UND football primer: How to watch, injuries to know and matchups for No. 13 Fighting Hawks against South Dakota

Oct. 8—VERMILLION, S.D. — Can UND's defensive effort make the travel squad?

The Fighting Hawks' defense has surrendered just one offensive touchdown the past two games, a stretch that includes a rivalry matchup with North Dakota State, winners of eight of the last 10 FCS national championships.

A week ago, UND's defense became only the third team since 2014 to surrender one-or-fewer touchdowns in a game against the Bison.

But the challenge will be to transfer that effort from the Alerus Center to the DakotaDome. No. 13 UND visits South Dakota on Saturday for a 2 p.m. kickoff.

"We always want high expectation," UND coach Bubba Schweigert said. "We've been good on defense here at North Dakota for a long, long time. You've got to play with great effort and a lot of emotion. Our guys were challenged to play physical and attack the offense (against North Dakota State). We have to replicate that. We have to play at a high level week after week. We've talked about that and going on the road and doing the same thing. That's what great defenses do."

Expect the Fighting Hawks to be challenged early. Excluding USD's FBS opener at Kansas, the Coyotes are outscoring opponents 115-24 in the first half this year.

That was certainly the scenario in 2017 when UND was last in the DakotaDome. The Yotes jumped on UND to the tune of 17-0 after the first quarter en route to a total domination of 45-7.

There are parallels to draw from that 2017 game. UND entered that game coming off a 2016 Big Sky Conference championship and had beaten Missouri State 34-0 the previous week.

Injuries in 2017, however, began to mount and they were exposed by USD.

This time, UND enters Vermillion coming off a spring season in which the Hawks went to the FCS quarterfinals for the first time in program history.

But the Hawks have concerns offensively at this point. UND turned the ball over five times against Drake in the Potato Bowl and the Hawks were never in the red zone against North Dakota State.

UND jumbled its offensive line last week against NDSU as it continues to search for the right combination to replace the spring departures of guards Ryan Tobin and Kyle Hergel and center Nathan Nguon.

Wide receiver Garett Maag, the team's top threat in the passing game, has also been hampered by a hamstring injury suffered at Idaho State.

"Sometimes, there were mistakes on my part, not keeping to the snap count and little things like that," center Babak Ghadaksaz said. "Penalties add up. We have to stay on our blocks longer and get a drive going."

No. 13 North Dakota at South Dakota

Kickoff: 2 p.m., Saturday.

Where: DakotaDome.

TV: Midco Sports (GF Channel 27), Jay Elsen play-by-play, Andre Fields analyst.

Radio: 96.1 FM (Jack Michaels on play-by-play, Tom Dosch analyst, Paul Ralston sidelines).

Streaming: ESPN-Plus.

Betting line: South Dakota -10.5, per 5Dimes and SportsBet.

Injuries: The Fighting Hawks are starting to get banged up. UND's depth at wide receiver will be tested if Garett Maag can't continue to fight through a lingering hamstring injury suffered in Week 1 at Idaho State, coupled with Grand Forks' Tyler Burian going down against North Dakota State. That might open the door for previously injured Jacob Odom to see action at wide receiver for one of the first times in his career. At linebacker, UND's injury concern is to outside linebacker Josh Navratil, who missed most of the Bison game with an injury. That position is growing thin as UND lost Ray Haas to a likely season-ending injury in Week 1. Along the offensive line, UND saw starting guard Colin Lavell out with an injury against NDSU so Grand Forks native Ben Christian will likely receive his second career start there.

The Fighting Hawks will win if the offense can find some identity and the defense can match its energy from the North Dakota State game. UND should be in any game that its defense performs at the level it did a week ago against NDSU. It'll be tougher to replicate in an away venue like the DakotaDome, however. The UND offense, meanwhile, should be able to find more room to roam against USD than it did against NDSU, which still possesses one of the FCS' best defensive units.

The Coyotes will win if the Hawks continue to play sloppy football. UND, one of the cleanest penalty teams in the league in the spring, has been one of the worst in the fall. If the Yotes can get UND off schedule, the Hawks aren't really built for chunk plays. South Dakota will need to stop the run, especially better than it did last season when Otis Weah had a career game despite an early fumble. UND quarterback Tommy Schuster needs to throw less than 25 times for UND to be at its best offensively. USD quarterback Carson Camp is much improved from that matchup last season, which was likely impacted by a Thursday kickoff, which would certainly negatively impact the road team.