The North Dakota Fighting Hawks did not start their year off on a good note after dropping their first two games of the season. Now they are looking at taking home a Big Sky championship with the way they’ve been playing the last 8 weeks, all of which have ended in victories. Now NAU has had time to collect themselves as well, and might be able to have something to say about where the Big Sky title ends up at the end of the season.
Scoring Early and Often
Last week the Lumberjacks were able to take home another win with a 33 – 20 victory over Weber State. The win gave Jerome Souers the all-time Big Sky record for wins and it was due in large part to the consistency of the offense getting into scoring drives. Of the 33 points the team scored, 15 of those points came off the foot of kicker Griffin Roehler as he kicked four field goals and three PATs to help secure the win. Thus far the Lumberjacks have really hit a groove in finding ways to put points on the board with the offense finally coming together and getting at least some kind of points on almost every drive. Blake Kemp, who will be the quarterback for the rest of the season as Case Cookus was ruled out for the year last week, scored two touchdowns of his own through the air while Kendyl Taylor scored a touchdown on the ground as the number 2 running back on the depth chart. Finding scorers like that on every drive helps put pressure on the opposing team, which has been something that NAU has had a knack for this year.
Like A Pack of Crazed Dogs
The NAU defense has channeled a true Lawrence Taylor-like attitude with the amount of plays they get after in the backfield for losses. NAU has the lead in sacks now in the Big Sky at 24 and they have been able to time the snaps just perfectly the last few weeks with the amount of plays they have stuffed for losses on the play. Jake Thomas has led the way as the senior linebacker on the team with his team-high 67 tackles made this season and he added to that total well last week with the 11 tackles he made throughout the game against Weber State. As a team though, the Jacks hit Weber State ball carriers in the backfield 9 times for almost 20 yards lost. If the duo of John Santiago and Brady Oliveira break free out of the running back positions it could spell trouble for NAU so they will have to continue to dominate the line of scrimmage. If they can keep Santiago and Oliveira bottled up, that extra pressure they can get on the quarterback could spell trouble for the Fighting Hawks.
The Immovable Object
North Dakota this year has been a brick wall for many an offense this year when it comes to running the football. They have only given up 890 yards rushing throughout the season thus far. While NAU likes to rely more on their passing game they will have to at least keep the Fighting Hawks honest with a run here or there. The question will be if Taylor or Joe Logan will be capable of finding at least a small crevice here or there as holes will likely not be popping up against the North Dakota defense. If they can average at the very least three yards or so per carry then Kemp will be working with short yardage situations most of the game and rely on his playmakers in Emmanuel Butler and Elijah Marks to make big catches and get the ball down the field whether it be on deep throws or shifty yards after the catch. Spreading the defense out early might help with that, so it will be interesting to see how NAU goes after this top tier defense.
The game will kick off from Grand Forks, ND at 12:00 PM on the Midco Sports Network this Saturday.