Portland State at North Dakota

[JALMOND]

Kickoff scheduled for 6pm CDT from Alerus Center in Grand Forks, ND. The Potato Bowl featuring Portland State and North Dakota. North Dakota last week dismantled new DII team, South Dakota Mines, 66-0, while Portland State was taking care of NAIA Carroll College, 38-20. Both games were costly for both teams as UND lost their transfer quarterback, Hansen, and PSU had their All-American kicker, Brown, knocked out on the first PAT attempt. Hansen will not play and Brown will most likely not play either (game time decision). This is the first game of the year featuring two Big Sky teams in the same game, but it is a non conference game due to the schedule irregularities this year. This is also the first time these two schools have met since they were both DII back in 1981. Weather is not a factor as the game is indoors.

Portland State play by play: www.freedom970.com

TV---MidCom TV is handling the play by play, showing the game live in North Dakota and Minnesota. Comcast Sports Northwest is picking up the feed and will show the game live in Oregon and Washington.

[JALMOND]

Couple quick scores so far

PSU---Monahan 62 yd TD catch from McDonough, PAT failed
UND---Hardin 66 yd TD catch from Hendrickson PAT good

11 mins left 1st

UND 7
PSU 6

[JALMOND]

Update:

PSU---Fernandez 36 yd FG good
UND---Hardin 26 yd TD catch from Hendrickson, PAT good
PSU---Monahan 38 yd TD catch from McDonagh, PAT good

14 mins left 2nd

PSU 16
UND 14

[JALMOND]

Halftime

UND 35
PSU 24

Been entertaining, sloppy at times. Hardin (UND) and Monahan (PSU) both having great games.

[JALMOND]

End 3rd

UND 45
PSU 24

McDonaugh 2 INT result in 10 UND points, including 50 yd FG.

[JALMOND]

Final score...

North Dakota 45
Portland State 37

[SDFS]

It was a fun game to watch - very impressed by PSU. You have a couple of weapons to work with in the QB, RB and Receiver. Good luck the rest of the season. I do think that PSU is going to be tough to beat.

[JALMOND]

It was a fun game to watch - very impressed by PSU. You have a couple of weapons to work with in the QB, RB and Receiver. Good luck the rest of the season. I do think that PSU is going to be tough to beat.

Our pass defense has been a concern for a long time now. Evidently it still is a problem. UND quarterback looked very poised out there for making his first start. Hardin is a fine stud receiver, very impressed with his effort.

[darell1976]

I just got back from the game. Wow UND's passing offense was great. Their defense needs a lot of work. Should be an interesting year.

[frozennorth]

Final score...

North Dakota 45
Portland State 37

I saw almost none of it. was planning to watch 1st half ndsu and und's second half, as i rightly expected the UND game to be contested a bit longer. Unfortunately customers (!!!!?) wanted to watch georgia/mizery

[Bison Fan in NW MN]

Where the offense's 'on' for this game or the defense's just got very good yesterday?

[darell1976]

From the University of North Dakota Football Facebook page:


No. 2 ... North Dakota wins a shootout - lots of FCS love in the @espn Top 10 plays of the day. http://instagr.am/p/PWEwvMNcK3/

Can't find a vid yet online.

[WeAreNorthDakota]

Where the offense's 'on' for this game or the defense's just got very good yesterday?

Little bit of both. PSU played great against the run but let UND's receivers, especially Hardin, get behind them all night. For UND it was kind of feast or famine. They made 7 or 8 great plays but gave up a ton of big plays both in the running game and passing game. One that particularly concerned me was a 30+ yard gain on a draw play when they were backed up to their 10ish and had a 2nd and 25. That's not a play I've seen a UND defense give up ever. It was also a very undisciplined game. I haven't seen an official stat but I'm guessing there were more than 200 yards in penalties combined.

Overall it was a fun game to watch. It's been a while since we've seen a UND team that can put up points like that. If the defense improves and plays like most people in Grand Forks think they can, I'm confident they can finish in the top 3 or 4 in the Big Sky.

[darell1976]

Little bit of both. PSU played great against the run but let UND's receivers, especially Hardin, get behind them all night. For UND it was kind of feast or famine. They made 7 or 8 great plays but gave up a ton of big plays both in the running game and passing game. One that particularly concerned me was a 30+ yard gain on a draw play when they were backed up to their 10ish and had a 2nd and 25. That's not a play I've seen a UND defense give up ever. It was also a very undisciplined game. I haven't seen an official stat but I'm guessing there were more than 200 yards in penalties combined.

Overall it was a fun game to watch. It's been a while since we've seen a UND team that can put up points like that. If the defense improves and plays like most people in Grand Forks think they can, I'm confident they can finish in the top 3 or 4 in the Big Sky.

I agree with your post. I was surprised that PSU could run against UND's defense, and for huge gains too. Lots of poor tackling for UND. Special teams did great with block kicks and good kick returns. No INT's was huge for Hendrickson. I just hope he can keep this up against the Aztecs so they don't feel like they have to hurry Hanson back. I would hate to rush him back only to have it re-break or have a worse injury. Now with an actual DI team against us we could see where our team lies unlike after the SDSoM's game. UND 111 points in two games....nice. 37 points against us on defense...not good.

[BigGoosie13]

From the University of North Dakota Football Facebook page:



Can't find a vid yet online.
I flipped that game on right when the catch was made......it was a nasty play, the receiver had to be 40 inches off the ground when he reached over or the catch.

[darell1976]

I flipped that game on right when the catch was made......it was a nasty play, the receiver had to be 40 inches off the ground when he reached over or the catch.

Unfortunately I was sitting on the other side of the field so I was just happy they ruled it a catch but when I saw the replay on the big screen...WOW!!!

[mmiller_34]

So Hendrickson threw 6 TDs and 0 INTs. When Braden Hanson gets healthy, who starts?

[WeAreNorthDakota]

So Hendrickson threw 6 TDs and 0 INTs. When Braden Hanson gets healthy, who starts?

I think it'll still be Hanson. Hendrickson looked good but hit a lot of simple throws. I think Hanson can make the more difficult throws while also taking advantage of the deep open recievers that Hendrickson saw yesterday. I'm glad Hendrickson showed us that we don't have to worry so much about QB depth but I like Hanson to take us through a majority of the season.

[JALMOND]

Little bit of both. PSU played great against the run but let UND's receivers, especially Hardin, get behind them all night. For UND it was kind of feast or famine. They made 7 or 8 great plays but gave up a ton of big plays both in the running game and passing game. One that particularly concerned me was a 30+ yard gain on a draw play when they were backed up to their 10ish and had a 2nd and 25. That's not a play I've seen a UND defense give up ever. It was also a very undisciplined game. I haven't seen an official stat but I'm guessing there were more than 200 yards in penalties combined.

Overall it was a fun game to watch. It's been a while since we've seen a UND team that can put up points like that. If the defense improves and plays like most people in Grand Forks think they can, I'm confident they can finish in the top 3 or 4 in the Big Sky.

Both defenses looked better in the second half. UND scored 10 points in the 3rd, none in the fourth. PSU scored none in the third and 13 in the fourth, scrambling to get back into it. The official stats did not tell the whole story on the penalties (yes, quite a bit) as most were offsetting and therefore resulted in a "do-over". I was not too surprised about us running on you, that is what the pistol is and understanding who is going to get the ball is the key. Our Maryland transfer, Adams, (#10) showed great speed. I was really impressed with him. He doesn't start yet because he is still learning the plays (as you saw, we use the no-huddle and it makes it difficult to go to him and say "you go here"). We have had problems with our pass defense for years now, however. You would think we could correct it, but that seems to be rather difficult.

It was a great game to watch. UND is really dangerous at home when the fans get into it.

[deez_na]

I think Hendrickson probably has a better arm than Hanson and is quite athletic. I don't know if i would start Hanson after how well Hendrickson showed he can play.

[UNDColorado]

We could have a QB battle on our hands in a couple weeks; good problem to have I suppose. This could get really interesting if he has a great showing against San Diego State this week.

NDSU looked great against CSU, they didn't have a chance.

[MplsBison]

Hendrickson is a Perham, MN boy. Hanson is some out of region transfer in.

Gotta go with the north central born and bred. He knows snow, below freezing and wind. xnodx

Hanson will be back to North Carolina by middle of May.