(Photo Credit: Kelsey Lee-Violet Turtle Photography)

After the game he had, freshman running back for the Fighting Hawks, Luke Skokna stepped up to the podium as the first player to talk to the press. He illuminated a lot of key things throughout the week leading up to him getting his red shirt pulled playing in his fifth game as a freshman. For example, he noted that his position coach Malcom Agnew was critical in his development throughout the year and helped him get ready for this moment. In addition, he mentioned how positive his injured teammate Cam McKinney always is and how the two have bonded throughout the year.

McKinney and Skokna are both, as UND Head Coach Bubba Schweigert says “home-run hitters” capable of quick scores and capable of changing the course of a game with a simple juke or two. Skokna produced a lot of those as, filling in for an injured McKinney, he finished the day with 16 yards on a mere 11 caries with two end zone visits among them to spur UND forward to a 36-18 win to move to 7-4. Finally, senior wideout Travis Toivonen, who was waiting to chat with the media loudly praised his teammate yelling joyously “Young Skokes!” supporting his teammate when Skokna finished his time with the press. On his redshirt being pulled so he could play today, Skokna “everything happens for a reason.”

The game opened up for the Fighting Hawks who weathered a tough storm in the first half full of turnovers and gifting Southern Utah chances to score on short fields, which they converted on two out of the three turnovers. Thunderbirds quarterback Chris Helbig quietly had a nice day against a stout UND defense, utilizing a lot of crossing routes and underneath looks to go 24-42 for 258 yards (one touchdown) with only one interception on the day.

His ability to extend plays and convert on key third downs helped Southern Utah hang around through into the third quarter. UND had to adjust their coverage a bit to disrupt some of the crossing looks presented by the Thunderbirds and as the game went on, thanks to the help of Defensive Coordinator Eric Schmidt’s staff, UND’s defense reasserted themselves in the second half.

One standout was Mason Bennett, although he did not get a sack, he finishd with five tackles and a quarterback hurry. He sometimes had to work through double teams and still set the edge for the Fighting Hawks quite well along with standout Jaxson Turner who finished with six total tackles on the game. As those two work back to full health, if UND gets to play again next weekend, good things could happen.

Now What 

Tomorrow is Selection Sunday for UND. They will know around 11:30 or so what the fate of this 2019 group is. They will have a first round game next weekend, or their season will be over with the 30 point loss at Idaho State, and the Weber State potential upset slipping through their fingers being the the two biggest marks on their record one could concede to the committee for letting in a similar team with a similar resume who won one of those games that UND did not. At the end of the day, projections are great, but the committee’s is the only one that matters, let’s see what happens.

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