North Dakota State Protects Home Field

  • Posted By: Andrew Zimmel
  • October 9, 2021 @ 4:36 pm
  • Local Sports
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Before the game, there was talk about “rivalry” between North Dakota State and Northern Iowa, but after 60 minutes of game time- it’s hard to call it that with the Bison winning their homecoming decisively 34-20 in a game that was much more one sided than the score indicated.

Northern Iowa came into the contest winners of their last three and rolling in high after molly whooping Youngstown State 34-7. In that one, the Panthers had almost 400 yards of total offense and Quarterback Theo Day had himself a game. Day had his best completion day of the season and connected for two TDs.

The Panthers won the coin toss and deferred to the second half, giving the Bison the ball to start. NDSU looked sloppy coming out of the gate. On third and one, Quarterback Quincy Patterson turned the ball over on a bad snap. The Panthers took over at the NDSU 39 in prime possession to take momentum- but couldn’t make anything happen punting it back to the Bison. 

 NDUS’s first drive started from their own 16, and with their backs against the wall the cracks showed a little in the Bison. Every week I feel like I write the same thing about Patterson ducking and running too much, but the Bison win so it doesn’t matter. On the second drive, Patterson had a pocket that looked decent, but decided to take the two yards with his legs instead of attempting pass. It’s fine, but i would prefer the only player on the field whose job it is to throw the ball forward do it more than six times a game. 

Day had pressure in his face all day, but to his credit he did an excellent job of moving around and not allowing the pressure to get to him (much).  I have always admired QBs who can get absolutely blasted and still get a good pass off, for Day, some of the passes he completely while taking a helmet to the chest were better than passes he attempted while having a clean pocket.

The Panthers weren’t able to do anything with their possession and punted it back to North Dakota State. I thought for sure that this game was heading towards a defensive slugfest, a game that North Dakota would be able to win. Instead, Patterson got the scoring going on a touchdown toss to Christian Watson.

On the play action pass, Watson was able to get behind two Panther defenders and walk into the end zone. His speed is a large part of the reason that he can play at the next level.

The Panthers running game was non existent for the majority of the day. Just impossible to break any plays past the line of scrimmage or get any spark. Day tried his best to move the ball with his arm, but on the only play that went more than 20 yards- the officials called it back for hands to the face.

Patterson threw the the ball better in this game than probably any game up until this point. Christian Watson is a threat over the middle and down the sideline, making the life of every defensive back miserable. The one thing I have noticed however, is that Watson won’t ever get double covered. Maybe teams just don’t respect a college utility player, or maybe some of these coaches just aren’t very bright- but I wouldn’t put Watson in man-to-man coverage deep. 

If you wanted to nitpick the first half, you’d say that every throw Patterson makes sails a little high. Even completions have Bison receivers reaching high or leaving the ground to pull them down. On second down Quincy Patterson’s pass was completed to Watson for 38 yards to put NDSU in the red zone. The Bison were able to get points on the board again and take a 10-0 lead with 3:37 in the first quarter. 

The Panther’s struggles in this game have come down to two parts. Part One: The Bison’s defense is disruptive. On pass plays, they trust the secondary enough to bring four and sometimes five defenders on first and second down. Part Two: The Panthers offense is no very creative for a quarterback that is pretty athletic.

The most open the Panthers were in the first half came on a play action that had a Northern Iowa receiver streaking alone down the sideline.

The Panthers offense is very basic. Run the ball to set up the pass, throw the ball deep when it’s there. Not a lot of RPOs not a lot of QB options, not a lot of creativity. Day had the arm to throw deep, but not  the accuracy. All day, the ball would fall in front of receivers, so either the Panthers had a tough ride to the Dome or the receivers aren’t running full speed for Day because every pass is a yard too long. 

Finally, with 11:24 left in the half, the Panthers were able to get on the board with a touchdown pass to Isaiah Weston. The 44 yard completion cut the Bison lead three after the extra point to make it 10-7.

Patterson kept going to Watson all game, the only receiver that Patterson looked at all afternoon. Once the Bison took a two score lead in the second half, NDSU stopped throwing the ball as much- preventing Watson from climbing on this list.

With three minutes left in the half, Northern Iowa was able to drive down and kick a 33 yard field goal to tie it up at 10 apiece.

The Bison’s took their “Three Minute” game plan out and showed it off a little for the first time. The game script involved a lot of running and not as much throwing. Dominic Gonnella and Kobe Johnson will be more involved running the ball when both are fully healthy. Gonnella only had a handful of carries. NDSU was able to drive down and kick a 22 yard field goal to retake the lead, 13-10 going into halftime.

After halftime, I don’t think there was a person in the crowd who had any question about what the outcome of the game would be. On the first Bison drive of the half started with great field position after Jayden Price returned the Panther punt 41 yards down to the nine yard line. From there, Quincy Patterson was able to work himself into the end zone.

The score made it 20-10 with 11:46 left in the third. The game was all downhill from there for Northern Iowa. On the ensuing possession, Day got sacked and coughed the ball back up to the Bison defense.

The Bison would score again. Starting from the UNI 21, the combination of Hunter Luepke and Noah Gindorff showed that big men can move. Patterson was able to complete a three yard pass to Gindorff to give NDSU a 27-10 with 9:02 left in the third quarter.

The Panthers weren’t done yet, putting another touchdown on the score board. The highlight of the drive was on a second and eight from the UNI 27- Day was able to get with Weston again for a 68 yard completion. From there, the Panthers were able to score from five yards out to make it 27-17. A little momentum for UNI but not enough.

The drive of the game came next. With 7:35 left in the third quarter, Patterson and the offense were able to put together a 16 play, 80 yard drive that was capped off by a QB run to make the score 34-17 with 14:09 left in the game.

The Panthers would put up a 44 yard field goal with 9:08 left, but would never force any real threat in the second half to knock off NDSU.  Patterson on the day went 11/21 for 182 yards and two TDs in the air and rushed for 60 yards and a touchdown on the ground.

North Dakota State goes on the road next week to face the Illinois State Redbirds at 7pm.

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