The Sioux went out to California this weekend and took care of business in downing the UC Davis Aggies 14-7. It wasn’t a pretty game by any means but it was a victory, a road victory in the conference. This is a game that the Sioux would have lost in the past. The defense really held down a decent Aggie team that had just beaten Cal Poly the week before.
- The Sioux defense played its best game of the year. The only TD that Davis scored came on a short field after the Sioux punt returner (Garman) muffed the punt after getting bumped into by his own player. When Davis had to go the full length of the field they could not sustain a drive.
- The yardage was even between the two teams (232-228). Not much going on.
- The Sioux were +2 in the turnover department plus a 4th down stop. They are now +5 on the year.
- The UND pass defense had by far, its best effort of the year. We said they were the key to the game and after the game was over it was obvious that the secondary was a major reason why they won the game. They had an astounding 11 pass breakups and held Davis QB Randy Wright to 129 yards on 15-30 passing. S Mitch Kudrna intercepted one pass. If the pass defense can play like that one more time they Sioux should lock themselves up a share of the GWC championship. They are the key again this week.
- The Sioux had 3 sacks compared to zero for Davis. The Sioux OL gave good pass protection but couldn’t get the running game going (92 yards rushing).
- Davis was only 3-14 on third down.
- K Zeb Miller had an off day going 0-2 on two long FG attempts (48 & 50). The second one appeared to be a bad snap that threw off the timing of the kick, however. We look for him to redeem himself this weekend in the friendly confines of the Alerus Center.
UND did what they needed to do and now are in position to win their first ever GWC/D1 conference championship. This upcoming weekend’s game was big anyway with the USD Coyotes coming to town but now it means much more. The winner gets a share of the final GWC championship ever. That’s right, USD is 2-1 in the conference also so they have the same motivation as the Sioux do. Should be a heck of game this weekend at the Alerus Center. It’s time for Sioux fans to get out and support this team as they have in the past. It’s the last game of the year folks and the last game the Sioux will ever have to play under the umbrella of “transition”. It’s over this weekend. What better way to end it than to have a huge crowd cheer them on to conference title.
