UND football scores more than 50 for the first time in a decade in 55-7 rout of Drake
Sep. 2—GRAND FORKS — UND football fans might have been frustrated and impatient at halftime Saturday afternoon, hoping for an early blowout in the season opener against Drake.
The Fighting Hawks fixed that mood quickly in the second half.
UND running back Gaven Ziebarth raced 79 yards for a touchdown on the first play of the second half to spark a 27-point third quarter en route to a 55-7 win at the Alerus Center.
The 55 points were the most since UND beat Valparaiso 69-10 in 2013. UND has now won 37-straight home openers — the longest home opening winning streak in the FCS.
"Maybe the fans were frustrated, but I wasn't frustrated," UND coach Bubba Schweigert said of halftime. "You have to look at how you're playing. We weren't frustrated. We were playing well."
UND was just a bit off in the first half. The Hawks had four first-half possessions with one ending in a Brady Stevens missed 34-yard field goal and another ending in a strip sack of quarterback Tommy Schuster in the final seconds of the second quarter with UND in the red zone looking for a three-score lead.
UND's two first-half scores came on a 5-yard Schuster scramble in which he juked a Drake linebacker for the score. Later in the second quarter, Schuster found Bo Belquist for a 9-yard slant pass touchdown.
"(Ziebarth) definitely helped us out in the third quarter," UND tight end Quincy Vaughn said. "We were playing well but didn't finish. We have to score seven in the red zone. Coming out of half, we wanted to set the tone."
Ziebarth's touchdown gave the Hawks a 21-0 advantage. UND tacked on third-quarter touchdowns from Vaughn (3-yard catch), Belquist (23-yard catch) and Donovan Hunt (7-yard run). UND led 41-0 after three quarters and backups filled the field after that.
Ziebarth, a physical sophomore from Cambridge, Minn., finished with a career-high 112 rushing yards on seven carries.
"We knew we were moving the ball well in the first half, but we didn't finish possessions," Belquist said. "We knew we had to come out and bring the energy and keep doing our thing and it'll turn out the way we wanted. Gaven breaking that one right away just kind of sparked everyone."
The Hawks ended with 652 yards of total offense (the most since Oct. 23, 2021, against Western Illinois) thanks to 262 passing yards from Schuster, who was an incredibly efficient 22-for-26 with three touchdowns. Backup Trey Feeney then saw the most extensive playing time of his career, going 4-for-5 for 102 yards and a touchdown.
Feeney's touchdown came on a 33-yard deep ball to Mandan product Elijah Klein, who drew a pass interference penalty on the play but still managed to one-arm haul in the score for a 48-7 lead with 9:20 left in the fourth quarter.
Hunt, a transfer from Jackson State, saw success late and added a 58-yard touchdown run for the final margin.
Belquist, who had his fourth 100-yard receiving game of his career, finished with seven catches for 110 yards and two touchdowns. His third-quarter touchdown was of the highlight-reel variety as a reverse flea-flicker ended with a Schuster short throw to Belquist, who wiggled out of multiple tacklers to score.
Defensively, UND held Drake to one score — an Ian Corwin 5-yard touchdown catch from Luke Bailey with 12:16 left in the fourth quarter. Bailey finished 15-for-33 with one interception for 194 yards.
UND was tough against the run, giving up 106 yards on 26 carries. Luke Woodson led the Drake rush attack with 28 yards on four carries.
The Hawks host Northern Arizona on Saturday at the Alerus Center at 3 p.m.
