The UND Football team headed out to Greeley, CO knowing it’s playoffs hopes rested on winning their game vs. Northern Colorado. They also knew they were going to be without their most important player, QB Keaton Studsrud.

All three phases played like they wanted to leave no doubt in the committee’s mind. UND methodically wore down the Bears and left town with a 23-13 victory to push their record to 8-2.

Oh, we almost forgot. They are now playing on Saturday for at least a share of the first ever Big Sky Conference title against a hot Northern Arizona team.

  • We stated that the game needed to be won by the offensive line and the defense.  Without Keaton, things were going to be simplified and the running game was going to be paramount.  Well, both of them came up huge.
  • The UND offensive line, minus A.J. Stockwell who got hurt early in the game, dominated the Bears from start to finish and allowed UND to control the pace vs. the up tempo Bears team.  UND rushed for 290 yards on 54 carries.  Starting QB Ryan Bartels had ample time in the passing game as well.  Our game ball would have went to the offensive line.
  • On the flip side, the UND defense was dominant the entire game minus the opening drive.  It was one of those games where UNC showed their hand on the first drive, got UND with a couple RB motions and scored a TD, and then never really mounted anything again for over 3 quarters.
  • Freshman OT Bryce Blair filled in at RT when Stockwell got hurt.  The do-it-all Michael Coe moved over to LT.  We thought Blair did alright, honestly.  He is a little light still at 270 but did a nice job in run blocking by using his athleticism to get angles on his guy.  He will only get better and these are valuable reps for the young man from Colorado.  Cool he got his first real action in front of his family.
  • UNC had 6 rushing yards.  SIX.  (last week Weber State had 12 total vs. UND).
  • The front seven is playing as well as they have in years.  Very active, very aggressive and just flat out solid right now.
  • The UND corners played pretty well vs. the talented Bears WR’s.  Torrey Hunt and Deion Harris notched interceptions, with Hunt dropping another one on fourth down in the end zone.
  • We would liked to have seen a bit more football savvy on the first UNC TD.  Third and four on the goal line – UNC was NOT going to run the ball.  They tried the play before and it went nowhere.  So they ran play-action out of a diamond formation and shot the TE/FB up the field, wide open.  No reason to bite on play-action vs. UNC.
  • WR Stephen Miller is good player for UNC.  Big kid, runs good routes.  He ended the day with 7 catches for 108 yards and 1 TD.
  • QB Ryan Bartels played a good game overall.  He ran the offense very efficiently, no alignment issues, etc.  He threw a beautiful TD pass to fellow senior Luke Mathewson.  He also threw a poor INT late across the middle.  Bartels ended the game 10-16 for 89 yards and 1 TD.  Not terrible.
  • The John Santiago of old was back on display to the tune of 19 rushes for 204 yards.  He was a bit more decisive in his cutting and got loose on stretch plays multiple times, enabling him to show his speed in the open field.
  • Punter Austin Dussold was back to his old self, booming punts in the thin Colorado air.  Dussold averaged 48 yards/punt with a long of 56.
  • UNC was a tough team to prepare for offensively.  Their “copycat” offense does everything under the sun.  Kudos to the UND Defense on holding them to just 288 yards.
  • Missed tackles resulted in an explosive play early in the 1st quarter when UNC ran a perimeter screen.  Need to shore that up.
  • The other explosive play was the jump ball that Torrey Hunt appeared to have locked up, but had it torn away from him by 6-3 Stephen Miller.  Hunt has to do a better job being aggressive on that ball and pull it in.
  • Congrats to Luke Mathewson on his first career TD catch.  Well-deserved.

UND did what they needed to do and that was dominate an under-manned UNC defense and hold down a potent UNC offense.

Now, folks, get yourself ready for the biggest week in UND D1 history.  The Fighting Hawks are playing Northern Arizona (6-4) on Saturday at the Alerus Center for a share of their first ever Big Sky Championship and an unbeaten 8-0 record in the conference.  We can hardly wait!

Feature Image courtesy of Matt Schill – UNDsports.com.