NDSU vs UND 34 to 9

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The North Dakota Super Bowl – it sounds like a punch line to a bad joke, but it’s no joke.

The NDSU and UND football teams have been playing each other since 1894. Today’s game would be their 111th meeting. For long time fans this is the Game. The National Championship Trophies are nice, but it’s not the The Nickel. The Nickel Trophy is given to the winning team to hold after each game. This 75-pound trophy was introduced in 1938: with a Bison on one side; Indian Head on the other- an oversized replica of the original Indian-head Nickel. The rivalry was suspended after the 2003 game, which UND won 28–21 in overtime. UND won the previous three games and were 4–1 in the Fargodome. Their overall record against the Bison was 62–45–3.
For more history of this rivalry and coverage of this game keep reading.

In 2004 NDSU jumped up to Division IAA. UND was four years behind. Like a kid brother, Grand Forks was always a couple years behind the big city of Fargo. Fargo builds an indoor football stadium, Grand Forks builds an indoor football stadium. Fargo goes to Division IAA football, Grand Forks follows.

I vividly recall the game in 1989 (10/17) when UND’s Jim Kleinsasser caught the touchdown pass at the Fargodome. Jim took off on a run that didn’t stop until the second round of the 1999 NFL Draft and a MN Vikings contract. A rivalry so powerful PBS made a documentary about it. When They Were Kings: The NDSU-UND Rivalry on YouTube.

Although the UND Sioux remained in Division II, they were still competitive with NDSU. However, due to weird NCAA rules, win or lose it would negatively affect UND’s playoff chances. When UND joined NDSU in Division IAA, they joined a different conference, and NDSU didn’t want to schedule UND out of spite after being snubbed. Some NDSU fans and administrators argue it doesn’t matter: the Bison have been selling out most of their games. But even if this is true, it ignores the low ticket prices needed to sellout those non-conference games. As Brad Elliott Schlossman (Grand Forks Herald) said:

While NDSU fans will tell you that scheduling UND doesn’t matter because the Bison have been selling out most of their games the last three years, that’s not true. When you charge double for a ticket against UND in a 19,000-seat venue, the school could have made nearly $500,000 more for a game against North Dakota than it could have against Ferris State or Incarnate Word. That’s not even delving into the sponsorship opportunities that exist. For 10 years, both schools thought it was more important to bicker and finger-point than to generate revenue and give student-athletes and fans memorable experiences.

Although they deny it, NDSU knows this isn’t some meaningless game, they’re charging $60 for single-game tickets: $15 more than it has ever charged for a single-game ticket. The fans are not to be denied; the cheapest ticket on StubHub.com was listed at $356.25 and went up from there.

Today, we renew this storied rivalry. Unfortunately, none of the players and few of the coaches remember it. The fans do. As much as each school tries to minimize this game, the fans do everything in their power to ramp up the emotion before the game. The NDSU students have been in line since noon yesterday for seats. In honor of the big game, ROTC students from both schools are up at 2:30 a.m. to run the game ball 80 miles from Grand Forks to Fargo.

The game was carried across the state on the NBC North Dakota Sports Network. I bet they had huge ratings. It was the fourth largest crowd for a Bison football game in the Fargodome, only because they couldn’t physically find room for more seating. And this is a non-conference game!
UND head coach, ‘Bubba’ Schweigert, who grew up in Zeeland and played college football at Jamestown said it best:

I grew up in this state. The game is really special.. The game has been part of our culture and tradition for so long. It was the state’s biggest sporting event. Some say we’re not rivals anymore. I don’t know about that. I saw what tickets were selling for.. We should play the game, (every year) That’s my opinion.”

The game itself was something of a letdown. Bubba got his team ready as best he could, but UND couldn’t keep up with NDSU, which was improving every week. UND came in with two good wins, and tried to keep in the game, but the Bison were too much for them to handle, as we will see.

First Quarter
UND won the coin toss. They defer to the second half. UND Kicker #4 Reid Taubenheim kicks-off 62 yards to the three. NDSU #04 Dimitri Williams races past defenders to the 46 yard line, but a holding penalty on #80 Nate Moody brings it back to the NDSU 16.

NDSU QB #11 Carson Wentz with a quick drop into the flat to WR #20 Darrius Shepherd who gains 7 yards on the play. Same play to the other side, Shepherd only gets 2 on the play. RB #22 King Frazier rushes up the middle for 3 yards.
UND #31 Dayo Idowu sacks Wentz for a loss of 11 yards. UND put pressure on from both sides and got to Wentz in a hurry. Carson Wentz trips at the line of scrimmage but falls for +2 yards. Wentz kills the play. Wentz is hurried by UND #95 Noah Johnson. The pass is incomplete to TE #46 Andrew Bonnet.

NDSU #19 Ben LeCompte punts the ball 57 yards to the UND 24. UND #23 Josh Seibel races past the Bison defenders, and races up the sidelines 54 yards before LeCompte tackles him out-of-bounds at the NDSU 22.
UND RB #22 John Santiago runs off his blocker, pushing the Bison pile for 3 yards before LB #41 Pierre Gee-Tucker brings him to a stop. UND QB #7 Keaton Studsrud’s pass sails over the head of WR #11 Miguel Cerriteno in the end zone. Studsrud rolls out, and throws to WR #81 Luke Stanley, who can’t come down with it. UND #4 Reid Taubenheim is good from 36 yards. With 10:33 left in the first quarter, UND takes a 3 to 0 lead.

Taubenheim on the kickoff. NDSU RB #42 Bruce Anderson takes the ball from the ten to the NDSU 26 Before UND: #27 Jahmere Irvin-Sills and #48 Jake Disterhaupt tackle him. NDSU RB #22 King Frazier finds a hole in the UND line and breaks for daylight to the UND 39. RB #10 Lance Dunn runs for two. QB #11 Carson Wentz runs for three. UND #32 Taj Rich stops both plays. Wentz finds WR #16 RJ Urzendowski, who keeps his feet to the UND 25 for a first down. RB #42 Bruce Anderson runs for 4 yards. QB #11 Carson Wentz on a quick drop to WR #82 Zach Vraa for 8 yards. Wentz takes off, but UND’s #32 Taj Rich is waiting for him. A gain of two yards. UND CB #19 Deion Harris breaks up Wentz’s pass to #82 Zach Vraa. Although there is some discussion whether Vraa actually caught it. He was juggling it a little, which influenced the call. NDSU calls a time out, so the refs can take another look at it. Wentz’s next pass is incomplete to TE #46 Andrew Bonnet. It hit Bonnet in the facemask, and he was standing in the endzone, so this dropped pass hurts. Instead #36 Cam Pedersen ties the game at three. 5:41 remaining in the First Quarter.

UND RB #22 John Santiago takes LeCompte’s kick off from the four to the UND 21 before running into #28 Andrew Smith.
Santiago is knocked out-of-bounds by NDSU CB #06 CJ Smith. UND QB #7 Keaton Studsrud is sacked for loss of 7 yards by DT #63 Aaron Steidl, the first of Aaron’s career. Studsrud didn’t have a chance. Studsrud is trying to call an audible but the fans are so loud he barely gets the play off. WR #81 Luke Stanley catches the pass on his knees for 3 yards. UND is forced to punt.

UND #89 Mitch Meindel punts it 52 yards to #19 Eric Perkins. Perkins breaks free to the UND 35 before Meindel causes a fumble. NDSU RB #42 Bruce Anderson falls on it at the NDSU 35. An illegal block sends it back an additional 10 yards. RB #22 King Frazier bounces to the outside for a 16-yard gain. RB #25 Chase Morlock rushes for 2 yards. QB #11 Carson Wentz sees #25 Chase Morlock free and fires the ball his way. UND #27 Jahmere Irvin-Sills is called for pass interference. First down at the NDSU 46.
RB #10 Lance Dunn is dropped by UND #26 Connor O’Brien for loss of 3 yards. QB #11 Carson Wentz rifles a pass down the middle to a wide open #20 Darrius Shepherd: 29 yards to the UND 28. RB #10 Lance Dunn powers up the middle for 3 yards; pushing back #91 Austin Cieslak and #95 Noah Johnson. Wentz finds WR #82 Zach Vraa for 6 yards, who had stepped back to shake the UND defender.

Second Quarter
On 3rd and 1 at the UND 19, NDSU RB #22 King Frazier barely gets the first down. QB #11 Carson Wentz has two incomplete passes to WR #82 Zach Vraa (complete, but out of bounds in the corner of the end zone) and then throws short to WR #16 RJ Urzendowski. Timeout NDSU. Wentz finds WR #20 Darrius Shepherd across the middle for a touchdown. With 14:22 left in the half, the Bison lead 10 to 3 after #36 Cam Pedersen’s extra point.

NDSU kicker #19 Ben LeCompte kicks 58 yards to UND #15 Alex Reed. Bison: RB #25 Chase Morlock and LB #44 Matt Plank crush Reed at the 20. An illegal block moves the ball back to the UND 10. #5 Brady Oliveira up the middle for 2 yards into the arms of DT #99 Nate Tanguay. UND QB #7 Keaton Studsrud was calling an audible and almost ran out of time. Studsrud runs for the corner but loses 4 yards to Bison: DT #99 Nate Tanguay and DE #96 Greg Menard. Even on the television you can tell it’s loud. KVLY sports director Beth Poole said the police and Fargodome crew were telling the NDSU students to keep it ‘Classy’ but there is nothing they can do about the volume. UND RB #42 Kyle Norberg gets a hard one, running into Bison: LB #47 Pierre Gee-Tucker and DE #97 Brad Ambrosius.

UND Kicker #89 Mitch Meindel punts out of his endzone. It doesn’t go far. NDSU #20 Darrius Shepherd returns it 34 yards to the UND 21 before #61 Brandon Anderson pushes him out of bounds. NDSU QB #11 Carson Wentz’s pass is complete to WR #16 RJ Urzendowski in the flat at the UND 14. Wentz’s pass is complete. Urzendowski makes a cut, CB #21 Chris Brown over-runs the play, RJ slips past the other UND defenders and races to the endzone. With 11:16 left in the half the Bison lead 17 to 3 after #36 Cam Pedersen’s extra point. NDSU with 159 yards of Offense and UND with –1.

NDSU #19 Ben LeCompte with a beautiful kick. It bounces 58 yards before UND #15 Alex Reed picks it up. While he’s waiting for the ball to go out of bounds (it doesn’t), NDSU RB #25 Chase Morlock closes and makes the tackle at the UND 14. UND RB #5 Brady Oliveira finds a little hole in the line for 5 yards. NDSU CB #5 Jordan Champion comes around the corner and finds UND QB #7 Keaton Studsrud in the backfield for an 8-yard sack. Studsrud is under pressure, his pass is knocked out of WR #81 Luke Stanley’s hands by NDSU FS #3 Tre Dempsey.

UND kicker #89 Mitch Meindel punts out of his endzone again. 51 yards to WR #20 Darrius Shepherd. UND WR #11 Miguel Cerriteno pulls Sherherd down at the UND 45. NDSU RB #25 Chase Morlock is looking for a hole, but finds UND #51 Will Ratelle for no gain. NDSU QB #11 Carson Wentz breaks the edge for 7 yards. Wentz’s pass is complete to WR #20 Darrius Shepherd for 16 yards. UND FS #8 Cole Reyes mades a play on the ball. He missed the ball and Shepherd. LB #51 Will Ratelle had to make the tackle after the first down. Wentz on play action finds RB #25 Chase Morlock on the wheel route for a 22-yard touchdown. #36 Cam Pedersen makes it 24 to 3 with 7:21 left in the half. Kudos to WR #80 Nate Moody for baiting the safety on the other side of the field. A well designed play.

Ben LeCompte on the kickoff for 52 yards. UND #15 Alex Reed for 12 yards to the UND 25. The crowd sounds like a jet engine as UND RB #5 Brady Oliveira is caught for a 3-yard loss by DE #96 Greg Menard. Oliveira finds a hole for seven. LB #49 Nick DeLuca makes the stop. UND QB #7 Keaton Studsrud dumps the ball to Oliveira; Brady tries to beat LB #47 Pierre Gee-Tucker to the edge. He fails. It’s 4th and 4 at the UND 31.

UND Kicker #89 Mitch Meindel punts it 44 yards. Fair catch called by CB #6 CJ Smith at the NDSU 25. NDSU RB #22 King Frazier runs into #92 Tank Harris and LB #32 Taj Rich for no gain. QB #11 Carson Wentz’s sideline pass is complete to WR #16 RJ Urzendowski for 20 yards. RJ spins out of #8 Cole Reyes’s tackle for a couple more yards.
RB #22 King Frazier sidesteps tackles for a hard 9 yards before #82 Jacob Holmen and SS #20 Zach Arnell bring him down. RB #42 Bruce Anderson gets nowhere as LB #51 Will Ratelle and LB #32 Taj Rich drag him down. RB #25 Chase Morlock pushes the pile for 5 yards and a first down. The Bison Offensive line is playing great. Frazier finds a hole for 3 yards, as #8 Cole Reyes keeps him out of the endzone. QB #11 Carson Wentz is drilled by LB #32 Taj Rich. Wentz gets the pass off, but #33 Tyus Carter flattens #4 Dimitri Williams when it arrives- incomplete. Wentz’s next pass is under-thrown down the middle. WR #20 Darrius Shepherd has to go low for it, but trips- incomplete. The UND Defense finally makes a stop.

NDSU Kicker #19 Ben LeCompte punts to the UND 2. An illegal formation penalty forces LeCompte to kick again. A fair catch is called by #23 Josh Seibel at the UND 22. UND RB #42 Kyle Norberg powers into DT #97 Brad Ambrosius and DE #96 Greg Menard for five yards. NDSU CB #5 Jordan Champion beats Norberg to the corner, and tackles Kyle for loss of 2. A false start penalty on UND moves the ball back to the UND 20. A mandatory ten second run off is called, and half ends. The Bison lead 24 to 3.

Third Quarter
NDSU #19 Ben LeCompte with a 60-yard kickoff, but it’s out-of-bounds. UND will start on their 35. UND RB #25 Iwarri Smith with a two yard run. Smith runs into LB #41 MJ Stumpf. 17-year-old Smith’s next run is for 1 yard. He’s tackled by 18-year-old NDSU freshman FS #35 Robbie Grimsley. NDSU DE #96 Greg Menard sacks UND QB #7 Keaton Studsrud for a loss of 6 on the play. But Menard is called offsides and the ball is moved to the UND 43. Menard follows up with a QB hurry. Studsrud’s pass is incomplete to #23 Josh Seibel, and almost intercepted by NDSU CB #5 Jordan Champion. Thankfully for UND, it was under-thrown.

UND Kicker #89 Mitch Meindel with a high punt. Fair catch called by #6 CJ Smith on the NDSU 15.
NDSU QB #11 Carson Wentz finds TE #46 Andrew Bonnet for 6 yards. FS #8 Cole Reyes and SS #20 Zach Arnell are there to wrap up Bonnet. RB #22 King Frazier dropped for a loss of one by LB #32 Taj Rich. Wentz under pressure finds WR #82 Zach Vraa in the middle of the field. Vraa spins out tackles all the way to the UND 43 before SS #20 Zach Arnell finally pulls him down. RB #22 King Frazier loses 2 yards to FS #8 Cole Reyes. UND LB #51 Will Ratelle gets pressure on QB #11 Carson Wentz. Wentz throws deep to WR #80 Nate Moody- incomplete, but UND CB #19 Deion Harris is called for pass interference. 1st and 10 at the UND 30- Timeout NDSU. UND LB #51 Will Ratelle runs QB #11 Carson Wentz down for a loss of 9 yards. Wentz’s pass is complete to Zach Vraa for 7 yards on the sidelines. Wentz throws into double coverage, and Zach Vraa fell down. #10 Jawon Johnson should have picked it off for UND. NDSU Freshman kicker #36 Cam Pedersen hits a 49-yard field goal. The football bounces off the crossbar. The Bison lead 27 to 3 with 8:38 left in the third.

Ben LeCompte with a 65-yard touchback. UND RB #22 John Santiago runs for 1 yard before DT #99 Nate Tanguay makes the tackle. UND QB #7 Keaton Studsrud rolls out and puts the ball on the sidelines. It’s incomplete to WR #23 Josh Seibel. Studsrud can’t find an open receiver and starts running. NDSU LB #49 Nick DeLuca takes him down for no gain. UND is called for holding. The Bison decline it. They do accept a UND false start penalty, which moves the ball back to the UND 20.

UND Kicker #89 Mitch Meindel punts the ball 48 yards. NDSU WR #20 Darrius Shepherd changes directions, and returns the ball 14 yards to the NDSU 46. RB #22 King Frazier runs for 4 yards. Some of it upside down as #8 Cole Reyes up-ends Frazier. QB #11 Carson Wentz throws out to WR #80 Nate Moody for 12 yards. Wentz throws a deep ball down the middle, and it drops into WR #16 RJ Urzendowski’s hands as RJ’s crossing the end zone. After the #36 Cam Pedersen extra point it’s NDSU 34, UND 3 with 5:53 left in the third period.

NDSU #19 Ben LeCompte kicks to the end zone. #15 Alex Reed returns the kick to the UND 19, where he’s tackle by CB #5 Jordan Champion. UND QB #7 Keaton Studsrud: slant pass complete to WR #23 Josh Seibel for 2 yards. Studsrud’s next pass is incomplete to Seibel and almost intercepted: the ball went into the hands of NDSU FS #3 Tre Dempsey. NDSU CB #5 Jordan Champion went airborne, jumping over the UND Offensive line, trying to get to Studsrud. Massive pressure on Studsrud by NDSU DT #61 Brian Schaetz. Studsrud’s pass is incomplete to WR #81 Luke Stanley.

UND Kicker #89 Mitch Meindel punts the ball 44 yards. NDSU WR #20 Darrius Shepherd muffs the catch and UND CB #21 Chris Brown recovers the ball at the NDSU 35. UND QB #7 Keaton Studsrud under center, play-action pass, deep post pattern, complete down the middle to WR #23 Josh Seibel to the NDSU 7. A face mask penalty on NDSU puts the ball on the NDSU 3. NDSU DE #97 Brad Ambrosius sniffs out the run and takes down QB #7 Keaton Studsrud for no gain. NDSU DT #99 Nate Tanguay and LB #49 Nick DeLuca plug up the middle as UND RB #5 Brady Oliveira gets 2 yards. The Bison fans are in full throat. QB #7 Keaton Studsrud stretches the football for 1 yard and the touchdown.
On the 2-point conversion, QB #7 Keaton Studsrud dumps it off to RB #22 John Santiago, but NDSU SS #1 Chris Board races up and makes the tackle. The conversion fails. UND has cut NDSU’s lead down to 34 to 9 with 3:17 left in the quarter.

UND #4 Reid Taubenheim on the kickoff. NDSU RB #10 Lance Dunn takes it 6 yards to the NDSU 11 where LB #48 Jake Disterhaupt and #37 Javen Butler wrap him up. Dunn squirts through a hole for 9 yards. #8 Cole Reyes makes the tackle. UND DE #43 Drew Greely and DE #99 Brandon Dranka sniff out the run by Dunn for a loss of one. QB #11 Carson Wentz runs out of the pocket and finds WR #20 Darrius Shepherd for 4 yards and the first down. RB #10 Lance Dunn runs for 4 yards. Wentz runs up the middle for 3 yards into the arms of UND’s #26 Connor O’Brien.

Fourth Quarter
NDSU QB #11 Carson Wentz starts off the final quarter with a high pass that’s incomplete to WR #82 Zach Vraa. Vraa stretches out for it, only to be hit by two UND defenders: FS #8 Cole Reyes and #33 Tyus Carter.

NDSU Kicker #19 Ben LeCompte drops the punt 42 yards into WR #23 Josh Seibel’s hand. Seibel gets 2 yards before he’s dropped by LB #41 MJ Stumpf and LB #49 Nick Deluca at the UND 30. UND QB #7 Keaton Studsrud rolls out and finds WR #36 Zach Adler for 6 yards. LB #47 Pierre Gee-Tucker made the tackle. Studsrud’s next pass is incomplete. Studsrud was drilled as he released the pass. NDSU CB #5 Jordan Champion made a move on the ball in front of #23 Josh Seibel. Studsrud on the QB draw. He sees a hole open up in front. Studsrud runs for 6 yards and a first down before NDSU #28 Andrew Smith and #96 Greg Menard tag him down. RB #5 Brady Oliveira falls for 3 yards as LB #47 Pierre Gee-Tucker grabs his foot at the line of scrimmage: on the outside sweep. NDSU LB #41 MJ Stumpf grabs UND QB #7 Keaton Studsrud for no gain. No place to run. No place to throw on the next play, so Studsrud throws it away.

UND Kicker #89 Mitch Meindel punts 42 yards to the NDSU 13, where it rolls out-of-bounds. NDSU RB #22 King Frazier rushes up the middle for 7 yards before he’s taken down by UND FS #8 Cole Reyes. With a second effort RB #10 Lance Dunn pushes the pile for 4 yards. Dunn again for 7 yards as he sweeps right. The game comes to a stop. It looks like UND SS #20 Zach Arnell may have broken his leg. RB #22 King Frazier sweeps left for 2 yards before he’s picked up by LB #51 Will Ratelle. A quarterback sneek, #11 Carson Wentz runs for 1 yard and the first down. UND DE #99 Brandon Dranka sacks Wentz for a loss of 6 yards. LB #48 Jake Disterhaupt chased him into Dranka. RB #10 Lance Dunn runs up the middle for 3 yards. 3rd and 13 at the NDSU 31, Wentz has to call a timeout. Wentz is flushed out of the pocket. The defense closes gaps and forces a sack, this time by UND #38 William James.

NDSU #19 Ben LeCompte punts to the UND 11; #23 Josh Seibel returns the ball 7 yards to the UND 18 where he’s taken down by SS #1 Chris Board and LB #41 MJ Stumpf. UND QB #7 Keaton Studsrud has time; he hits #2 Brandon Walker for 16 yards. Next play: Studsrud is given no time this time; no open recievers; NDSU DT #61 Brian Schaetz takes him down for a loss of 5 yards. Studsrud’s next pass is over the head of WR #2 Brandon Walker. RB #22 John Santiago slips past Schaetz and gets 2 on the ground before running into LB #41 MJ Stumpf.

UND Kicker #89 Mitch Meindel booms a high punt. NDSU WR #13 Eric Perkins drops the ball. It bounces and is fought over until NDSU RB #42 Bruce Anderson falls on it at the NDSU One-yard line. RB #22 King Frazier moves it out 2 yards. RB #25 Chase Morlock adds another yard. UND LB #31 Dayo Idowu grabs him before Chase can build up any steam. Idowu stops RB #22 King Frazier after one yard on the following play.

NDSU #19 Ben LeCompte gets the ball out to the UND 48. #23 Josh Seibel fumbles the ball but falls on it. A holding penalty on UND’s #37 Javen Butler moves the ball back to the UND 38. UND QB #7 Keaton Studsrud is flushed out of the pocket for loss of 2 yards by DT #90 Grant Morgan. Studsrud’s pass is overthrown to WR #2 Brandon Walker racing down the sidelines. NDSU DE #94 Stanley Jones gets around LT #78 A.J. Stockwell and sacks Studsrud for a loss of 7 yards.

UND Kicker #89 Mitch Meindel punts the ball to the NDSU 23. A fair catch is called by NDSU CB #6 CJ Smith, who is doing double duty today. NDSU QB #12 Easton Stick comes in for clean up duty as quarterback for the Bison. RB #42 Bruce Anderson finds 4 yards before DE #99 Brandon Dranka finds him. UND’s #90 Nick Schmitz stops RB #10 Lance Dunn for no gain. Dranka is back to stop Anderson at the line. The horn blows. NDSU beats UND 34 to 9.

Post Game
Before the game Coach Klieman in his Monday press conference said:

“It will be a challenge, no question. (UND) does a great job controlling the run and making you one-dimensional. That being said, we still have to try to run the football. We’ve got to be able to establish the run. We’re not a team that’s going to throw it 50 times and think we’re going to come out with a win. That’s just not our game plan; that’s not something that would make you successful. We’ve got to run the ball and maybe be creative with how we do it. We’ve got a great challenge ahead of us rushing the football and we’ve got to find a way to establish the run.”

Bubba had other ideas, UND held them to 115 yards on the ground. So NDSU Quarterback Carson Wentz went to the air 27 times for 262 yards and 4 touchdowns. This isn’t to say the ground game didn’t work. It made the air attack possible. I point it out that UND didn’t play as bad as the score suggests. UND beat the point spread, which made me happy as I had a DQ Blizzard riding on UND. Defensively NDSU pulled the plug on UND’s offense.. just flat-lined them. The loud NDSU fans prevented UND QB Studsrud from surprising NDSU, but did let the Bison Defensive Line jump the snap count.

UND went on to gain a new name ‘The Fighting Hawks’ and did quite well for rest of their 2015 season. UND finished with a record of 7–4. They came close to making the FCS Playoffs. I was disappointed they didn’t. They played a couple close games they could have won (Weber State and Idaho). They started the season by beating a FBS school: the Wyoming ‘Cowboys’ 24:13.

On a sad note: UND Safety, Zach Arnell will miss the remainder of the season after suffering a leg injury late in the game.

Quotes

Should the rivalry game be played every year? Bubba Schweigert, “Yeah.. Some might disagree, but somehow I would like to see it played every year—even though I don’t feel very good right now. It’s really special. That was part of our culture and our tradition for so long. It was the single biggest sport event in the state. ”

“We were battling but we needed to get in the end zone and we needed to find a way to get first downs and try to keep our defense off the field a little bit. It was a real issue in the first half, and we couldn’t get anything going offensively. I thought our guys fought and kept fighting when things could have gotten away from us after that second quarter. That is something you want to see from your team.”

“They (NDSU) are just good on defense.. I thought we played really hard; it was a good effort. We didn’t establish anything on offense, and you have to be able to do that against North Dakota State. Our defense was out on the field for a long time. We were disappointed with the big plays. The big plays hurt us.”

UND QB Keaton Studsrud: “You try to find different ways to get a first down. You just have to find a way. You have to keep the train moving and quite frankly we didn’t do that.”

UND FS Cole Reyes: “I think with Carson at quarterback, you will see him on Sundays one day. I mean, he just read our defense, he knew what to do and there is not much you can do against a quarterback like that.. I think he led the team well and they fed off him.”

NDSU WR RJ Urzendowski on the passing game: “We definitely stepped up today. When a team like UND comes and really focuses on stopping the run, we get man coverage outside. We gotta make plays. And we showed that today. That it’s going to be hard for teams to focus so much on stopping the run game because we’re pretty explosive in the passing game.
We have a good quarterback, so even if we’re covered or they have a tough look, you know Carson’s gonna put it in the spot where only we can catch it. So he gives us a lot of opportunities to make plays.”

NDSU QB Carson Wentz: “Even when he (Shepherd) is covered, he is not covered. He made a heck of a play.” On redshirt freshman, Darrius Shepherd’s first career touchdown. Second quarter, the Bison on a third-and–10 from the UND 18, Shepherd ran up the seam and made a contested catch in the end zone.

NDSU WR Darrius Shepherd: “I saw Carson throw the ball up and I tried to make a play and it worked out. It was a really exciting moment.”

NDSU DT Nate Tanguay on the defense’s performance: “We have to come out like that every game now. If we give up five yards rushing, it’s not going to be good enough. Huge improvement (over the Montana game). For one, the three-and-outs are helping us. We’re not on the field for 12 plays in a row and we’re giving the offense more chances to get long drives. The fresher we are, the harder we play.”

NDSU head coach Chris Klieman: “Our guys were really focused coming out there today. I thought we had a great week of practice. Our guys had a laser focus today. I was impressed, defensively, with the way we dominated the football game. That’s as well as we’ve played up front collectively with a bunch of guys.. Our front four played exceptionally well. It made things easier for our linebackers to hit their fits and the secondary did a nice job in the run game and pass coverage.. We wanted to prove we were the best defense out there, and they did that.”

“I told the guys, ‘this is what Bison Pride is.. playing for the guy next to you’, .. play for those guys that had been a part of this rivalry.. Guys that didn’t play that wish they had played in that rivalry.. I thought it was really important for us to go out for the for all the guys (that) played before us, for all those guys and give it our best.”

“I thought the crowd was dynamite.. We had some recruits out there in a tent. The students and the tailgating lots were jam-packed. And I thought early on- they were a huge factor for us. And for us defensively, when were able to get off on that snap count. I can tell that Play Clock’s going down, it’s a big advantage to us now and the crowd was was dynamite again.”

Chris Klieman on special team play: “I was really irritated with turning over the football and dropping some punts. It’s something we definitely have to shore up.. There are a couple blocks in the back that I will have to take a look at, but they were probably good calls. Obviously, we can’t turn the football over. It takes all your momentum away. It just can’t happen. Offensively, we made some real good plays. But looking back, we missed some things with communication in the run game and communication in protection.”

Chris Klieman on freshman Cam Pedersen’s 49-yard field goal that hit the crossbar and bounced over: “I thought that was a real important opportunity to give the young man. That was right on the cusp of his range. Now, we haven’t been around him that much to know if that was really his range, but that was something for his confidence that was really big.”

NDSU Individual Stats:

Offensive

  • QB #11 Carson Wentz was 18 of 27 for 262 yards and 4 touchdowns. His longest pass was 38 yards to RJ. Wentz was sacked 4 times for –27 yards, but he did get 18 positive yards on ten carries.
  • RB #22 King Frazier ran 14 times for 80 yards with a nice 35 yard run.
  • RB #10 Lance Dunn rushed 10 times for 32 yards.
  • RB #25 Chase Morlock and RB #42 Bruce Anderson each carried it 4 times for 8 yards. Chase also had a 22-yard catch.
  • WR #16 RJ Urzendowski had a good day with 5 catches for 88 yards and 2 touchdowns.
  • WR #20 Darrius Shepherd caught 6 balls for 76 yards and a 1 touchdown.
  • WR #82 Zach Vraa grabbed 4 catches for 58 yards including a 37 yard pass.
  • WR #80 Nate Moody had a 12 yard catch.
  • TE #46 Andrew Bonnet had a 6 yard catch.

Defense

  • LB #41 MJ Stumpf led the Bison Defense with 6 tackles.
  • LB #47 Pierre Gee-Tucker had five tackles.
  • DE #96 Greg Menard also had five tackles including 1.5 for a loss of 5 yards, and a quarterback hurry.
  • CB #06 Jordan Champion had four tackles, two tackles for losses (10 yards) including an eight yard sack, and a pass break up.
  • CB #28 Andrew Smith had four tackles.
  • DT #99 Nate Tanguay had four tackles and the other half of that TFL.
  • LB #49 Nick DeLuca and DE #97 Brad Ambrosius each had three tackles.
  • DE #61 Brian Schaetz, DT #61 Brian Schaetz, DT #63 Aaron Steidl, DT #90 Grant Morgan, and DE #94 Stanley Jones, each had one tackle for a loss or QB Sack. Schaetz had a QB hurry.
  • FS #3 Tre Dempsey had two pass break ups.

Special Teams

  • K #19 Ben LeCompte with 5 punts for 226 yards, and a long of 59 yards. Seven kickoffs for 419 yards.
  • K #36 Cam Pedersen was 2 for 2 on fields, from 28 and 49 yards.

Team Statistics

Game Stats UND NDSU
Passing Yards 57 262
Rushing Yards 4 115
Total Offensive Yards 61 377
Penalty Yards 6–49 5–34
First Downs 3 21
3rd Downs 2–13 9–17
4th Downs 0–0 0–0
Time Of Possession 23:24 36:36

References

Game Day
Gate City Bank Field at the Fargodome with 19,044 in attendance.
From 2:37 pm. to 5:39 pm

InForum

The Fargo Forum has complete coverage of the game.

Other Media

You can’t beat GoBison.com. They have participation rosters, play-by-play guides, team stats, and individual stats.

Stream the entire game from KVLY and the NBC North Dakota Sports Network on YouTube.com

Video

NDSU vs UND 34 to 9

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