It wasn’t pretty but it sure looks good in the win column.  UND outlasted the always pesky Idaho State Bengals 28-21 and came home with a much needed win to improve their record to 6-2.  UND has now won six straight games after starting the season 0-2.

Rumors

Game Highlights

  • UND had 379 yards of total offense.  ISU had 289.
  • After a sluggish first half in the rushing department (69 yards), UND was much more effective in the second half gaining 143 yards to end with 204 on the day.  Not great but they did improve as game went on, once again.  The push up front seems to take a half of football to establish itself lately.  However, pass protection has been solid which gives them time in the passing game.
  • QB Keaton Studsrud didn’t have his best game of the year but was good overall, once again.  He held onto the ball too long a couple times and it cost UND some yardage.  He typically will get rid of those.  But he did make some very tough throws and ended the game 12-20 for 173 yards and 2 TD’s.  Keaton threw his second interception of the season but the DB made a nice break on the slant route and beat Travis Toivonen to the spot.  Sometimes you gotta tip your hat.
  • Penalties.  When UND gets a penalty they make it count, boy.  It’s chop blocks & holding and they are KILLING drives.  UND got a holding on the kick return that cost them 18 yards of field position.  Also, at some point they need to evolve and adapt to these chop block rules.  The refs are struggling with them, no doubt, but UND is getting damn near one per game.  UND ended the game with 9 penalties for 64 yards.
  • WR Josh Seibel made a beautiful TD catch to put UND up 28-14.  It was a tough catch running down the seam with a defender on him but Seibel reached up and brought it in.  Seibel led UND with 4 catches for 32 yards and 1 TD.
  • For a guy who has outstanding vision from the running back spot, we are still mystified how John Santiago simply beef batoned his OL on that goal line carry.  The hole was about 2 feet to his right and he plowed right into the pile and got helicoptered down for no gain at the 1/2 yard line.  Was almost kind of funny to re-watch, multiple times.  🙂
  • Turning point of the game: Third quarter time of possession:  UND 11:49.  ISU 3:11.  UND wins the quarter 7-0 and also drives at the end of the quarter to setup their last TD early in the fourth quarter to go up 28-14.
  • The fake field goal was sheer genius.  UND snuck John Santiago in as the holder, which he obviously never does.  To John’s credit, he showed great patience in actually putting the ball down on the turf for a split second, then wheeling back around to run out to the left.  It turned into a foot race to the first down stick and luckily for UND the ref gave them only about 1.0 yards LESS than they should have gotten.  If he would have given them 1.5 yards less it would have been short.  Bad spot but it was just enough, luckily.  Gutsy call by Bubba Schweigert to risk taking points off the board but it paid off in a big way as Brady Oliveira ran it in on the next play.
  • When Chuck Flowers got beat on the post route for a TD it marked the second TD in as many games that a TD was scored vs. Cole Reye’s replacement.  I know it happens to everybody but neither of those two would have vs. Cole.  Gotta get him back this week.
  • K.W. Williams is a damn good WR.  He had 8 catches for 62 yards and 2 TD’s.  Glad he is graduating.
  • Idaho State does things schematically vs. UND that they don’t do in other games.  Just a quirky game to play every year and I for one am glad it’s over.  The defense played OK but was out of sorts and lethargic at times.  It happens over the course of an 11-straight-games schedule.  The big difference is they won this year.
  • Punter Austin Dussold was on his game Saturday.  After struggling a bit vs. SUU, Dussold came back in a big way averaging 42 yards/punt and putting three of them inside the 20.  He has been quite possibly the biggest surprise of the 2016 season.

A win is a win.  We are on to Weber.

The Big Sky unbeaten showdown with Weber State is up next at the Alerus Center this Saturday.  Weber, 5-2 (4-0) is coming off a stunning 37-36 come from behind victory over Southern Utah.  Weber has beaten UND two straight times, including last year’s game out in Ogden when they came back from 15 points down to win 25-24.

Featured Image courtesy of UNDSports.com