On Saturday the Hawks picked up where they left off in 2022 – scoring a bunch of points and entertaining the crowd.
The Fighting Hawks offense started slow but finished extremely fast in putting up a whopping 55 points. The Danny Freund-led offense gave the Alerus Center crowd plenty to cheer about on Saturday.
The 55-7 victory over Drake was exactly what this former player/current fan wanted to see. Dominate a team that you should dominate.
The Hawks are back in the Alerus Center this weekend when they take on the Northern Arizona Lumberjacks (Big Sky Conf). UND and NAU had a wild one last year down in Flagstaff – it ended with the Tommy Schuster throwing a flea-flicker touchdown to Jack Wright that put the Hawks up 27-24.
Game time is set for 3:00pm.
The UND offense got in rhythm in a hurry once the first quarter ended. 0-0 at the end of the first wasn’t what we all expected but it was evident the holes were there and things were going to change for the better.
UND put up 652 yards of total offense. 288 of it came via the ground game in an impressive performance from the big boys up front. The push was quite noticeable from the first series on and only got stronger as the game went on.
I was high on the Hawks OL coming into the season and they performed to expectations on Saturday. Pass protection was a bit off early but settle in nicely as game wore on. Drake star DE Finn Claypool was held sackless (Drake had zero sacks) and didn’t do much in the game.
10 players caught a pass for the Hawks. The leading receiver was Bo Belquist 7 catches for 110 yards and 2 TD’s.
Tommy Schuster was his normal self, just like every other week. 22-26 for 262 yards and 3 TD. Ho-Hum. He also ran the ball four times, including a nifty TD run that got the Hawks on the scoreboard. Appreciate what you are watching folks, this kid is damn good.
Backup QB Trey Feeney took over in the 3rd quarter and looked really sharp. His back shoulder to Nick Kupfer was perfectly placed. His TD pass to Elijah Klein was throw perfectly, as well. Klein then made a one-handed catch for his first career TD. Feeney ended the day 4-5 for 102 yards and 1 TD.
RB Gaven Ziebarth had a breakout performance vs Drake. His 79 yard touchdown run to open the second half electrified the crowd and essentially blew the game open. Ziebarth is their bigger back but showed great speed on that run.
Speaking of speed – fellow RB Donovan Hunt can scoot. He is still very young but showed impressive skills in scoring two TD’s to go along with 65 yards rushing.
Quincy Vaughn caught a touchdown in his first game at tight end. He was truly a jack-of-all-trades in this game, lining up at QB and doing his sneak thing for a first down.
The Fighting Hawks defense had an astounding 21 quarterback hurries vs Drake. That is crazy! What is even crazier is that UND had zero sacks. QB Luke Bailey was flushed and running for his life all day, even when they were implementing a quick passing concept most of the day. Give Bailey credit for keeping plays alive.
Drake had 332 yards of offense (106 rushing, 226 passing). I give the Drake offensive staff credit for coming in with an interesting game plan. They didn’t show up and keep it vanilla like in the past. The huddle, then hurry up to the line and snap it quickly was a good wrinkle. It kept UND from making pressure checks based on formation because there was no time to do it. I like what Drake did to make the UND defense think. It will only help the Hawks for next week.
Wyatt Pedigo was very active from his ILB position. He had 1.5 TFL’s and flushed Bailey multiple times.
The secondary played OK. Edmund Ocansey blew a quarters coverage on the long pass before halftime but that happens with youth. Hell, it happens to veterans. There were other seam routes that were open but Bailey couldn’t connect with due to pressure or they were dropped. I expect the coverage to improve next week after a week of watching game tape, etc.
UND forced two turnovers (Ted Mullin INT and Pedigo fumble recovery) to end the day +1 in turnover margin.
The Hawks avoided their typical fumble issues whenever they take on Drake. This team was very focused from the opening kickoff.
Drake is going to win some games. The OL is not the most nimble but they are experienced and Bailey will lead them well. I know it ended up 55-7 but they are a well-coached team.
Special Teams left a bit to be desired. A missed field goal & missed extra point from Brady Stevens are a concern. However, on the field goal I did see the laces were not spun out after the catch by holder Simon Romfo. Meaning Stevens kicked the laces, which is a bigtime issue for kickers.
Kickoff coverage was decent but had room for improvement. Covering a kickoff and pinning them deep sets up the defense and ignites the crowd. Allowing a long return does the opposite. A 33 yard return and a kick out of bounds were a couple items that can be worked on. With that said, the kickoff team was probably exhausted! Those guys do need to be wild men running down trying to see who can make the play. The roughing the punter penalty on Malachi McNeal also hurt momentum.
It’s Potato Bowl Week! Always an awesome time in Grand Forks with a plethora of events going on culminating in the big Potato Bowl game on Saturday. This will be a fun game to attend as NAU always has talent, especially on offense. Expect fireworks all day!
Photos courtesy of Russell Hons & UND Athletics