We have been waiting a long time to see UND blow out an opponent. Having to play 11 “meat-grinder” type of games every year is not good for a team’s mental state. They need breaks where the starters can sit back in the 4th quarter and cheer on their teammates while relishing in the decisive victory. Well, UND finally got one of those in UND’s Senior Day home finale 45-14 victory over Northern Colorado to improve to 6-4 on the year and 4-3 in the Big Sky.
UND absolutely beat down Northern Colorado on Saturday, looking like a team that recharged it’s batteries during the bye week. Northern Colorado did not look anything like the team that beat Big Sky front-runner Portland State the week before. The Bears were out of sync from the start and never threatened UND offensively, defensively, or on special teams (where they were very good coming in).
Total Yards: UND – 558 … UNC – 275.
Points off turnovers: UND 28 … UNC 0.
Turnovers: UND 0 … UNC 5 (3 int, 2 fumbles)
Junior OLB Brian Labat set the tone early and was a man on a mission Saturday. He intercepted the second play of the game with a perfect flat drop and took it back for a 35 yard TD to put UND up 7-0. But he wasn’t done there. Labat also recovered a fumble, forced a fumble, 2.5 TFL’s, 1 sack, and 2 QB hurries. What a game for the Detroit Lakes native.
The UND defense was dominating. The Bears tacked on a couple late TD’s in the 4th quarter when they left their starting offensive line and skill players in vs. UND’s 2nd and 3rd stringers. Up to that point, through three quarters, UNC had 111 total yards.
UND picked off three Jacob Knipp passes before Coach Earnest Collins pulled the freshman in favor of former starter Jonathan Newsom. The most impressive INT was by UND CB Deion Harris, who used perfect technique to go up and intercept the long post pass at it’s highest point over the UNC WR. That was great to see. ILB Will Ratelle also added a diving INT along the sideline off a horrible pass by Knipp, who was under heavy pressure on the play, and all day for that matter.
The UND front seven played their best game of the season. Knipp had no time to survey the field or let any routes develop on Saturday. UND ended the game with 11 TFL’s and 6 sacks, with Jake Disterhaupt, Labat, Noah Johnson, Kyle Woodsmall, Dylan Harmston, Alec Carrothers/Tank Harris all getting in on the ‘SACKtion’.
The UND offensive line was absolutely devastating, once again. True freshman Elijah Grady gutted it out and started at RT, even though he hurt his knee two weeks prior. UND ran for 408 yards, with freshman John Santiago registering 180 of them in only one half of action. He was lights out – again. Pass protection was very good also, allowing QB Keaton Studsrud plenty of time all day. Studsrud finished the day 13-16 for 141 yards and 1 TD to senior TE Zach Adler.
John Santiago continues to impress to the point where we are in ‘awe’. He’s shored up some technical stuff that has helped with his early season fumbling issues. His ability to finish off runs, outrun angles of opposing secondaries and most of the time, pull away, is what sets him apart from other backs that we see across the country. At no time this year has he ever been ‘closed on’ by anybody we have seen. We will be the first to admit we did not see this type of special elite talent in him. He will be fun to watch for the next 3+ years.
The only downer to Saturdays game was the loss of freshman RB Brady Oliveira, who appeared to injure his right knee after getting pulled over a defender. There has been speculation that he only sprained it and did not tear any ligaments. That would be huge for that young man, who has had a great rookie season. Let’s hope for good news this week on Brady.
We will have a playoff scenario writeup coming sometime later today. Buckle up……
There was one more downer, but had no impact on the outcome of the game – UND penalties. Hopefully those dwindle.
True. The unnecessary roughness on Chris Carter was BS, though. William James doing the throat gesture was pure stupidity on his part and deserved a flag, he wasn’t even the one who made the hit!
UND is not good enough to overcome those types of penalties vs. good teams.
That. Was. Fun!!
Amen, brother. So glad to see a good, old-fashioned ass kicking like back in the D2 days.
Spot on analysis! Was a great game to watch, terrific for the seniors & also pleased to see backup players with valuable game reps! Can’t wait for Sat.
Another great analysis. Thanks for your hard work and sharing. The offense was great but the defense was awesome. Shut them down from the beginning. Hard hitting and causing turnovers. This was a statement game for sure.