It wasn’t pretty and it sure as heck wasn’t sexy but UND found a way to win a crucial football game on Saturday and solidify it’s position atop the Big Sky standings. The 27-19 victory over Weber State kept UND unbeaten (6-0) in Big Sky play and improved their record to 7-2 overall.
- The UND kickoff return team set the bar high on the first play of the game when John Santiago housed the opening kickoff untouched. This was the play of the game, no question. Without that, the game has a completely different complexion.
- Kickoff coverage has been subpar all year overall, but Saturday leaves us very concerned. Probably the worst game for the kickoff team that we can remember in a while. Besides a perceived lack of effort by a few members of the team, they are trying to kick from one hash to the opposite deep corner. Weber picked up on this based on kicker Reid Taubenheim’s alignment pre-kick (we assume) and set up the return down that far hash. UND was simply outnumbered on those kicks because the five UND players to the short side have to run way too far to help squeeze the return.
- The UND Defense gets the game ball. Minus a few longer plays and lapses, they were fantastic overall. They had 7 sacks and forced 4 turnovers while holding the Weber offense to 286 total yards and 3-16 on 3rd down conversions. Still lots of room for improvement here too, particularly in the secondary.
- Cole Reyes had the “game changing” day that he’s capable of. The defense is totally different when he plays. While he did get beat on a corner route for a TD by a tight end, it was a very well executed throw and catch. You could also argue that Deion Harris didn’t do his best to help out on that play. Regardless, sometimes the other team makes plays and you have to tip your hat. Reyes ended the game with two interceptions.
- UND leads the nation in interceptions with an astounding 16 through nine games. They notched three more on Saturday.
- DE Drew Greely was extremely active all day and caused major problems for Weber in the second half. How is this for a stat line: 4 tackles, 2.5 sacks, 2.5 TFL’s, 1 FF, and 1 pass breakup.
- #3 Darryl Denby was a handful for UND in the first half. Weber lined him up in the slot meaning UND’s safeties, Zach Arnell or Cole Reyes would be across from him. He was too quick at times and really gave them fits.
- The pass interference call on Weber in the end zone was a horrible call. UND benefitted greatly from it as they went down to score a TD and take the lead. The Big Sky refs struggled again on Saturday after having a good couple weeks.
- UND is really running their draw plays well as of late. Very effective vs. Idaho State and Brady Oliveira scored untouched from 17 out this week.
- Offensively, there’s really no nice way to say it, but UND was simply awful overall. 212 yards. Keaton Studsrud going down had something to do with that obviously, but the offensive pace when he was in was pedestrian as well. 7-15 for 41 yards passing will kill UND moving forward. 4-15 on 3rd down vs. a good defense won’t cut it come playoff time.
- Keaton Studsrud went down with an apparent throwing shoulder injury. The injury sounds to be of the lighter AC joint variety, which is good news. There is a chance he plays this weekend but it will probably be a game time decision if he is progressing during the week.
- Backups Ryan Bartels and Brad Heidlebaugh both saw action, but Bartels also got knicked too we believe. We think Bartels gets the nod this week if Studsrud can’t go because of the experience factor. QB play could make or break UND next week out in Greeley.
- The 34 yard reverse by Travis Toivonen was a thing of beauty. Studsrud handed the jet sweep to true freshman Noah Wanzek, who then flipped it back to Toivonen who was heading the opposite direction. That is not easy to pull off, especially for two true freshmen. The timing was damn near perfect.
- One bright spot for the UND offense was no turnovers.
- UND’s turnover margin this year now sits at +13. Good for 5th in all of FCS.
- We still maintain that there needs to be more of Santiago and Oliveira on the field together. You can do so many different things with them both in the game. The defense really has some things to think about whether you line them both up in the backfield together, or put Santiago in the slot.
- UND offense needs to have more of a screen game to slow down opposing defenses. RB ‘slip’ and ‘swing’ screens could be huge plays for them. Defenses are just pinning their ears back right now and teeing off.
That was a big win for UND and their resume. Weber is now 5-3 and with one more win would have a winning record, which is big.
UND now heads out to Greeley to take on Northern Colorado, who is suddenly 5-3 on the year after a wild shootout win over Portland State last weekend.
Feature Image courtesy of: Conor Knuteson, UNDsports.com.
Why did they not try to run Norberg up the middle, which had success the last few weeks? Seems to me that would have been a good option on the goal line.
Not applicable to how WSU plays their front. Too many guys and the reason they ran Norberg alot was because SUU shot up the field so fast that they trapped them with Norberg. Traps only work against certain styles of front four.
On the offense…
Admittedly I missed most of the first half, but I’m curious what you attribute the woes to? From what I’ve seen the O-line is not as good as last year (due to graduation and injuries) and teams are teeing off on the run game as you note. But sometimes they come to the line and given the offensive formation and the defensive front, I’m thinking to myself, there’s no way they can run the ball into this. Frequently the play goes nowhere as I suspected. At times the OC is great at running the right play at the right time to keep the offense moving, but this relies on Studsrud to be hot and consistently hit open receivers. If he’s a little off, the dice is stacked against the running game already and the offense goes nowhere. Does that sound about right to you?
Sounds about right to me! Keaton was off on Saturday. As off as he has been in 8 weeks. Plus, like you said they committed to stopping the run and it was simply a numbers issue up front. They need Keaton to be on with the back shoulder throws, the dig routes, etc. If he isn’t then their offense stalls.
So…then the implications of this is that when Studsrud is hot they can put up big points and compensate for turnovers/penalties. But when he is not, they cannot afford penalties/turnovers, which they have been prone to at times, and they rely on their defense to win games ala the D2 days. Last week they thankfully were perfect on turnovers and penalties. Now they are looking at being without him when defenses will be licking their chops at the running game even more. I don’t see how they can expect to go into Greely relying on the running game without Studsrud. They need to be balanced enough and make plays through the air or it’s going to be man coverage with 8-9 in the box stuffing the run…it’s going to be interesting!
Agree on all of your points…especially the last one about the screen game and the one about Oliviera and Santiago being on the field at the same time…To me two things would really help this offense: 1 – get Santiago the ball in space (through screens and swing passes especially), and 2 – Some kind of misdirection/play action…especially off of the toss. We run toss plays to the overloaded side of the field so much, that a fake toss with a tight end leaking out to the opposite side of the fake could go for a really big gain in my eyes. I hope we can keep working on diversifying the playbook as our personnel gain more experience. On to UNC…and hopefully a complete performance!
Completely agree that they need to diversify and keep the opposing defense off kilter. It will be even more necessary without Studsrud.
Agree with all comments. There are ways to diversify the offense without becoming too risky; this would yet protect the ball but still make it more difficult on opposing defenses.
Examples include screens to backs, receivers, and even tight ends. Also, swing passes and play sets with both Santiago and Oliveira on the field at the same time. Would love to see Santiago running jet sweep action with Oliveira or A. Gordon in the backfield.
They tried a pass to freshman TE Alex Cloyd that Studsrud just missed. If he makes that catch, it would have been a nice gain and nice to see Cloyd involved in the offense.
I think Bartels threw that pass but yes, your point is good. They need to use Cloyd.
One of a coach’s, and his staffs, responsibilities is to have their team prepared and ready to play. Not just game planning but having the team mentally ready to play. There have been too many games this year that UND has been absolutely flat and lifeless in the first quarter, if not the entire first half. This was the case Saturday and the Saturday before that and, it seems the season to date! I’m getting tired of Bubba saying during his end of 1st half interview that the team has to find some life in the 2nd half. To me these flat starts are, partially , on the coaches
Hard to argue that. They have come out flat more than not this year. Poly, Sac State, & SUU were the only three games where they really came out of the gates firing. It will be an issue at some point as they will face better teams and not be able to catch up.
It’s interesting because we were a first half team last year. We dominated the first half. This year we are a second half team. I prefer closers. I do wish we’d start games better though, it would make it easier on my heart.
Teams needs to be more selectively aggressive. I understand the importance of protecting the ball offensively, but sometimes in order to score you have to take your timely chances.
Love to see more of Santiago and Gordon too. Put Santiago in the slot ala the college Percy Harvin at Fla.
Anyone know how much leeway they give Keaton to check out of plays? Can he kill a run and go to a pass at the line of scrimmage. Can he switch to an alternate run? There are times he looks uncomfortable with the defense stacking the box, but we dive into it anyway. I’d like to think he has the go ahead to switch to a play action dump off at least. The other thing I don’t understand is how we use the jet sweep or bubble screens. Weston Dressler is gone, and so should those plays. I don’t know why the coaches love those plays. Also, I don’t put this on Rudolph. I think it’s Bubba’s overall philosophy to have a QB who can run and reduce the chances you take in the passing game. I like that for the most part, but I think it also has the effect of making the entire offense a little tentative instead of one with an attack mentality. Either way, in Bubba I trust!
Keaton has ALOT of leeway in checking out of plays. He goes to the line with a handful of options to check to, based on the original call. I would say he checks out of the play at least half the game, maybe? When you see him looking around and then turning backwards to his RB, that is your indicator.
The jet sweep is used to stretch the defense wider and create a window up the middle. If they can get the eyes of the linebackers looking outside (following the sweep action), they can possibly get the space or angle they are looking for to block him. They only give the sweep if a team is completely neglecting it or they need to change it up and are dead set on running the ball for clock purposes, like the end of the game. But it does make a defense “space out”, creating more running room up the middle for John and Brady.
I would buy Keaton having the leeway to audible if, when there are 8 in the box and he turns around and yells something at the RB, that the play is something other that a dive play off-guard for no gain. I can’t recall a situation where it appears he has killed off a play into something that could burn the defense. He may switch from left to right, but that’s about it.
As far as the jet sweep, I understand the intent. It’s just the results of it I’m not comfortable with. Along with the bubble screens, we seem to execute them so slowly and tentatively they don’t have a chance. Teams that have success with them have burners who they hit in stride in attack mode and they have success. Us, not so much.
My big concern is the tentativeness with how we run the offense much of the time from a coaching standpoint. It rubs off on the confidence level and aggressiveness of the guys on the field. I would like to see a little more attitude and aggressiveness from the staff. But, hey, I’m loving 6-0 in the conference.