In what was one of the best games of the young college football season, the North Dakota State Bison were able to hang on against #10 in state foe North Dakota winning 16-10 in a game of bruises, guts and inches.
The Alerus Center was full. A completely sold out crowd in a stadium that separates itself from any other mid western arena. When you enter the building that just had it’s 20th birthday earlier this year was the location for one of the most exciting rivalry games of the season. When you walk into the home of the Fighting Hawks, you don’t smell Bavarian nuts. A welcome change.
The Bison received the ball to start the contest, and North Dakota State tried to get to work on the ground quickly. On the first play of the game however, Dominic Gonnella went down with an injury. It’s rare for the in stadium video board NOT to show an injury over and over again, the in stadium operator made sure we only got to see it once.
Gonnella was able to get off the field on his own- returning later in the contest but not getting nearly as many carries as previous games. On third and thirteen the Bison were able to convert on a 32 yard pass from Quincy Patterson to Noah Gindorff. Gindorff hadn’t gotten a ton of receptions before this contest, in this one Gindorff played a crucial role of being a safety blanket and a threat that UND had to account for.
The story on Quincy Patterson is his ability to run the offense efficiently. Patterson has a way of knowing when the right time to tuck and run and the right time get rid of the ball. On a second and ten, Paterson kept the ball himself and was able to scamper down the far sideline for a 27 yard run. On the same drive, on fourth and one Hunter Lupke was able to fall forward for a first down. The 45 yard field goal attempt by the Bison was good making it 3-0 with 4:55 in the first quarter.
On the other sideline, Sophomore QB Tommy “Gun” Schuster handles and offense that has a lot of similarities to NDSU. Last season, Shuster took the Missouri Valley Football Confernece by surprise and was rewarded for that. In his first season under center, he was able to lead the Fighting Hawks to the Playoffs.
Coming into this game, Shuster was one of the most accurate quarterbacks in the sport, completing over 68% of his passes and throwing for four touchdowns. The problem has been the turnovers. Shuster had three interceptions before facing NDSU, two against Utah State and one against Drake in the opener. With 1:34 left in the first quarter, Schuster connected with Bo Belquist for the thirty yard touchdown to score the first touchdown of the game. After the kick the Bison took their biggest deficit of the season trailing 7-3.
RaJa Nelson past midfield! pic.twitter.com/VqSDNc0l0A
— NDSU Football (@NDSUfootball) October 2, 2021
On the ensuing kickoff, the Bison were able to establish excellent field position after a 50 yard return by Sophomore RaJa Nelson that the Bison start their drive on the UND side of the field.
The offense came out up tempo with Kobe Johnson taking the handoff for 21 yards up the middle and Gindorff taking a handoff for 15 yards.
What was cool about this game was for the first time all season, you could see the metaphorical sweat on the brows of some of the NDSU coaching staff. The Bison getting pushed early was great because it meant, contrary to the belief of many fans, we were in for a competitive game. Every single non-University of North Dakota fan I spoke to said that the Hawks were going to get rocked. After one quarter that wasn’t the case, North Dakota State trailed 7-3.
To start the second quarter, the Bison were able to connect on another field goal, to make the score 7-6 Fighting Hawks with 13:48 left. Kicker Jake Reinholz has the curse of most college kickers. When you do your job, nobody knows your name. When you mess up, every single fan will blame you for the loss. The Curse of the College Kicker.
The entirety of the first half, I was convinced that North Dakota State was going to lose. I didn’t want them to lose, but I thought they would. Mainly because, and today’s game confirmed it, if NDSU has to play from behind they might be in more trouble than previously thought.
Defensively, the Bison are stout. Offensively if they get a lead they are a great team. But what happens when a team like UND comes in with swagger and punches you in the mouth? How do you respond? Defensively, the Bison had answers, sacking Shuster once and putting the young quarterback in pressure situations.
Otis Weah was the spark of last season for the Fighting Hawks. The 5’9 215 pound Junior running back from Minnesota is a bowling ball that UND will throw at pin head linebackers. Every team North of Kansas wants the type of hard nosed runner that Waeah has proven to be.
Otis Weah’s back up, Isaiah Smith, is the same type of runner but little less compact and a little faster in the open field. The pair combined for 77 yard in the first half and if the Fighting Hawks had a better offensive game plan, they duo might entered halftime with a score between them.
I’ve mentioned already the Bison defense played tough, but they were helped in a lot of ways by the absolute awful game script by UND. The two minute drill to end the half was a what coaches should be taught in school on what NOT to do. Throws across the middle of the field, no plan on what to do when the offense ran out of timeouts. In a game that ended with a six point differential, UND left at-least half of those points on the board to end the half leading by one, 7-6.
The game changed what at 6:54 left in the third quarter. On fourth and one from their own 21, the North Dakota decided to go for it, attempting to draw NDSU off sides or convert on their own. On the quarterback sneak Tommy Schuster attempted to stretch is entire six foot frame for the first- but wasn’t enough.
Again, the defense stood strong and gave the Bison offense great field position to take the lead 9-7 on the Reinholz 30 yard kick, but how dumb can you be? On the front porch of your own end zone, against the #5 team in the country, you’re going for it? The difference between “aggressive” and “dumb” can be a game of results, the results don’t play in UND’s favor.
With 1:10 left in the third quarter, Schuster and the Fighting Hawks’ offense had another costly turnover. On third and five knocking on the door of the Bison Red Zone, Shuster came under duress. Instead of tucking and running for a few yards, or throwing the ball away to live to see another day, the Sophomore QB threw the ball right in between the numbers of Senior Safety Dawson Weber for a turnover.
PICKED! Dawson Weber takes it away! pic.twitter.com/CdNlnB91O0
— NDSU Football (@NDSUfootball) October 2, 2021
The fourth quarter in the Alerus Center was electric. After a UND punt that put the Bison down at the one inch line, the Bison’s defense had to step up with a little over seven minutes left in the game leading 9-7.
The defense, which had been tested all afternoon on run heavy handed runs and options by the Fighting Hawks, held strong. On fourth and two from the NDSU 43 the defense was able to come up with a stop and force another turnover on downs.
The Bison took over with 5:47 left in the rivialry matchup and were able to chew up clock by keeping the ball on the ground with their stable of running backs. Five different players ran the ball for NDSU.
The Bison were able to drive the ball down the field, with a touchdown run by Quincy Patterson to cap off the drive and secure the win for North Dakota State. It was almost as if the outcome of this one was decided before fans took their seats.
The Fighting Hawks kicked with 16 seconds left to make the final score a respectable 16-10, but this just goes to show. Any sibling rivalries that brew in your household your life, know this. Big Brother wins more often than not, and NDSU continues to be the Big Brother in the state of North Dakota.
The 4-0 Bison take on the Northern Iowa Panthers next Saturday at home. Kickoff is at 1pm.
Also, it’s worth mentioning that the spread for this game was -10.5 in favor of North Dakota State. Good teams win, great teams cover.