UND junior Dylan Bakker attempts to run with the football during Saturday’s game at the Alerus Center. Photo by Chester Beltowski/The Dakota Student.

While the defense had played well all game, UND was down 15-0 in the second half.

Despite a comeback that tied the teams 15-15, North Dakota fell short in an 18-15 defeat on its home turf.

Miscues were a theme of the game from the very start, especially on the offensive side of the ball. In the first quarter, for example, UND quarterback Joe Mollberg botched a snap that resulted in a safety.

Whether it was miscues on the offensive line or penalties, nothing was going right for an offense that has not clicked all season.

Then the fourth quarter struck, and the Green and White came alive, finally punching the Montana Grizzlies back after three quarters of the defensive struggle.

The quarter started for UND with a drive that ended with UND running back Kyle Noreberg fumbling on the goal line that would have cut the Grizzlies’ lead in half.

Luckily, the number two defense in the Big Sky conference came up huge and forced Montana to a three and out.

Mollberg, Norberg and company proceeded to drive 47 yards, and Nordberg finally punched in the first score of the game from two yards out.

The momentum swung in this game when the defense did what it has done so well all season long.

The Grizzlies were gearing up for a response to UND’s touchdown when backup quarterback Shay Smithwick-Hann threw an interception right to UND defensive back Chris Brown that went for a touchdown.

For the third week in a row, the Green and White had scored a defensive touchdown.

“Dang, our defense is really good right now,” Mollberg said with a grin on his face.

After Mollberg connected with Luke Mathewson on the two point conversion, the game was tied up at 15 all with UND clearly in the driver’s seat.

The offense got the ball back after Montana went three and out and looked to upset the No. 7 Grizzlies.

The difference came down to special teams play.

UND lined up to kick a field goal, which would have put it up for the first time in the game.

Instead, Montana blocked the kick and received possession of the ball.

After a long pass by Smithwick got the Grizzlies into field goal range, Montana kicked the game winner through the up-rights.

No upset today — Montana 18, UND 15.

Fans outside the locker room may not have given the Green and White a chance, but there was no doubt what the goal of Saturday was to come out with the a victory.

“The plan was to win the game today,” UND coach Bubba Schweigert said. “We’ll find some positives, but the plan is execute for 60 minutes. We had a chance to close out the game and get a win, but we didn’t do that today.”

While the loss stings, the Green and White made a statement on Saturday night showing the rest of the conference that this is a defensively solid football team, by holding a team that averages 27 points a game to just 18 and to only 42 rushing yards.

They went against one of the giants of the Big Sky conference and not only competed, but played well enough to win.

A loss is still a loss, though.

“It hurt — that was a game we definitely gave away for sure, that was a number sixth or seventh ranked team in the nation and we just outplayed them for an entire game,” Mollberg said. “But you know, we’re going to hold onto that and were going to keep moving forward.”

Homecoming will be that next chance to move forward.

UND will face off against 2-3 Portland State this Saturday for its Homecoming game.

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