The Game Vitals
Game Time – 6pm. (Alerus Center – Grand Forks, ND)
Opponent – Stony Brook (Stony Brook, NY)
Game Notes – UND
TV – Midco Sports Network & Fox College Sports Pacific
Online Streaming – Big Sky TV
Spread – Stony Brook -11.5 – O/U = 35.5
Stony Brook Breakdown (1-2 record)
— Offense = Pro-style offense.
— Defense = 4-3
— History: UND leads series 1-0 (UND 31 Stony Brook 24 in 2009)
Offensively, Stony Brook (SBU) is about as basic of a team as UND will see all year. They like to run the ball right at you and eventually wear you down as the game goes on. On the year they have twice as many rushing attempts as passes (121 to 59). However, they are only averaging a paltry 14 pts/game on offense.
The workhorse for the Seawolves offense is #21 Stacey Bedell. He has 54 carries for 299 yards already this year and also is their RB out of the wildcat formation. At QB they have split time between John Kinder (Syracuse transfer) and Conor Bednarski. Both are completing passes at less than a 50% clip, which might be part of the reason why they run the ball so much.
Defensively, the Seawolves are an above average unit. We will go as far as to say they are the best defense that UND has faced this year. They are only allowing 12pts/game and have talent across the board. The guy to watch on defense is LB/S #39 Christian Ricard, who is having a great senior season early on. They like to move him around and have him both covering the pass and blitzing the quarterback. Ricard already has four sacks this year and leads the Seawolves with 27 tackles and 8.5 TFL’s.
North Dakota (1-2) Keys to the Game
- Play your best defensive game of the year. Stony Brook like’s to keep their butt covered on offense. They will run, run, and run some more and then try and hit a long play-action pass. Nothing fancy at all. We feel UND can stop the run enough to slow down the Seawolves. If UND can defend those long shots that SBU takes, they will be fine on Saturday.
- UND defense needs to setup the offense with a very short field at least once. Get a turnover inside SBU territory and help the offense out by not making them go 80 yards.
- Move the pocket on offense and let Mollberg run. Rollouts, boots, naked’s all can get Mollberg out of the pocket and on the run. Try and extend drives in unconventional methods.
- We think the UND running game is going to struggle again to gain footing. The WR’s and TE’s cannot drop passes this week. Yards are going to be at a premium.
- Punt and punt return can swing the game. Freshman Connor Bolduc has continued to improve every game and he needs to keep improving on pinning the opposing ‘O’ deep and making them go the length of the field. The UND punt returners need to break one to either score or setup the offense. Once again – short fields are key.
We are going to see two very similar styles on Saturday. Both teams want to run the ball and play a field position game. It will be a low-scoring, grind it out, whoever makes the biggest mistake loses type of game. We are worried about the UND offense in thsi one and based on last week we see them struggling again.
The Prediction
Stony Brook 17
North Dakota 9
Even though you often get worse before you get better with a complete overhaul we must win this game. Doesn’t matter if it’s awful like the RMU game, we just need to win. Hopefully the defense can score a TD because I have no faith in our offense until a QB shows anything. Mollbergs play has had me wishing we still had Goska….. It’s been that bad.
3. Move the pocket on offense and let Mollberg run. Rollouts, boots, naked’s all can get Mollberg out of the pocket and on the run. Try and extend drives in unconventional methods.
Could not agree with this more. Mollberg has mobility, let him use it.
If UND loses this game, they will go 2-10 this season. That’s unacceptable, even if its a rebuilding season! I mean, last year’s disaster was even better at 3-8!
I absolutely expect/hope for a win this game. If UND doesn’t come out on top, it’s going to be a long year ….
Hate to sound like a broken record but we all knew it was going to be a “long” year, as far as record goes. Fans need to realize this fact and support the team as you would if they are going to go 6-6. The reason I picked 6-6 is because others thought that was the ceiling for this team, this year. Point being, we all knew they were not going to win 9 games.
“Enjoy the Season”.
Keep in mind that Pat Behrns was also fired after a 3-8 season. His successor, Roger Thomas, went 2-9 in his first season. Also, look at Joe Glenn’s first year at USD (1-10). Yes, in the short-term it’s tough to watch. But I have confidence that things will start moving in the right direction once Bubba has a chance to bring in a few more of his own recruiting classes.
When you start analyzing the extremely high attrition rates of Mussman’s last few recruiting classes, it’s not tough to see why things are where they are.
I don’t know if I want UND to be compared to USD and Joe Glenn, because it appears they still have a ways to go (albeit they are 1-2 in the very early stages of this 2014 season).
Nevertheless, I absolutely agree the attrition rate of Mussman’s recruiting classes are largely responsible for where UND football currently is.
For example, let’s look at the 2010 UND recruiting class (this year’s senior class if redshirted) and the 2011 UND recruiting class (this year’s junior class if redshirted):
UND’s 2010 recruiting class: 13/24 student-athletes still on roster (included Jake Miller because he played his entire 4 years of eligibility) — that’s only 54%
UND’s 2011 recruiting class: 10/19 student-athletes still on roster — that’s again only 53%
By comparison, NDSU’s 2010 recruiting class has 17/22 student-athletes still on the roster (including those who have already played out their 4 years of eligibility) — that’s an impressive 77% (although their 2011 class has only 25% {5/20} current representation, possibly indicating a relatively down 2015 season for NDSU).
It’s appalling how UND and Chris Mussman recruited student-athletes who
were not committed to UND football, and in the end, that has strongly cost UND’s football program.
Coach Schweigert and staff NEED to better recruit student-athletes who are committed to UND football and will participate in the football program with better dedication/desire. Fortunately, it appears that is Bubba’s plan.
Norberg!!
Lets hope Norberg can run the football like Nordberg!
Let’s hope that’s all he does
Haha, agreed.
Hope he can bring something to the RB position. Maybe break the first tackle, etc. Know he isn’t going to run away from anyone but he may be able to get through the initial hole.
I just want to see him play a little. With how highly touted he was out of highschool we need his talent to contribute.