Just what the doctor ordered.
We have been asking for the UND Football team to get up early, like they usually do, and then destroy a team by not letting off the gas. It hadn’t happened yet in 2018 – that is until Saturday.
The Hawks came off their bye week like a team that was rested both mentally & physically and proceeded to pound the heck out of a fragile Montana squad by the score of 41-14.
This time when UND got up 14-0 they didn’t make any huge, catastrophic mistakes to let the opponent back in it. The opposite, actually. The Hawks offense kept the pedal down and the defense was the one making the big, game-changing plays that increased the margin to 34-0 at halftime. All of this led to the Alerus Center faithful staying amped up and creating the best atmosphere of the year, by far.
So refreshing to see this program run away with a game and allow the starters to rest the fourth quarter. This not only allows the veterans the ability to enjoy a victory while it’s still going on but it also allowed UND to clear the bench and get valuable game reps to players that haven’t gotten any this year.
We stated in the Tailgate Show that when UND wins this game it will be on the back of QB Nate Ketteringham. Reason being Montana is fairly stout up front, has two great linebackers, but their secondary is average. We equated it to the SUU game from 2016 when Keaton Studsrud went for 282 yards and 4 TD’s vs. a stout defensive line/poor secondary. It turned to be almost identical as Ketteringham threw for 254 yards and 4 TD’s, with all but 44 of the yards coming in the first half. He also added a rushing TD.
The only negative on the day for Ketteringham was his interception in the end zone during the 3rd quarter. He severely underthrew the route to Brady Oliveira in the back of the end zone. However, it looked like Oliveira should have continued on deeper into the back of the end zone to get separation between him and the defender, who was engaged with John Santiago. Need to convert when you’re that close to the goal line.
Ketteringham was sacked ZERO times. Montana puts a lot of pressure on teams through twists, stunts, blitzes, and came into the game #1 in the Big Sky with 19 sacks. Impressive protection from the offensive line and tight ends.
The UND offense churned out 536 yards with 282 of that coming via the ground game. That was probably the most surprising statistic of all due to the heavy pressure that Montana puts on teams up front. Once again, the Triad of James Johannesson (16-110), John Santiago (11-73), and Brady Oliveira (14-62) battered and raced by the defense to the point where it was wore down come the fourth quarter. This three-headed attack is really starting to take shape behind the vastly improved UND offensive line.
UND was 9-16 on third down. Very good.
Hawks forced four turnovers on the day – three fumbles and 1 INT by Deion Harris that got the party started.
The UND defensive front seven did what they needed to do vs. a decimated Griz OL. They dominated. Austin Cieslak was a force up front, once again, flushing Dalton Sneed several times while also coming up with a big sack on 3rd and 10. We also really like the combination of Donnell Rodgers and Noah Larson at ILB. Those two are playing good ball. Larson might makes some rookie mistakes but he makes them going full speed.
Let’s take a look at some big plays from Mr. Ketteringham and the UND offense:
Long fade route to Garett Maag. Ketteringham had enough time to let it develop and threw an absolutely perfect ball to a streaking Maag for a TD that ignited the Alerus Center faithful:
[KGVID]https://undfootball360.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/10/Maag-TD-Montana.mp4[/KGVID]
Long post route to Izzy Adeoti. Once again, Ketteringham has great protection which allows him to wait for Izzy to get wide open on the post route for a TD.
[KGVID]https://undfootball360.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/10/Izzy-TD-Montana.mp4[/KGVID]
Corner route to Noah Wanzek. Nice route and nice throw on this hookup. Wanzek gives the DB a veteran push-off to create separation and gets the TD. Notice Montana brought 7 guys on an all-out blitz but UND max protected and only sent out two WR’s.>
[KGVID]https://undfootball360.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/10/Wanzek-TD-Montana.mp4[/KGVID]
UND only had five penalties for 30 yards. Much better in that department.
The UND defense was on-pooint with their tackling all game. It was apparent that Montana’s game plan was to spread UND out and throw short, relying on their WR’s to make the defender miss. That never materialized because the UND secondary/linebackers were able to bring them down in their tracks for a minimal gain over and over again.
The biggest play of the game, in our opinion, wasn’t a touchdown or an interception. It was Evan Holm running down #7 Gabe Sulser on the 59 yard jet sweep run that got out the gate due to several miscues up front. Holm came from the backside to catch Sulser around the 10 yard line which made Montana snap it again. The goal of any defense is to prevent big plays by always making them snap it again. Here is Holm’s pure effort play that eventually led to a Montana turnover. Holm has probably the best “oh sh*t” catchup speed we have ever seen.
[KGVID]https://undfootball360.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/10/Evan-Holm-Montana.mp4[/KGVID]
Holm’s play led to Montana fumbling the handoff on 2nd & goal from the 1 yard line between Dalton Sneed and fullback Colin Bingham. Huge momentum swing in the game. Instead of 14-7 UND then took over at the 2 yard line and went 98 yards to make it 21-0, pretty much deflating the Griz and amping up the crowd even more.
[KGVID]https://undfootball360.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/10/Montana-Fumble.mp4[/KGVID]
It wasn’t all positive on Saturday. We are extremely concerned with the punting game for UND right now. In our amateur opinion, the snap speed and get off from freshman Ross Hinders to freshman Cade Peterson is too slow. The Hawks are going to need to max protect this thing for awhile and sacrifice some coverage until they get it figured out. That was the second blocked punt they have given up this year. Luckily, the defense held and Montana didn’t get any points from it.
The Hawks have earned their way into the Top 25 nationally but now must go on the road to take on a scary Sacramento State team. They have talent but have struggled lately and now sit with a 2-4 record. Game time is set for 8pm CT.
Three thoughts:
-Hard to overstate how important the three early Montana turnovers were to the outcome. This game would have been much different without them, although I do think UND was the much better team and would have won regardless, but it would have been a lot closer.
-It’s fun to watch how improved both the OL and DL are. They are taking care of business up front. The protection is great and the DL getting to the QB (not just blitzing LBs).
-Loved Ketteringham’s hit on the INT that was returned out to about the 10. That was a real tackle by a QB who was looking to put that DB out for the rest of the game.
I love the videos embedded in your analysis. Nice touch! Thanks for your work as I really enjoy reading these each week.
RE: Punting
Doesn’t look like it’s operation time. It’s under 2.1s.
Looks like it’s a blocking issue to me.
The time may be OK based on what is acceptable. But if you watch the other long snapper the velocity is much greater. Meaning Peterson needs to get the punt off quicker than an opposing punter to meet that standard get off time.
As far as blocking, yes, I believe you are correct. They wall guy missed the block vs. SHSU. The block against Montana was because UND only had two guys in the wall and Montana brought three on the rush. Scheme flaw or somebody up front was supposed to block first before heading downfield.
Peterson operation time is approx 1.1s which is very low (good). I’d be concerned about form consistency trying to get it much faster. I agree snapper velocity is a bit slower than opponent. Blocking seems to be an issue on almost every punt. Seems to be pressure as soon as ball is in Peterson’s hands. On Montana punt there were 3 Griz behind the line opposed by 2 UND almost instantly. Now that it’s happened twice I’m sure it will be addressed.
Good point. I rewatched it and UND only had two wall guys but let three come through. Sounds like a communication issue up front or something.