The Game Vitals


Game Time
 – 12:05 CT

Opponent – Northern Arizona at The Alerus Center – Grand Forks, ND

Game Notes – UND

TV – Midco Sports Network

Online Streaming – Big Sky TV                                                                                         Spread – Northern Arizona -7.5   O/U 41

Northern Arizona Breakdown (7-3 record)

— Offense = Pro-Style, 3 WR’s and TE.

— Defense = 4-3

— Last Meeting:  2013 – Northern Arizona beat UND 48-27 in Flagstaff, AZ.

After a somewhat shocking early season loss on the road to MVFC bottom-feeder South Dakota, the Lumberjacks have turned around their season and are sitting real well as we head into the FCS playoffs.  The Jacks have rebounded to beat then #2 Eastern Washington along with Cal-Poly before that.  They only have two games left vs. UND (3-7) and Southern Utah (2-8) and will be favored to win next week as well.  The Jacks have had the benefit of an extremely easy schedule, however, not having to play Montana, Montana State, or Idaho State this season.

Offensively, the Jacks are averaging 27 pts/game and employ a ball-control, pro-style offense.  They do not do anything flashy but try to run the ball out of 3 receiver sets and control the tempo through a safe passing game.  They are averaging 423 yards per game total offense with 160 of that coming via the ground game.  They have a time of possession advantage of 33-27 this season.

QB #11 Jordan Perry has taken over the control of the Jacks offense.  He is a converted wide receiver and is the third QB that NAU has used this season.  Perry is a big kid at 6’3-210 and has decent arm strength and very accurate.  In abbreviated duty, Perry is 5-72 for 535 yards and 5 TD’s.  He is also a threat to run the ball if pressured.

RB #6 Casey Jahn is the workhorse of the NAU offense.  Jahn has 758 yards and 4 TD’s rushing this season.  He is a compact, tough nosed runner who will wear you down if NAU gets the lead.

The big play threat in the passing game is WR Ifi Umodu.  Umodu has 38 receptions for 575 yards and 4 TD’s.  At 6’3″, he will be a constant mismatch for the much smaller UND secondary.

North Dakota (3-7) Keys to the Game

  1. Pass Defense.  UND hasn’t had much problem stopping the run this year as we pointed out in our post on Tuesday.  We think they will be able to shut down NAU, also.  The problem has been pass defense and NAU will be bringing some very good skill guys to the Alerus Center on Saturday.  The UND secondary needs to re-find it’s mojo and tighten up on these Jacks receivers.  Timely breakups on third down and when NAU takes their shots deep will be a key to the game.
  2. The NAU secondary is very good from what we have seen and heard.  UND must, once again, get the running game on track early with Jer Garman.  QB Keaton Studsrud will not have many open windows in this game as UND is just too depleted at WR to consistently move the ball down the field via the passing game.
  3. As dumb as this sounds, UND’s special teams and/or defense need to score a TD or setup the offense with a short field.  When UND won games earlier this year it was because the defense or ST’s scored a TD and turned the game around.  That hasn’t happened in the last 4 weeks and they are 1-3 in those games.

Northern Arizona has a lot to play for this weekend as a FCS playoff bid is on the line.  They will come in on an emotional high and UND needs to match that intensity to stay in this one.  NAU is a consistent, ball-control team that is playing at a high level right now.  UND will definitely need all three phases to stay in this one.

The Prediction

Northern Arizona 24

North Dakota 13