Herald UND football mailbag: Surprises after three weeks, special teams woes and QB play

Sep. 23—GRAND FORKS — The UND football team is on bye this week after the Fighting Hawks' first loss of the season at Boise State.

With three weeks in the books and FCS No. 1 South Dakota State looming on the schedule, Herald UND football beat writer Tom Miller answered questions from readers about the season.

Q. Offense and special teams mishaps this week a cause for concern?

A. I think both give you some concern, but I would say special teams may be more likely to linger.

A year ago, when UND was having snapping issues, I saw it throughout fall camp. To have it come up in games, it didn't surprise me.

But this year, we really haven't seen that at fall camp from the rookie center or through two the first two weeks.

UND has to hope it was a one-game lapse to a young kid in his first road game in a unique environment. Cade Borud has a real bright future if he can bury this issue quick.

The kicking and punting game just isn't strong right now, and I wouldn't be surprised if UND uses this bye week to really test the depth at both spots.

The competition for those two spots went down to the wire in camp, so there are options.

Q. Can we finally feel confident in the defense again?

A. We're seeing signs of this. It felt unfair to finish with 42 points allowed against Boise State because it was really the offense not taking care of its side of the puzzle, especially right before halftime when UND should have gone to the locker room in a better position.

UND appears to be handling the line of scrimmage better, and I think you're seeing that extend to the rest of the defense.

The Hawks are going to need to start sacking the quarterback a little more, though. Only four sacks so far and just one from a defensive lineman.

Q. What group is playing at a higher level than expected?

A. I don't know if there have been a ton of surprises. I think UND's safeties have been steadier than they were a year ago. Kadon Kauppinen and Malachi Buckner look more confident on the back end so far.

They should've had interceptions against Boise State but they're more active in the run game than 2022 and don't have a frantic demeanor we saw at times last season — perhaps a reflection of the simplified scheme under first-year defensive coordinator Joel Schwenzfeier.

Offensively, the impactful return of Luke Skokna has been a surprise, but there were signs of that throughout fall camp. He has more explosiveness than his injury allowed all of 2022.

Q. With a poor performance in Boise followed by a bye week, has there been a noticeable downturn of emotion/intensity, or is that perhaps providing fuel to be better in the next game?

A. These are always hard questions to answer from my perspective, but I can say I was impressed with the two players I spoke with immediately after the game in wide receiver Bo Belquist and linebacker Wyatt Pedigo.

Both players expressed confidence in the unit as a whole albeit with the appropriate amount of disappointment over what just took place.

Then the following Monday, UND running back Luke Skokna was fired up at the press conference talking about the season. It sounded like he was ready to run through a wall on a Monday of bye week.

Q. Why isn't Red Wilson used more? Red has a knack for making people miss.

A. I think one of Danny Freund's biggest challenges is keeping everyone on that offense happy. Right now, Wilson has 11 catches for 116 yards — that's second-most behind Bo Belquist in both catches and yards.

UND needs to keep finding ways to diversify the pass game beyond Belquist. As for Wilson, Wesley Eliodor is also showing he may need more targets. What about Isaiah Smith and Jack Wright? The tight ends? Nick Kupfer and Elijah Klein have moments. Caden Dennis was a threat before his injury.

My guess is some of the issue in expanding Wilson's role is the need to feed Belquist and both players are electric in similar routes in the short passing game.

I'm not discrediting the sentiment of the question. Wilson could be a bigger part of the offense. Perhaps after the bye, we see Wilson used in an expanded way on kickoffs, jet motions or right out of the backfield.

Q. Is Tommy really the answer at QB? He can win all the games against okay opponents but he doesn't get it done in big games.

A. Schuster didn't have his best at Boise State, but we'll also never really know how much the game was impacted by the snapping issues. It's hard to run a short passing game with plays starting like that.

But it's perhaps a harsh and fair critique that Schuster still needs a signature win at UND. The pandemic year win at home against South Dakota State is probably his closest.

Schuster has been incredible the past season and a half at escaping pressures, extending plays and moving the ball down field. Against Boise, though, it felt like what Schuster could get away with in eluding pass rush against the middle of the FCS and what he can get away with against top-level opponents was a stark difference.

Maybe there's a learning curve there that will develop over time regarding pocket navigation against really good defensive lines that can chase you down better at the higher level.

Q. Why is it such a huge rotation in the secondary, mainly the safeties?

A. I don't track snaps like a coaching staff, but it hasn't felt like an odd rotation to me. If there's a reason, I would guess it's because you have three starter types in Kadon Kauppinen, Sammy Fort and Malachi Buckner. I'm not sure any of those three have demanded more shares than the other two.

That's also an older nucleus. They need to start prepping players like Jett Sutton, Cole Davis and maybe even true freshman Tyler Erkman to set a base for the future.