UND lost 31-21 on Saturday to Southern Utah after jumping out to an early 14-0 lead in the 1st quarter on Joel Schwenzfeier’s 100 yd interception return for a TD.  Everything pretty much went on a downward spiral from there.   Some of our observations from Saturday:

Thunder Lake Lodge
Thunder Lake Lodge
  • Southern Utah is a very talented team.  Their QB and WR’s are exceptional.  Defensively, they showed some strength up front in containing the UND running game and also showed all-around speed defending the pass.  In their 2 FBS games this season, they were defeated by Wyoming 28-20, and by San Jose State 16-11.  Both games were very winnable.
  • Absolutely alarming stats:
    1st downs – SUU 30   UND 11
    Total offense – SUU 509   UND 173
    Time of possession – SUU 40:22   UND 19:38
    SUU QB Sorenson completes 76% of his 46 pass attempts.
    This game could have, and you can argue should have, been much worse on the scoreboard.  Turnover battle was even at one apiece.
  • Stagnant offense and a defense that can’t seem to get off the field or create turnovers is a bad combination for UND.  After the 1st series of offense where UND marched it down the field and the 1st possession on defense which resulted in the Schwenzfeier interception TD, there wasn’t much more to be excited about on either side.
  • In our opinion, the turning point in this game was simple:  When the UND offense needed a big play in the 2nd half to give them a boost late in the game, they looked to Greg Hardin again on a post route.  Jake Landry threw a strike.  Hardin dropped the ball.  UND never got points on that possession and never recovered in the game.  Obviously that wasn’t the only big play that didn’t happen for the Sioux but it was the one that sticks out to us.  Hardin has been the best offensive player on the team and is only a freshman, those things happen to freshman. 
  • The UND secondary looks lost.  Minus the huge play from Schwenzfeier this week, finding a big play from the secondary has been tough.  The corners play way too soft, and when they come up to play aggressive, the safeties don’t cover over the top well enough in zone coverage.  Mackey, Hawkins and Watkins are all not playing as well as they need to at corner.  If the UND defense is going to turn it around for the 2nd half of the season, the corners specifically will need to play better.  If they continue to give up big plays and not make any plays themselves, it could be a long year.  Southern Utah passed 46 times and the Sioux only had 3 pass breakups and 1 INT. 
  • The pass rush was actually a bright spot for the defense.  They had 4 sacks for a total loss of 29 yards.  The bad part is they could have had 8-10 sacks but missed Sorenson or he made them miss, one or the other. 
  • Injuries:  Something this team cannot afford, but find themselves staring at going into the bye week.  Seth Stanchik is out for the year with a broken leg.  Paul German could be out for the season as well with a knee injury.  Losing Ross Brenneman at defensive end for an extended period of time could be a killer.  He injured his shoulder and did not return.  It is yet to be determined how long he is out for.  Dan Hendrickson and Justin Belotti both suffered concussions and should be back for the next game.
  • Being 2-4 going into the bye week, UND needs to regroup and get healthy.  They resume play on October 23rd at Cal-Poly, who has been impressive this year to say the least.  After Poly, UND hosts Lamar and Cal-Davis, then ends the season on back-to-back road trips to Montana and SDSU.  This schedule is going to be very tough and will test the character of this team and its coaching staff.  It is safe to say they will only be favored in the Lamar game, maybe. 
  • Around the league:  Cal-Poly defeated Old Dominion 50-37.  Cal-Davis held on at home to defeat South Dakota 17-13 in what was considered the worst officiated game in the history of organized football by one of the coaches involved.
 40:22    19:38