When Bubba Schweigert took over as the head coach at the University of North Dakota, the UND alum wanted to redefine the program’s identity. Schweigert wanted to stamp UND as a hard-hitting, physical team that controlled the tempo of football games with tough, aggressive play on both sides of the ball.
In his first year, the UND defense made huge strides. In the second year this fall, the offense seemed to be coming along before sophomore quarterback Keaton Studsrud went down with an injury.
During a 4-1 start, UND’s swarming, high-pressure 3-4 defense led the way. In a 24-13 upset at FBS Wyoming to begin the season, the North Dakota defense notched seven tackles for loss and three sacks in holding the Cowboys to just 29 yards rushing and 1.5 yards per carry. Drake mustered just 36 yards rushing in a 21-18 UND win. North Dakota State, the four-time defending FCS national champions, gained 115 yards on 42 carries, averaging just 2.7 yards per carry, yet still claimed victor. NDSU held UND to four yards rushing in a 34-9 triumph. UND stuffed UC Davis to the tune of 2.1 yards per carry and held Big Sky Conference front-runner Portland State to 97 yards on 30 rushes in a 19-16 win in Portland, the Vikings’ lone misstep of the conference season.
Montana running back Treshawn Favors takes on North Dakota defensive back Cole Reyes/by Evan Frost
“Defensively since Coach Schweigert took over, there’s much more of an emphasis for the style we want to play, what we want to do, our identity,” UND sophomore safety Cole Reyes said. “Our communication, pursuing the ball, tackling have all gotten much better. The old staff, they emphasized that a little bit but it was really stressed every day in practice over and over. We are built a certain way and the plan is to be a championship defense so we strive for that with all 11 guys on the field. We take it more serious. There’s a big emphasis to showing grit on the field. If you are a little dinged up, if you are good enough to go, you have to give it everything you’ve got. Little things like that have made a huge difference with everything.”
During the PSU game, injuries started to mount. Junior inside linebacker Taj Rich suffered a season-ending knee injury. Junior safety Zach Arnell suffered a season-ending injury against NDSU. Sophomore defensive end Drew Greely suffered an injury against the Vikings that has him out indefinitely. Senior safety Jawon Johnson, who started four games in place of Arnell, has since moved to outside linebacker to replace junior Brian Labat. Sophomore Jake Disterhaupt has replaced senior captain outside linebacker Dayo Idowu at the other outside spot. Sophomore Connor O’Brien has replaced Rich in the middle. Senior William James has taken over the other safety spot next to Reyes, who missed games against Weber State and Idaho State due to an injury as well.
North Dakota continues to lead the league in rushing defense — UND is allowing 82.4 yards per game as No. 19 Montana State comes to Grand Forks for a Saturday showdown — but the unit appears vulnerable during the team’s current three-game losing streak. North Dakota is giving up 274 passing yards per game, including 342 per game during the skid.
“It’s been very frustrating,” senior captain middle linebacker Will Ratelle, UND’s leading tackler, said. “I think the most frustrating were the Idaho State and Weber State games because we were up the whole game and then we blew it in the fourth quarters. It’s unacceptable. To be honest, we straight up got beat by Montana. But losing to Idaho State and Weber State the way it happened is really disappointing and frustrating.”
UND middle linebacker Will Ratelle/by UND Athletics
Against Idaho State, UND had a 31-15 lead late in the third quarter before ISU quarterback Michael Sanders caught fire. The Bengals scored 22 unanswered points in the 37-31 win in Grand Forks. Against Weber State, UND held a 24-10 lead with 12 minutes to play. WSU junior quarterback Jadrian Clark threw two touchdowns in the final eight minutes in the 25-24 Wildcat win. Last week against Montana, UM third-string quarterback Makena Simis tied a school record by throwing six touchdowns as Montana’s previously stagnant run game piled up 165 yards rushing as the Griz blasted UND, 42-16.
“It’s frustrating because you have the lead,” Reyes said. “We’ve had the lead each of the last three weeks. The problem is not getting comfortable out there. I felt like the first two, Idaho State and Weber State, the defense got a little comfortable and the offense came back to bite us.
Ratelle, Reyes, sophomore cornerback Deion Harris, junior nose guard Alec Carrothers and sophomore defensive end Brandon Dranka are the only UND starters slated to play this week that started in Week 1.
“We are thin right now,” Schweigert said. “We don’t talk about it a whole lot. It affects our depth when we have to be out there a number of plays. But we aren’t really frustrated. We take a lot of pride with not giving up a lot of points so this is different for us. We have to learn how to handle it.
“But the big thing is big pass plays. If you make teams drive the football — the first score the Griz got against us, we made them work it down the field. Then we gave up a pass play for a score. We will like with some of those things. It’s when people do not have to drive the ball against us that is the frustrating thing. We are working hard to get that part corrected.”
In the Montana game, Simis threw touchdown passes of 12, 36, 63, 74 and 22 yards, frequently finding Jamaal Jones, Ellis Henderson or Ben Roberts in one-on-one coverage the Montana receivers were able to exploit.
UND safety William James tackles UM wide receiver Reese Carlson/by Evan Frost
“It comes down to letting guys behind us, especially at the cornerback position when we are in man on man,” Reyes said. “You can’t let a guy behind you and if you do, you can’t look back for the ball until you are in front of the receiver’s shoulder. That’s been a big emphasis.”
North Dakota enters Saturday’s matchup against Montana State with a must-win mentality. At 4-4, UND will have to win its remaining three games to even be considered a bubble team for the FCS playoffs. Montana State comes to town with the Big Sky’s top offense, an explosive unit that averages 46 points and 540 yards per game.
On the Sunday following the Montana loss, Reyes said the team held a meeting. A return to the roots was in order, the players decided.
“We decided to go back to our old ways,” the 6-foot-2, 220-pounder said. “We were doing a lot to try to stop the pass, focus on the pass and that’s really not us. We are a big run stopping team who makes teams throw the ball so we will probably go back to our old ways and put an emphasis on stopping the run.”
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