The UND football team huddles during last Saturday’s game against Stony Brook, in which North Dakota claimed a 13-3 victory. The team looks to use its strong defense to notch another win this weekend against Montana State. Photo by Nicholas Nelson/The Dakota Student.

What happens when an impressive offense meets a strong defense?

That question will be answered this weekend as the high-flying offense of Montana State faces off against a stingy UND defense.

Through the first four games, North Dakota has shown that the true strength of this team is its defense.

The defense is currently playing at a clip that ranks it up there with the big boys of the Big Sky Conference.

Through the first four games of non-conference play, the Green and White have only given up 24 points a game, which puts them second in the Big Sky for scoring defense.

UND also ranks second in total defense, in that the team is only giving up 343.5 yards per game. To put that number in perspective, nine out of the 13 teams in the Big Sky are giving up 400-plus yards each game.

As a team defense, UND is playing tremendous football, but that is not stopping individuals from shining in their own right.

Will Ratelle has been a tackling machine through the first four games of the season.

The captain is currently fourth in the Big Sky with 47 tackles. Fellow linebacker Taj Rich comes in at No. 7 on the list, after having a monster game against Stony Brook, racking 19 total tackles for the Green and White.

“Our coaches always tell us, run to the ball, run to the ball, because you never know when someone is going to miss a tackle,” UND captain Alex Tillman said. “They’re always preaching no big plays over the top. We’ve got to be good in the back end, because if we mess up in the back end, then it’s a touchdown.”

It isn’t just the linebackers making noise on the defensive side of the ball.

Tillman is this week’s Big Sky Conference Defensive Player of the Week.

Tillman received this honor because of the critical part he played in UND’s 13-3 win over Stony Brook last Saturday, coming up with a game defining 92 yard pick six.

“I remember watching the play on film and seeing it in practice and I was like ‘OK, yeah, I know exactly where he’s going,’” Tillman said. “I saw him release the ball, it looked like it was off a little bit, so I took it, and tried to take it to the house.”

UND will need to bring the defensive effort to compete with the high powered Montana State.

Where UND ranks at the top in defense, the Bobcats rank at the top in offense.

Montana State’s offensive is working at a higher gear than most of the conference, scoring 161 points through four games. It also has the most rushing yards in the conference at 980.

One of the key battles of this game is going to be the running game because Montana State ranks second in rushing offense, but UND ranks third in rushing defense.

While controlling the rush will be imperative for UND, the real key to the game will be if Joe Mollberg and the offense can keep up with the Bobcats.

Montana State has averaged 40.2 points per game to UND’s 9.8. The defense will look to slow Montana State down, but the offense will need to be able to put up more than 10 points in order to keep up with the Bobcats.

“I believe that we can control the ball, still be able to run the ball,” senior wide receiver R.J. McGill said, “We have to make plays on the outside. That’s one thing we will have to do, but that’s one thing this week we really need to focus on.”

The new era of UND football starts its conference play as the Green and White face off against Montana State on Saturday night in Bozeman, Mont.

Alex Stadnik is a staff writer for The Dakota Student. He can be reached at [email protected].