5 things you might've missed in UND's 22-21 win over Illinois State

Nov. 18—GRAND FORKS — UND strengthened its FCS playoff credentials with a 22-21 win over Illinois State on Saturday at the Alerus Center, closing the regular season with a 7-4 record.

Here are five things you might've missed during the game.

UND senior running back Luke Skokna has battled an injury the last two weeks, missing much of the game at Murray State and not playing at South Dakota the following week.

Skokna provided a boost against Illinois State, rushing four times for 26 yards.

Skokna, who wasn't a full participant at practice last week, mostly played on one series.

His drive, however, was a 76-yard scoring drive — capped by Tommy Schuster's 9-yard touchdown pass to Max Gunderson for a 16-9 lead.

On the drive, Skokna had runs of 8 and 9 yards.

Illinois State starting quarterback Zack Annexstad, who was hurt a couple of weeks ago, didn't dress and the Redbirds started Tommy Rittenhouse.

But the Redbirds saw a couple of other key players miss major stretches of the game.

ISU leading receiver Daniel Sobkowicz caught two passes on the Redbirds' opening drive of the first quarter but didn't see the field after that. It's unclear what caused Sobkowicz to miss time.

Sobkowicz entered as the No. 2 wide receiver in the Missouri Valley. The 6-foot-3 sophomore had at least 54 yards receiving in every game this season.

ISU No. 2 running back Cole Mueller was hurt early in the third quarter and didn't return.

He appeared to be injured on a 7-yard run with 11:40 to go in the third quarter. Mueller finished with 11 carries for 44 yards.

The Fighting Hawks are 1-for-7 on 2-point conversion attempts in 2023 with an 0-for-2 showing against Illinois State.

UND's only successful 2-point conversion attempt was an Isaiah Smith run against Northern Arizona.

UND made a curious decision to go for two after Tommy Schuster's fourth-down, 9-yard touchdown pass to Max Gunderson made it 16-9 UND in the third quarter.

Rather than attempting an extra point for an eight-point lead, Bubba Schweigert elected to go for the two-score lead but Jaden Norby's run was stopped just short of the end zone.

"This one today was a little gimmick, and we thought we could surprise them with a push," UND coach Bubba Schweigert said. "Jaden thought he was in, but the guy who's important is the one making the call. There's no way to overturn it on a review because there's too many bodies in there.

"We wanted to make it a two-possession game and stress them a little bit. We'd like to convert (2-point conversions) at a higher rate. The last one we tried in this building we dropped the ball but it was open."

UND came out of the gates flat.

The Hawks' first series started with a Gaven Ziebarth run for no gain, a Sam Hagen false start and two Tommy Schuster incompletions.

The second drive saw a Bo Belquist first-down bubble pass sniffed out for a 5-yard loss, followed by a Schuster incompletion and a short Schuster keeper.

On the first two series, UND punted on fourth-and-15 and fourth-and-11.

"We challenged our guys to play more physical and run the football," UND coach Bubba Schweigert said. "We had to find the right plays to give ourselves a better chance. It was about staying downhill. It's tough when you get behind the chains. That's a really good defense. No. 50 (Jalan Gaines) and No. 22 (Amir Abdullah) are really athletic. We had to get positive yards on first down and get on favorable downs."

UND improved to 6-0 at home in 2023.

The Hawks are now winners of 25 of their last 27 in the Alerus Center.

The only two losses in that stretch are to the eventual FCS national champions — 2022 against South Dakota State and 2021 against North Dakota State.

The last time UND lost at home to an unranked opponent was Sept. 22, 2018, 25-21 to Idaho State.