Stony Brook – The Aftermath

UND traveled out to Long Island and took on Stony Brook in what predictably turned into a hard-fought, rock fight type of game.

The Seawolves blocked a punt and scooped it up for a touchdown in the 4th quarter to take a 13-9 lead and eventually the victory.

UND drove down to the Stony Brook 24 yard line late in the 4th but were stopped on 4th and 1 to seal it.

UND now sits at 0-1 on the season and heads east once again to take on FBS MAC power Bowling Green.  The Falcons play Ohio State tomorrow.

• The UND Defense was outstanding yesterday.  SB ended the game with 221 total yards.
• Stony Brook scored on a punt block TD and a fumble into the end zone that they jumped on.  That’s it.
• The Seawolves rushed 34 times for 62 yards.  24 yards came from Sherman Alston on a sweep in the first drive.  Other than that they rushed 33 times for 38 yards.
• SB QB Joe Carbone had happy feet and was nervous most of the game after DC Eric Schmidt started ratcheting up the pressure.  In the second half UND brought 7 guys multiple times because it was obvious Carbone was looking at all the bodies in front of him and not down field.
• UND registered 4 sacks.  Stony Brook also had 4 sacks.
• The UND front seven was extremely active.  They were basically running hockey lines all game – 3 in, 3 out after 1-2 plays.  Great effort out of them.
• We pointed out in our preview that punter Austin Dussold needed to have a huge game to flip the field.  Well, he did.  Dussold was solid all game and the punt block was not his fault.  He ended with 7 punts for a 43 yard average with two of them being fair caught inside the 10.
• Speaking of the game-winning punt block, we could see it coming as the game went on.  Stony Brook never sold out on any punt blocks earlier in the game but somebody would come awfully close to Dussold each time.  There is no doubt that their staff saw this and decided to put the all-out block on and it worked.  Credit to their staff.
• Safety Cole Reyes had a MONSTER first half.  He registered eight tackles, two TFL’s, one forced fumble, a safety, and two fumble recoveries.  However, he got dinged up before half and was held out for precautionary reasons.  Reyes should be fine.
• The same can’t be said for UND senior WR Clive Georges.  He was fighting for an extra yard or two and was gang tackled.  Georges ended up fumbling the ball and in the process “appeared” to have broke his lower leg.  We do not know for sure.  But, when they bring a stretcher out that is usually a sign.
• We feel terrible for Clive.  He was poised to have a bigtime senior season and was UND’s main big-play threat.  Best wishes to Clive in his recovery.
• QB Keaton Studsrud had arguably his poorest game since his debut two years ago as a true freshman out in The Inferno (EWU).  He ended this game 13-25 for 114 yards and 0 TD’s.
• Studsrud missed multiple open WR’s early in the game, high, low, wide, etc.  Although, he did settle in a bit as the game went on  and the last drive he had a few nice scrambles that kept the drive alive.  We think the Seawolves defense had a bit to do with his performance as they are very tough up front and were in his face all game.  Having four new starters on the offensive line contributed as well.  We full expect him to bounce back and have a good year.
• Cornerback Deion Harris had a nice game.  After settling in he was very tough with press technique, often stoning the WR at the line.  Stony Brook tried a fade route twice late in the game vs. Harris and he smothered the WR on both of them.
• The UND offensive line obviously had an average game.  It is so tough to grade OL and we typically don’t watch them and one would need to replay each play about 5 times to see each player.  They had their moments but vs. a stout defensive front they did struggle.
• RB John Santiago ended the game with 16 rushed for 51 yards.  He had a hard time getting loose all game and worked for all 51.
• The UND offense only mustered 177 total yards.  They were 4-15 on third down.

Not the way UND envisioned starting the season but luckily there are 10 more games left to play.  We fully expect a much better effort next week out of the offense after getting somewhat of a wake-up call out on the Island.  There won’t be anymore outlandish headlines placing them in the playoffs before the season even begins.