Finally.  Finally, the UND Football team and it’s fans got a week off from the usual four quarter, heart pounding, meat-grinder type of football game.

UND headed west and completely dominated the over matched Sacramento State Hornets from the opening kickoff in a 40-7 victory.

The Fighting Hawks suddenly find themselves sitting at 4-2 overall and more importantly, 3-0 in the Big Sky Conference.  Nice turnaround after starting the year 0-2.

  • Up front, UND mauled Sacramento State on both sides of the ball.  This set the tone for the entire game from the first snap.
  • Offensively, UND had 26 first downs.  Sac State had 13.
  • Time of possession: UND – 36:20   Sac State – 23:40.
  • UND had 625 yards of offense on 76 plays.  The 625 yards of offense is the most since a bunch of records fell against Montana in 2012.  That day, UND had 704 yards of offense at the Alerus, of which 660 came through the air.  Quite a contrast in the mindset of the offenses.
  • 422 yards rushing for UND offense.  Brady Oliveira, Austin Gordon and Keaton Studsrud all went over 100 yards.
  • John Santiago surprisingly played on Saturday night and had 8 carries for 76 yards.  That’s a 9.5 ypc average.
  • Keaton Studsrud was good again on Saturday.  He ended the day 15-23 for 203 yds and 1 TD.  But most of those incompletion’s came late in the game when UND was up big and rhythm started to get off a bit.
  • Need to have better ball security.  Those fumbles will catch up to UND at some point.
  • The punt return team was a low point in this game.  They were melding a punt safe look at times, it appeared, thus forcing Josh Seibel to fair catch a ball with very little blocking in front of him.  UND lost one fumbled punt and muffed another.  This absolutely, unequivocally cannot happen at this level.  UND is lucky they were dominating in every other phase.
  • The defensive pressure up front was suffocating.  While they had 3 sacks, the constant discomfort that QB Nate Ketteringham was under in the pocket was huge.
  • Four points were left on the field in the 1st half.  Reid Taubenheim missed a FG and more concerning, hit the upright on an extra point.  Gotta clean that up.
  • The UND defense allowed 272 yards to the Hornets.  52 of that came on a pass play in the 1st quarter where UND missed a few tackles to allow that play to happen.  Solid day overall.
  • CB Evan Holm got his first career INT when he made a nice break on a sideline throw.
  • Very surprised UND only got one INT in the game.  However, it was partly due to their pressure up front forcing shorter throws that Sac QB Nate Ketteringham didn’t want to make.  He ended the day 15-34 for 177 yards and 0 TD’s.
  • The UND linebacking corps as a group is playing very good football.  The inside’s are playing the run very well each week and the outside’s have been putting good pressure on the QB, while dropping to the flats and disrupting out routes.
  • LT A.J. Stockwell left the game late but it was due to dehydration.  He should be fine.
  • Safety Cole Reyes had another all around outstanding game, leading the team with 5 tackles, 1 PBU and 1 hurry.  He apparently tweaked his hamstring in the second half and left the game.  Let’s hope it was a minor version.  Like we tweeted during the game – Cole is the straw that stirs the drink on that UND defense.
  • Grant Aplin did a nice job replacing the injured Patric Rooney at center.  Aplin plays with an edge out there.  Love it.

Now comes the biggest game of the year and the most difficult game left on the schedule.  Southern Utah is sitting at 3-2 and is one of the Top 5 teams in the Big Sky.  It’s homecoming week, which can tend to be a distraction with all the family coming to town, events going on, etc.  Should be a huge crowd and a fun game to be at!

Feature Image Courtesy of Russell Hons.  https://www.facebook.com/RussellHonsPhotography/photos/pcb.1404836036210574/1404835989543912/?type=3&theater.   http://twitter.com/russpi