UND went out to Southern Utah this past weekend and lost 35-17 in a game where they struggled to get much of anything going, consistently that is.  SUU came in to the game 1-7 but played pretty well, not committing any turnovers and making a bunch of big plays on offense.  We pointed to their rough schedule thus far in 2014, but didn’t think it was that big of a deal, that they just were not that good of a team.  Well, they looked better than we thought on Saturday.

  • UND actually outgained the T-Birds 431-415 in total yardage.  That number is deceiving, however, given how SUU had multiple short field to work with.
  • The UND defense did not play with it’s same level of intensity on Saturday.  Maybe it was the bye week hangover or something else but they just didn’t have it.  SUU converted three different 3rd down and 10+ by running the ball.  That hasn’t happened all year and probably won’t again.  That tells us things were a bit off and guys were probably voiding their lanes.
  • The fake punt on Saturday was a ballzy call and I realize what Coach Schweigert was trying to do but it ended up backfiring as SUU was setup at UND’s 29.  Tough call.  Give him credit for trying to keep the drive going and get his offense in a rhythm.  It was close but came up just short.
  • Way too many drops from the wide receivers on Saturday.  There were at least five balls that were blatantly dropped.  On the flip side, freshman Josh Seibel continues his hot play at wide receiver.  Seibel caught 9 balls for 96 yards on Saturday.  Right now, he is their best receiver by far.
  • QB Joe Mollberg exited the game with what we now know is a season-ending achilles injury.  Mollberg has been off and on all year but seemed to be settling in a bit as of late, even though he did get knocked out of the Portland State game also.  QB Ryan Bartels came in and performed well again for the second straight week.  Bartels ended the game 23-44 for 297 yards and 0 TD’s with 2 INT’s.
  • Bartels will be taking over the QB duties now full-time and we assume sophomore Jake Hanson will be the backup.  The absolute last resort should be pulling the redshirt on Keaton Studsrud.  There are only four games left in the season.
  • UND has now lost it’s starting QB, starting RB (Simmons), best wide receiver (McGill), and best receiving tight end (Ruhe).  The weapons are slowing disappearing for an offense that has been struggling most of the year as it is.
  • SUU QB Ammon Olsen had a real good game.  The BYU transfer looked sharp going an astounding 23-25 for 320 yards and 4 TD’s.  The wind did not affect his play much at all and showed outstanding arm strength and accuracy.
  • Thing sure as heck don’t get easier this week.  UND has to head to Cheyney, WA to take on a mad dog in EWU.  They just got upset by NAU down in Flagstaff and are not going to be in the mood to drop another one.  Looks like both UND and EWU got their hiccup game out of the way last week.