5 things you might've missed in UND's 49-24 win over North Dakota State
Oct. 15—GRAND FORKS — The UND football program snapped a rivalry losing streak in dominant fashion with a 49-24 victory over North Dakota State on Saturday in front of more than 13,000 at the Alerus Center.
Here are five things you might've missed during the game.
A couple of months ago, UND head coach Bubba Schweigert asked former UND coach Dale Lennon to speak to the Fighting Hawks on the Friday before the North Dakota State game.
Lennon was set to be in Grand Forks as he, along with his 2003 national runner-up UND football team, was inducted into the UND Athletics Hall of Fame on Thursday.
"That guy is awesome," Schweigert said. "I should have him come every week. It was really good. He hit on some key points. He gave our guys some confidence and got them to relax. I have so much respect for him. I think on the sideline our guys remembered some of those things he talked about the night before about keeping the focus on us and how we're performing."
Lennon was an honorary UND representative for the opening coin flip. He spent the game on the sideline, along with other former UND head football coaches Roger Thomas and Chris Mussman.
In the game's closing moments, Lennon was embraced on the sideline by current UND offensive coordinator and former UND quarterback Danny Freund, who played for Lennon during a period in which UND and NDSU didn't play each other.
"It was really cool how he spoke after our meal," UND running back Luke Skokna said of Lennon. "He talked about how to contribute and believe. Football is a team sport; there's 100 of us. Whatever your job is, contribute. And have that belief, and I think that was a big part of getting it done."
UND No. 1 wide receiver Bo Belquist was questionable for the North Dakota State game with an injury suffered the previous week against Western Illinois.
Belquist, who has had big games in his career against the Bison, finished with two catches for 41 yards and a touchdown.
The first touch of the game for Belquist seemingly hinted at trouble as the New Rockford native played through the injury. He dropped an easy bubble screen on second-and-8 early in the second quarter. The drop led to UND's only punt of the game.
But the Hawks went right back to Belquist on the first play of the next drive. Tommy Schuster found Belquist for 32 yards down the sideline, which turned into a gain of 47 yards thanks to a sideline interference penalty on the Bison during the play.
Belquist's final touch was his most important. On third-and-8 from the 9, Schuster rolled out of the pocket and hit Belquist short of the goal line. Belquist slammed on the brakes near the sideline and twisted and dove in for the score to give the Hawks a 42-17 advantage with 10:58 remaining in the game.
Only two teams in the entire FCS haven't thrown an interception this season: UND and Fordham.
Tommy Schuster's last interception was nine games ago — on Nov. 12, 2022, in a 28-19 win over South Dakota at the Alerus Center.
Da'raun McKinney picked off Schuster on fourth-and-goal from the 2 in the second quarter against the Coyotes.
Schuster was 9-for-12 for 113 yards against the Bison on Saturday.
The 113 passing yards are the lowest single-game output of Schuster's career, one that spans back to 2019.
One of UND's most important scores was a 4-yard Luke Skokna touchdown run with 13 seconds left in the first half to give the Fighting Hawks a 28-17 lead.
UND faced third-and-1 from the 4. The Hawks split Schuster out wide like a wide receiver and had tight end Quincy Vaughn line up under center. As Vaughn prepared for the snap, UND sent Belquist across the motion from left to right. At the snap, with the Bison expecting a Vaughn sneak or Belquist action, Vaughn pitched to the left for Skokna, who cruised untouched in for the touchdown.
It was a twist of a play UND fans saw in a 2022 road win at Youngstown State. At Youngstown, UND rushed then-quarterback Quincy Vaughn from the shotgun to under center and motioned Garett Maag from left to right.
That action fooled the Penguins on the play as Vaughn pitched back left to Isaiah Smith for a 16-yard easy touchdown.
Gaven Ziebarth became the fourth UND player to rush for more than 150 yards in a game against North Dakota State.
The other three? They're all legends.
Milson Jones ran for 233 yards on 24 carries in 1980, Shannon Burnell ran for 213 yards on 32 carries in 1993 and Phillip Moore ran for 205 yards on 35 carries in 1998.
Jones, Burnell and Moore are all in the UND Athletics Hall of Fame.
Ziebarth, a 6-foot, 205-pound sophomore from Cambridge, Minn., ran for 161 yards on 18 carries with three touchdowns on Saturday.
It was Ziebarth's third 100-yard rushing game of his career. He ran for 112 yards on seven carries against Drake to open the 2023 season and ran for 110 yards on 15 carries against Western Illinois in his true freshman season in which he maintained a redshirt by playing in just three games.
