It wasn’t pretty. It certainly wasn’t clean. But it was a victory.
The UND Fighting Hawks headed out west to Sacramento on Saturday night and left town with a 41-15 victory, upping their record to 5-2 on the season. The loss dropped the Hornets to 2-5.
The Hawks did what they absolutely needed to do and that is win the ball game. But, we feel like they left town with more questions than answers when it comes to the state of their team.
Game Highlights
UND opened the game like they usually do by scoring a touchdown. This one came on a methodical, punishing 14 play-75 yard drive that was capped off by a two yard TD pass from Nate Ketteringham to Alex Cloyd.
Ketteringham was a bit off to begin with but settled in nicely in the third quarter. We think we can tell how Nate is going to be by watching his intermediate throws. When he sets his feet and transitions to his front foot when making the throw, he is on. When he whips it quickly off his back foot he is off. In the first half vs. Sac State he was off. But came back and made a nice touch pass to a crossing Noah Wanzek to get UND down to the 1 yard line (somehow the Big Sky found a view we didn’t have to overturn the TD call). Brady Oliveira punched it in to put UND up 20-10.
The UND offensive line, tight ends, and fullbacks once again dominated the line of scrimmage like they were supposed to do. The consistency with this unit is very good to see. OL coach Luke Knauf deserves alot of credit for how he has gotten these kids to gel with all the shuffling and injuries they have had. The Hawks rushed for an astounding 480 yards with the holes getting bigger and bigger as the game went on.
Brady Oliveira (18-173-3TD) and James Johannesson (11-213-2TD) were absolute war daddy’s out there. They dragged a countless number of defenders on their long runs and seemed to get stronger as the game went on. Even though John Santiago is injured the UND running game is still thriving due to the unselfishness of all three of those guys.
Johannesson’s fumble into the end zone for a touchback was the second time that has happened this season (Oliveira) and third time in three years for UND. That’s 21 points they have lost as they are heading in for a touchdown.
UND scored points in the third quarter! I repeat: UND scored points in the third quarter!! In all seriousness it was so great to see them come out with the same fire and effort they had in the first half running the ball. UND had a whopping 187 yards rushing in the third quarter alone, while scoring 20 points and sealing the victory.
Injuries are starting to worry us a bit. WR Izzy Adeoti left the game after his knee buckled following a short catch. He had to be carried off the field but we have heard they are optimistic that it might not be a full knee tear. WR Travis Toivonen also left the game with a foot injury but returned. Foot injuries are never good, though, because one small bone could break and it means weeks of rehab/time off. Santiago also left the game not to return. He had a knee issue but his could be an ankle, though, the way he was limping off. Not good, folks. Those are three playmakers that UND needs to win ball games.
The Fighting Hawks defense was pretty darn solid all night. The Hornets had to start Wyatt Clapper at QB due to a Kevin Thomson injury. This made they offense pretty pedestrian and UND was able to contain their passing game pretty easily. The only concern we have is the amount of rushing yards the Hornets were able to muster. They ran the ball 48 times for 230 yards, which is about 100 too many, IMO. It was apparent from the beginning that Sac State was going to run the ball and throw short to try and move the chains. They really kept their butt covered all night. They did, however, try about every formation in the book to confuse UND and get easy yards but most the time it didn’t do much.
The Hornets offense scored one TD all night. They kicked two field goals that were a result of short fields due to a UND turnover. So, actually the Hawks defense did it’s job in holding Sac State to a field goal on those sudden changes. The Hornets had 349 yards of total offense.
UND notched four more sacks vs. Sac State, giving them an impressive 27 on the season. Jaxson Turner had two of them and provided a nice boost in the absence of Tanner Palmborg at the OLB position.
UND only forced one turnover but it was a big one as DE Carl Engwall got his paw up and deflected a Clapper pass that went right to ILB Donnell Rodgers, who had a nice game with 9 tackles and 2.5 TFL’s and 2 PBU’s, especially in pass coverage.
Want to know what we thought of UND’s special teams play Saturday night? They were terrible. That is our only thought. Muffed punt, botched fake field goal (questionable decision to even call for it), long 42 yard kick return (again), very high snap on extra point returned for two points by Hornets. Somehow, someway it’s getting worse as the year goes on.
First off, Noah Wanzek is probably exhausted from playing damn near every snap. With Santiago injured they need to find somebody else, ala Josh Seibel, who can wave their hand and surely catch a punt.
The high snap on the extra point happens. Just wish holder Cade Peterson would have fell on it instead of trying to pick it up.
The kickoff team has an effort/execution issue. The first three guys get down there in the appropriate time. But, where are the next wave of guys that should be converging to squeeze down the lanes? It seems like the returner beats our first couple guys, who are tied up with a blocker most likely, then runs 10-15 yards without being touched. Suddenly the other team is starting at the 40 yard line. UND’s defense is playing outstanding ball right now. Think how good it could be if the other team had to start at the 20-25 yard line after every kickoff.
The Fake Field Goal
The only thing we can figure out from this is that Hunter Pinke (36) was supposed to maybe let the second guy off the end of the line (34) go and then seal the end guy (6). That would have allowed holder Brock Boltmann to get around the end to option the cornerback (30). Or they were counting on #6 to rush hard off the edge and then Pinke could release to get the linebacker. Neither happened.
If you notice, UND inserted punter Cade Peterson as the kicker and Boltmann as the holder. Peterson was inserted there because he is very fast and could catch the pitch from Boltmann and get the first down. Flawed design or screwed up blocking, not sure.
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UND has done what they needed to do and that is beat teams they should and beat them handily. Now it’s time to beat a Top 5 team in the country. The Weber State Wildcats and their stout defense come into the Alerus Center on a high note after defeating Montana State 34-24 this past Saturday.
The Wildcats will provide the stiffest test to date for the UND offense that is churning out massive rushing yards to the tune of 286 yds/game. Weber is #1 in the Big Sky in rushing defense at 131 yds/game. Battle of strengths.
Cover photo courtesy of Sacramento State Athletics – http://www.hornetsports.com/sports/fball/2018-19/photos/0003/index
