Once again, the UND Football team headed into the 4th quarter with a comfortable 2 score lead but left the field with a loss. This week Weber State put up a big 4th quarter comeback to edge UND 25-24 in a game that UND should have won.
Last week Idaho State was down 31-15 heading into the 4th quarter, only to score 22 unanswered points and win the game 37-31.
A couple 4th quarter stats from this weeks game vs. Weber:
- Weber had 212 total yards through three quarters. 4th quarter = 144 yards.
- Weber State was 5-7 on third down in 4th quarter. Quarters 1-3 = 2 for 9.
- UND Offensive drives that started in 4th quarter:
- 3 plays – 9 yards
- 4 plays – 5 yards (fumble)
- 3 plays – -1 yards
- 3 plays – 1 yard (Interception)
- 4 plays – 8 yards
All that happened in the 4th quarter and UND lost by 1 point on the road to a 4-3 team. Honestly, how close are they to being 6-1? In our opinion, real close. But the fact remains that they sit at 4-3 after two close, tough losses.
Injuries are a part of every program at this time of the year. The problem for UND is they overhauled the roster so much and are still trying to build depth. So losing starters like Taj Rich (ILB), Cole Reyes (SS), Zach Arnell (FS), Drew Greely (DE), Clive Georges (WR) and now Keaton Studsrud (QB) is too much to overcome.
UND is starting a true sophomore who played sparingly last year (Deion Harris), true freshman (Tyus Carter), junior transfer safety-1st year (Jawon Johnson), and a walk-on safety (William James). That combination is not ideal when teams decide to throw the ball to play catch-up.
We have also noticed that teams are max protecting a bit more to slow down the UND pass rush. They know their WR’s have a decent chance of getting open so they are taking their chances by only sending out 2-3 WR’s at times.
UND DC Eric Schmidt has obviously noticed all these things going on. He has been dropping linebackers more to try and help underneath, which allows the CB’s and Safeties to play over the top of the WR’s and provide some cushion for them.
UND beat Drake, UC-Davis and Portland State by running out the clock in the 4-minute offense at the end of the game. Those teams never even got a chance to get the ball back because the UND offense kept moving the chains. Those types of statement drives are not happening lately. They are going 3 and out repeatedly, putting a beat up and thin UND defense back on the field way too much. Those 3 games resulted in 3 wins.
We have said before there are games that the UND offense needs to win by controlling the ball and keeping the UND defense off the field. These last two games were both those types of games and it didn’t happen in either one. UND lost them both by a grand total of 7 points.
Here are some other FACTS to consider: UND has been playing without 2 of its best defensive players with Taj Rich and Cole Reyes being out. We also know about Zach Arnell’s injury and the impact that has had. On offense, there is no question that Studsrud’s absence makes the UND offense “different”. While he still needs to develop and improve, his impact has been obvious since he left the game in the 3rd quarter against Idaho State.
UND simply does not have the depth it needs at this time to sustain such losses at key positions. That will come with time, recruiting classes and development.
The losses the last 2 weeks have been frustrating, disappointing and unacceptable from a ‘fan’ standpoint – no doubt.
However, is there any doubt that UND is further ahead of schedule than most people (including ourselves) thought they would be at this point during the rebuilding process?
Given all the variables, we are disappointed to be 4-3 at this point. Who would have thought that before the season? Not us.
