UND Shocks The Bearkats

The UND Fighting Hawks went down to Texas in the sweltering heat and came back home with a well-deserved victory over the Sam Houston State Bearkats 24-23.  With temperatures at 93 degrees and 80% humidity it certainly didn’t seem like UND had many advantages playing down in Huntsville on Saturday night.  But, they made big plays when needed and left there with a 2-1 record heading into Big Sky play.

At least from a ranking standpoint this is the biggest win of the Bubba Schweigert era.  Sam Houston was ranked #5 in the latest FCS poll.

Away We Go:

• From all accounts it was unbelievably hot down there on Saturday.  Sticky, thick air with the sun out, as well.  The coaches were wearing long sleeve shirts, too.
• The UND offense did exactly what they want to do in the first half.  The plan was to drop the plow on a suspect run-defense and keep the Bearkat offense off the field and out of rhythm.  Mission accomplished.  SHSU only had the ball four times the entire half and looked out of sync after the opening drive where they scored a TD.  UND ran for 156 yards in the first half.
• Take a look at the drive chart for UND.  Started out unbelievably well but completely stalled out for 1.5 quarters.

• Total Yards = UND 376  SHSU 300.  That is a remarkable stat considering how the Bearkats usually chew up the yards.
• During the tailgate show, we mentioned the importance of UND being better on 3rd down on offense. On Saturday, the UND offense was 6-15 on 3rd down (40%) and 2-4 on 4th down (50%). Combined on 3rd and 4th down they were 42%. It was better, but still needs to be improved.  (Note:  UND was 5-7 on third down in the first half).
• On defense, UND held SHSU to 4-13 (30%) on 3rd down. Pretty damn good.
• UND was penalized 10 times for 90 yards after getting zero penalties the week before.
• Time of possession: UND 33:47 SHSU 26:13
• The makeshift UND offensive line played pretty damn good.  Bennett Helgren moved over to LT to fill in for the injured Noah Mortel.  True freshman Matt Waletzko started at right tackle but hurt his foot in the second quarter.  Luckily, UND got back the services of highly thought of swiss army knife Nate Nguon, who saw his first action of the year filling in at RT for Waletzko.  Nate Ketteringham was only sacked two times on the night vs. a very aggressive pass rush.
• We love how they got WR Izzy Adeoti involved in the game.  They started out with short crossers vs. man coverage and Izzy simply out ran them around the corner for big gains.  Then, OC Paul Rudolph dialed up the big one when he needed it most in the 4th quarter.  Ketteringham went 5-step drop, play-action and laid out a beautiful post ball to the streaking Adeoti, who got a step behind the defense.

[KGVID]https://undfootball360.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/09/Recording-12.mp4[/KGVID]

• If there was an area that Ketteringham struggled in vs. SHSU it was the intermediate out routes.  He missed several of them with most being to open WR’s.  Kett finished the day 16-29 for 189 yards and 1 TD.  He also snuck in another TD and overall ran a nice smooth offense (minus the 3rd and 1 delay of game penalty).
• The Triad proved to be a formidable unit at RB once again.  John Santiago was gashing them with quick cuts, Brady Oliveira was pounding them up the middle and dragging guys consistently, and then they brought in the hammer to seal it in James Johannesson.  When they need to ice the game on that last drive it was Double-J who got the call.  We didn’t see the diamond formation in this game.
• Loved the first play of the game. Under center jet sweep motion with the ‘flip’ in the opposite direction to the RB.
• OC Paul Rudolph needs to self-scout and be careful not to fall in love with the toss play. It’s becoming evident and while we realize it’s blocked in different ways, we are becoming too reliant and predictable on that play specifically.
• The UND defense played pretty well overall.  They would like to have a few plays back I am sure but a big key to their success was limiting the explosive plays by SHSU.  The longest play was a pass to Nathan Stewart for 35 yards.  Next longest after that was 18 yards.
• DC Eric Schmidt adjusted pretty quickly in both halves of this game.  SHSU scored a TD to start the game and to begin the 2nd half.  That’s it.
• The big adjustment was in the third quarter when the Bearkat offense reverted back to their 2017 style.  Suddenly they were getting the ball out quick with shovel passes, bubble screens and plays to make guys miss in space more.
• Safety Jordan Canady is improving by the week.  He hits, he covers, and is showing very good speed.  A kid to watch for sure – and he is only a sophomore.
• Mason Bennett was a force off the edge and between G/T all night.  He was working over those tackles on passing downs pretty consistently.  He ended the game with 6 tackles, 2 TFL’s, and 2 sacks.
• You know who had a sneaky good game but wasn’t talked about much?  DE Austin Cieslak.  He was blowing up plays on the interior allowing Bennett and the linebackers to clean it up.
• The UND defense has 5 sacks and 10 TFL’s.  (SHSU only had 2 sacks and 6 TFL’s)
• On a sad note it appears that uber-talented defensive end Zeke Ott seriously injured his knee in the game.  He left the field putting no weight on it and was carted to the locker room.  Ott was a ferocious pass rusher and really played well early on this season.
• The player of the game on defense was CB Evan Holm.  He had four breakups that were all very significant, including two in a row on the goal line to hold the Bearkats to a field goal.  He also broke up a pass on the last drive where SHSU stalled out on 4th and two.  Watch the pass breakups by Holm below.
• We have been worried about UND getting a punt blocked for a while now and it finally happened Saturday night.  Even though the blocking may have been goofed up, the timing just seems a tick slow this year, whether its the snap speed or get off. This has to be cleaned up immediately. Teams will be bringing the heat often on punt return from here on out.
• Here is a clip of the third down stop UND made to force a punt in the second quarter.  Everett Williams gets the tackle but Tank Harris blows up the guard to make the play.

[KGVID]https://undfootball360.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/09/Recording-6.mp4[/KGVID]

Let’s take a look at the defensive sequence that basically won UND the game on Saturday.  It’s easy to point to many parts of the game but when SHSU had 1st and goal on the 6 yard line, up 20-17, things were looking bleak.  The Hawk offense was sputtering and to go down 27-17 would have possibly been a dagger shot.

First Down:  SHSU tries to pound it in with their new physical mentality.  However, OLB Andre Steiger comes off the edge in a nice blitz call to tackle RB Remus Bulmer for a 4 yard loss.  Huge play.  Takes away the Bearkats option to run the ball, making them one-dimensional. (Notice Cieslak dominate his guy into the backfield)

[KGVID]https://undfootball360.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/09/Recording-7.mp4[/KGVID]

Second Down:  SHSU has to throw being its 2nd and goal from the 10.  They want points now so they go to Nathan Stewart, their All-American WR, who is matched up 1-on-1 with UND CB Evan Holm.  Textbook coverage from Holm here as he stays with Stewart, eventually lunging out into him to get his hand into Stewart’s arms.  Incomplete pass.

[KGVID]https://undfootball360.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/09/Recording-9.mp4[/KGVID]

Third Down:  SHSU sees they have 1-on-1 coverage yet again with their All-American WR Stewart.  Let’s do it again, only this time lets throw it shorter, allowing Stewart to come back across Holm for the catch.  Didn’t happen that way as Holm stops when Stewart does, getting his right hand into his stomach area to knock the pass away.  Incomplete pass.

[KGVID]https://undfootball360.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/09/Recording-10.mp4[/KGVID]

Another look at Holm’s defense of that 3rd down pass.

[KGVID]https://undfootball360.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/09/Recording-11.mp4[/KGVID]

Overall, a great win for the program. Need to move ahead to Idaho State in a Homecoming/Potato Bowl doubleheader next week at the Alerus and not have a Sam Houston hangover. We’d guess the team will get jumped on by the staff a few times early on this week to keep them focused.

Photo courtesy of fightinghawks.com via Russ Hons.