Week 1 Game Preview – Stony Brook Seawolves

The Game Vitals

Game Time – 6:00 CT

Opponent – Stony Brook Seawolves.  Kenneth Lavalle Stadium – Stony Brook, NY.

Game Notes – UND   Stony Brook

TV – None

Radio – UND Radio Network

Online Streaming – Seawolves TV                             

Spread – North Dakota -7

Stony Brook Breakdown

— Offense = Multiple

— Defense = 4-3

Offensively – Stony Brook, who returns six starters, has traditionally been a heavy run-first offense at around 2/3 of the time with a very conservative and simple concept passing game.  We tend to believe this will still be the case, but there is some uncertainty this season as the Seawolves have a new offensive coordinator and offensive line coach.  The new OC, Carmen Felus, comes from West Alabama but prior to that he was at UT-Martin where they were a pass happy offense and were 10th in the country in passing yards per game in 2012.  This is the wildcard and unknown for UND defensive coordinator Eric Schmidt and has to be keeping him up at night not knowing what to expect – tough to prepare for in the first game of the season.

From past film, their offense tends to go with multiple tight end  sets in 12 and 13 personnel groupings from the pistol, offset-shotgun and under center.  In 3rd and long situations they have come out in three WR sets.  Vanilla passing game concepts are common with 3-step and 5-step drops accommpanied with boot and rollout.  In the running game, inside and outside zone blocking schemes primarily with some power sprinkled in.

Junior WR #13 Ray Bolden is a preseason CAA All-Conference selection this year after he pulled down 68 receptions for 765 yards and five touchdowns in 2015.  UND will need to know where the 5-9 scatty WR is on the field at all times.  His 68 catches were the third most in a single season at Stony Brook and his 765 yards were the sixth highest in a single season while earning first team All-CAA Football honors last season.

Junior RB #21 Stacey Bedell played in three games before suffering a season-ending injury during the game in late September 2015.  Bedell had a total of 50 carries for 351 yards and four touchdowns in 3 plus games last season and will need to be shut down by UND this week.

QB #10 Joe Carbone is a 6-2 sophomore who threw for 617 yards and 2 TDs in 9 games last season and had 2 starts.  Lots of experience for a sophomore QB but he is not the most polished passer.  Very athletic, however.

The unknowns offensively are the 3 Boston College transfers and how they are utilized and thrown into the Seawolves offense.  Junior #3 Sherman Alston is a 5-6 WR, grad transfer #83 Harrison Jackson is a 6-2 WR and sophomore #23 Jordan Gowins is a 5-11 RB that we are guessing should all be involved in the Stony Brook offense Thursday.  To what extent and what the talent levels are remains the question.

The Seawolves plugged in two FBS transfers along the offensive line, also.  Mason Zimmerman (Maryland) is starting at left guard and Jonathan Haynes (West Virginia) is starting at right guard.  Will be interesting to see what those two bring to the table.

Defensively – the Seawolves are an outstanding group.  We will go as far as to say they are possibly the best defense UND will face in 2016.  They operate out of a 4-3 base concept.

In 2015, Stony Brook led the nation in total defense giving up a paltry 250 yds/game.  They, like UND, hang their hat on stopping the run.  Teams only averaged 104 yds/game on the ground last year vs. the Seawolves, good for 11th in the country (UND was 6th).

Stony Brook returns 8 starters but does lose their All-American defensive end Victor Ochi (NFL-Ravens).  Taking Ochi’s place is senior DE #95 Aaron Thompson (6’3″-260).  From his end spot Thompson is an explosive athlete that will be hard to contain on a play-by-play basis.  In 2015, Thompson amassed 10 TFL’s and 8.5 sacks.

The linebacking corps for the Seawolves is somewhat young and could be considered their weakness, although they are still a respected group.  They are a bit of an unknown at this point.

The secondary returns intact for Stony Brook and is a strength of the defense.  They are an extremely physical group that likes to get up and bump receivers on 3rd down when the pressure is coming.  Even though they are physical, they are a smaller group in height, as they go 5’11, 5’10, 5’10, 5’9.  Free safety #17 Chris Cooper led the team with 2 interceptions last season.  Stony Brook had eight INT’s total last season.

North Dakota Keys to the Game

1. Get their mind ready for a four quarter dog fight.  UND is not going to rush for 300 yards in this game.  Stony is too fast and too solid overall as a defense for UND to expect to pick up where it left off last season.
2. The UND Offensive Line.  Four new pieces enter the mix this fall and we are cautiously optimistic heading into this one.  This might be the best front four they play all year so it’s essentially baptism by fire hose for Dan Bell, Michael Coe, Demon Taylor and Mat Cox.  The talent is there to get it done.
3. We all know UND will want to run the ball.  But, the passing game and QB Keaton Studsrud are the keys to victory vs. the Seawolves.  Studsrud needs to hit the big plays when they are dialed up by OC Paul Rudolph.  10-14 play drives are going to be rare in this one.
4. Keep Calm and Clive On.  UND’s homerun hitter in the passing game is #1 Clive Georges.  The senior from Florida has breakaway speed and very good quickness to go with it.  UND is going to need to find him in space via quick hitters, jet sweeps or the one-on-one post route like we saw vs. Poly last year.
5. Transfer punter #85 Austin Dussold is going to be huge in this one.  The field position battle is a must-win for the UND offense and defense to succeed. Stony Brook has struggled on offense the past few years and giving them a long field will help the UND defense tremendously.

The Prediction

Thursday’s game vs. Stony Brook is not going to be pretty.  In fact, it’s going to be real ugly at times and there are going to be a bunch of beat up bodies after this one.  UND has purposely instilled a physical, run-first, stop the run mentality from day one of the Bubba Schweigert regime.  In many ways they are playing their mirror image this week.

Can the new-look UND offensive line get John Santiago to the second level like they did so often last year, allowing him to beat the safety/corner one-on-one?  Can UND hold the point of attack on the defensive line and stop the power running attack of the Seawolves?  There are a ton of questions heading into game one this year.

We know this much:  UND is 2-0 vs. Stony Brook all-time (2009 & 2014).   UND is healthy.  UND knows they need this game to jump start their season and not leave any doubt in the committee’s mind.  UND has more weapons on offense than they have ever had and has more depth on the defensive line than they have ever had.  Their young cornerbacks have matured after a season of Big Sky play.  Safeties Cole Reyes and Zach Arnell are back and that is awesome because those two together can so some things.

North Dakota  26

Stony Brook 17