an incomplete picture of how good the University of North Dakota Fighting Hawks’ Volleyball team can be this year in front of an electric 888 patrons. They put together a strong effort on defense in a five set (3-2) win against the Eagles of Eastern Washington that featured five players reaching double digit digs lead by McKenzie Damon with 20.

This now 8-5 team had some success up front as well. Lydia Rutten did a superb job of staying within the system of first year head coach Jeremiah Tiffin among others. She lead the offense and was the difference up front. On the night she notched 18 kills on 33 swings with a mere 3 errors, good for a .455 hitting percentage. In a sport where hitting above .300 is considered really good, it is fair to say she was great this night for the Fighting Hawks. She gave credit to the consistent play of her setters and defense in giving her a chance to be that efficient. Peyton Sewell finished the night with 42 assists, spearheading the bulk of distribution for UND on this night.

In addition to the exploits of Rutten, the sole senior on this squad, Ashley Brueggeman notched her 1000th career kill en route to 11 on the evening as part of a double double. Only 18 people in UND Volleyball history, including Ashley have accomplished this rare and momentous feat. On defense she chipped in 11 digs. She played the back row on multiple rotations and showcased the versatility fans in Grand Forks are used to seeing her utilize on a game-by-game basis.

As a team,these Fighting Hawks have not shown their best for a full game yet. They already have had some harrowing moments, including a five set win against Marist, where the Fighting Hawks had to rattle off three set wins in a row after losing the first two sets, including the second set by 18 points (25-7).

This team showed something tonight. When they start well, like they did in the second, fourth, and fifth sets, they get into their offense, and as Tiffin noted, can play more aggressively and afford to take an error when on the attack or a “good error”. When this team starts well, they can make games interesting in the Summit League. Now, they have one more tune up against a good team from the MAC, Akron.

The Zips are one of the bigger teams UND will see this season, and play a versatile game where their setters will join the attack as needed, presenting another wrinkle to account for tomorrow night at the Betty Engelstad Sioux Center. Come 7:30 PM tomorrow night, we will get the final picture of what this team looks like heading into a tough Summit League schedule the following week.

UND Football: Bye Week Musings

On By terpaneseIn College Football, Football, Uncategorized, UND FootballLeave a comment

(Photo Credit: Kelsey Lee-Violet Turtle Photography)

Heading into the bye week, the Fighting Hawks fly in where most expected them to be if things went right, 2-1 with the one loss coming to North Dakota State.

What we did not expect from this team is getting there with an offense incapable to this point of running the ball consistently save a few big plays and winning two games without Nate Ketteringham to lead them.

What does this mean going forward? Here are three things to look at post bye week for this team.

Who starts at QB next week against Eastern Washington? 

Well if Ketteringham is healthy, I expect him to get the nod as he has lead this team pretty much since he came here. When needed he makes the big throws and does enough to keep the team in most games. This staff likes Schuster quite a lot and does not want to risk him losing a red shirt year to play in a few extra games without a need, based on what I have read. I realize that Ketteringham is not who a lot of fans want to see based on the wonderful exploits of Schuster against the Bearkats.

However, I also know one is a leader who may not make every throw that Schuster does, but knows how to manage a game a little bit better due to his seniority, and knows more of what he will face against the Eagles. I could be wrong of course and Schuster could play, but as Drake saw starting a true freshman on the road against a tough defense can, at the first sign of issues put you at more of a disadvantage. Schuster brings a lot to this team, and having him for the first four years of Missouri Valley play, barring injury to others or severely not ideal performance, is worth more in the long run.

Is he Trey Lance, no he is not, could he develop into the next Keaton Studsrud with time, perhaps a little better? I think so, he has a lot of raw traits that Studsrud did without the immediate need to play as a true freshman (I realize he came on later in the year due to injuries but he did so without the four game leniency for saving the redshirt that Schuster has afforded to him) with the four game redshirt rule (saving Schuster for only injuries if Ketteringham can play is the way I think this staff is leaning).

On defense

This team has a defense that can scheme against anyone. They did well against the Bearkats considering how long they were on the field. One thing I have noticed from the first three games as an observation, is this team’s ability to consistently tackle on the edge and in the second level. They did keep the ‘Kats hemmed in a bit better than their time against NDSU, but it seems whenever this team has to play a dual threat quarterback, they face issues limiting their sucess. Part of the reason, I think, Sam Houston State tried that swinging gate formation on the fourth-and-two that sealed the game for UND, was because they showed the same look earlier before running a base look and their quarterback, Eric Schmid was able to run right through. If the Kats go back to that base look perhaps last week ends a bit differently.

Second level tackling and edge tackling need to keep up for this team to have a chance against any quarterback, like all world Eastern Washington QB Eric Barriere next weekend.

Need for speed

With Izzy Adeoti recovering from an injury and Cam McKinney moved to running back, this team does not have many over the top players on the edge that can run past players. They rely on strong possession wideouts and a lot of jump balls. While that has worked for them so far, I am expecting more teams to scheme for the fades and jump balls as we move forward with safety help and running two high schemes most of the time.

Until UND can run the ball more consistently or find someone outside who can break a game open over the top with consistency, be it through moving McKinney back to wideout or Izzy getting healthy or someone else whom we have not seen, this team needs a different element on the edge to make defenses think twice about how they are scheming for an offense that needs more options.

New offensive coordinator, Danny Freund, has done a great job opening the playbook and giving teams more to think about, and going forward for the future of this program finding or rediscovering an outside speed runner to open up the inside more will help everyone out in the long run.

 

Genius: How UND defeated No. 24 Sam Houston State 27-23

On By terpaneseIn College Football, Uncategorized, UND FootballLeave a comment

(Photo Credit: Kelsey Lee-Violet Turtle Photography)

Coming into this game, UND had some things to work on, and moving forward into the bye week before playing the always challenging Eastern Washington on the road, they still do. With that being  said, today the Fighting Hawks were able to not only earn a must win game at home against the Bearkats with a tough win, but they did so by out scheming them.

The 28-24 win had a lot to do with not only the players, true freshman Tommy Schuster came on after starter Andrew Zimmerman exited with an injury and did enough to keep his team in the game, while making multiple tough throws in coverage to UND’s talented possession receivers like Noah Wanzek. In addition, on defense Jade Lawrence finished with two interceptions, and Jaxson Turner and Mason Bennett among others made life tough for the quarterbacks of the Bearkats.

That is not what drove things in a vacuum today. It seems to be a common theme for opposing coaches to note how many looks UND’s defense provides. This Eric Schmidt lead defense is a lot closer to a pro scheme that utilizes the skills of the players he has to define different iterations of what to run as opposed to looking to shoehorn players into roles.

Last week, NDSU head coach Matt Entz noted the need to not teach too much of what UND’s defense to quickly because they can run a because the defensive playbook that is so deep. This week, Bearkats’ head coach K.C. Keeler called UND Head Coach Bubba Schweigert’s ability to scheme so well on defense “genius.”

When asked about that, Bubba aptly deflected praise onto Schmidt and his staff for collaboratively coming up with the best schemes each week for that opponent. While UND lost last week against NDSU, their defense had some moments of brilliance in part due to scheming, they forced NDSU to adjust on the fly, and the Bison to their credit did so. Today, UND’s ability to adjust on the fly to the high powered offense of Sam Houston State proved to be the difference.

In the fourth quarter, the Fighting Hawks simply schemed correctly to put Noah Larson in the right place on a 4th-and-2 that would have put Sam Houston State about 10 yards away from scoring the go-ahead and likely winning touchdown.

The Bearkats ran kind of a swinging gate formation where a lot of the line starts over on the sideline. Quarterback Eric Schmid took the ball and ran right at the defense. Thanks to the scheme drawn up for that scenario, Larson knew to rush and he made the difference in the end with making the stop.

Going forward, we will see a different team against Eastern Washington than the one that took the field tonight. UND wants to use the bye to get healthy. We could potentially see Nate Ketteringham back under center for the Fighting Hawks if he is sufficiently healed from his injury sustained against Drake.

UND does have some things to improve on for the Eastern Washington game, and they will be discussed here and elsewhere, but for today, this win keeps them solidly in the hunt for a playoff bid and shows them a way to compete with fast and high skilled teams, if they can execute the drawn up schemes, then maybe more coaches might call Bubba or his staff geniuses or some other iteration of the word.

What needs to happen: UND-Sam Houston State

On By terpaneseIn College Football, Football, Uncategorized, UND Football1 Comment

(Photo Credit: Kelsey Lee-Violet Turtle Photography)

Tomorrow, UND and Sam Houston State will battle in a Potato Bowl that could serve as a playoff game for both of these teams. Whomever walks out of the Alerus Center victorious will have a slightly easier path to the FCS playoff bracket, while the loser will be faced with a week of self reflection and have to string together near perfection to achieve the same fate.

For these Fighting Hawks, here is what needs to happen in order to soar on to their next test against national powerhouse Eastern Washington on the road in two weeks.

Breakout with big plays

I want to see the second half offense against Drake that started when Andrew Zimmerman came on in relief. While it is important to have the ball for much longer than a ‘Kats team that runs a prolific spread offense highlighted by two mobile quarterbacks, Eric Schmid and Ty Brock. How do you mitigate the power of running quarterbacks as an offense? Well hold the ball longer and fire up some big plays. While the Bearkats certainly provide more of a test than the Bulldogs did, UND has to be willing to dive deep in the playbook against these ‘Kats to have a chance.

In addition, until UND can find a true over the top game breaker on the edge, these Fighting Hawks will need to be able to keep the ‘Kats off guard with their schemes and use deception and option looks to open up seams for Zimmerman to throw into.

Convert when you get over the 50

Last week, UND had some good drives against NDSU that were snuffed out. Be they interceptions or bad blocks or anything else, this team left chances on the table to dramatically alter the momentum of the game. How do you fix this?

Well, if you make the opponent’s territory you need to get points. Sam Houston State runs their tempo like a fast break and when you let their offense onto the field, it had better be because you just scored, preferably a touchdown. UND has to improve efficiency when they get good drives going. For Saturday to work well for them, watch how many times UND gets points of any sort when they cross into BearKat territory.

Edge Tackling

Schematically, UND played a sound game against the best FCS program, arguably in the history of football at this level. The Bison often ran through missed tackles on the edge to extend drives and force UND to use its untested depth up the middle which made it harder for their players to stay fresh on defense.

For as much as these ‘Kats use the edge of the field on offense, UND must sure up their tackling on the edge to match.

If not, the ‘Kats could walk out with a well earned win. In that vain, if the Fighting Hawks can sure up the edge of their scheme, then getting more reps to get big plays and converting more drives becomes easier. Up the middle, this team with its starters is quite stout regarding tackling and ending plays before they flourish.

On the edge, and down in the depth chart, that is not always the case. If the edge can be fortified then the potent offense of the ‘Kats hopefully will find themselves wandering in the wilderness all day while the Hawks can soar ahead, if not the playoffs slip further out of reach for a team wanting only its second Division One playoff spot in its history and first since 2016.

Prediction: Not a lot to go on in comparable opponents for these teams. This game for both of these sides is the first comparable FCS test either one faces in a battle for the playoffs. If the Alerus Center can maintain its loud start throughout and Andrew Zimmerman’s arm can come to life when needed, and the ‘Kats cannot run their fast-break style offense all game, then maybe UND can eke out a victory, but it will be close and most fans in attendance will be on the edge of their seats all day long.

UND 33 Sam Houston State 30 is my guess in what promises to be a Potato Bowl for the ages.