UND’s stanch defense looks in the mirror this weekend against No. 16 Portland State

UND quaterback Keaton Studsrud ready to fire a pass in last week’s win against UC Davis. Phot by Nick Nelson/ The Dakota Student

UND’s football team has continued to show signs of growth and maturity early on in the season, traits that became evident after a their response to what could have been a demoralizing loss to NDSU.

Last Saturday, the Green and White rebounded from the hard loss by righting the ship against Big Sky Conference program UC Davis, 31-24. While the argument can be made that the Aggies are an inferior team, amplified by the fact they have yet to win a game, good teams are supposed to beat the bad ones and that is exactly what UND did.

UND now has a bit of momentum heading into this week’s Big Sky bout with Portland State, something that the Green and White are going to need.

The Vikings will be one of UND’s toughest opponents of the young season. PSU is ranked 16th in the FCS and blown out opponents such as Idaho State and Western Oregon 65-14, en route to an undefeated start to the season.

“I’m very impressed with them as a team,” UND coach Schweigert said. “They are very active. They have good tacklers in space. They play really hard up front, but we think their secondary really contributes on defense.”

For UND, this Portland State squad is going to look awfully familiar. The Vikings pride themselves on clamping down on the run and being the most physical defensive team, a similar scheme as the Green and White.

Overall, the top two defenses in the Big Sky Conference will be meeting on Saturday in Portland. Where UND leads the Big Sky in run defense at limiting opposing offenses to 62.4 yards a game, Portland State is right behind them, letting up 64 yards a game. Where Portland State leads in scoring defense, keeping opponents to 10.3 points a game, UND is third, letting up 22.2 points a game.

The similarities do not stop there, as both teams pride themselves with running the ball but not exactly from the same position.

Portland State’s leading rusher is actually their quarterback. Alex Kuresa can run the ball as well as he can sling it. The BYU transfer has rushed 48 times, amassing an impressive 211 yards and what’s more is that the junior quarterback has run for more touchdowns, two, than he has thrown for, one.

On the Green and White sideline, UND will once again continue to put the ball in John Santiago’s hands. The true freshman had a resurgence against UC Davis last week, as he looked like the player that thrashed Wyoming in Week One. Santiago rushed 19 times for 152 yards, good for 8.0 yards a carry and two touchdowns. The running back was equally impressive on the last drive of the game, where UND needed to run out the clock to secure the victory. He showed maturity beyond his years as he calmly waited for holes to open and bruise his way to first down after first down. Santiago’s efforts did not go unnoticed as he won STATS FCS Freshman of the Week for his efforts.

“He ran the ball well. He was really patient by waiting for the play to develop and when he got into open space,” Schweigert said. “You know he is illusive and he was able to do that and he really fought for some tough yards at the end of some runs and protected the ball, so it was a really good performance by him.”

The Green and White will need Santiago and the rest of the offense in order to compete with Portland State. The line is cliche, but this is going to be a game that is determined by the defensive and offensive lines of both teams.The UND offensive line has had a lot of problems thus far into the year but stepped up in a big way against the Aggies last week. They will need a similar effort in order to create running lanes for Santiago and a stable pocket for quarterback Keaton Studsrud in order to succeed against the stanch Vikings defensive front.

This battle of the defenses and run games will be a good measuring stick for both teams as the two compete for bragging rights and positioning in the Big Sky. UND faces off against Portland State this Saturday in Portland, Ore. at 4:00 p.m.

Alex Stadnik is the sports editor for The Dakota Student. He can be reached at [email protected]