CEDAR FALLS, Iowa — A week ago, the UND football program shed the in-state rivalry hurdle, dominating North Dakota State in Grand Forks and providing Fighting Hawks fans hope they were ushering in a new era.
On Saturday, UND faced a different hurdle that has plagued the program in recent years: Replicating what happens in the Alerus Center on the road.
On this front, the Hawks fell completely flat.
No. 11 UND trailed Northern Iowa by three scores at halftime and showed little signs of life the rest of the way in a 27-0 loss to the Panthers in the UNI-Dome.
“That’s the next step for our program … playing better on the road,” UND coach Bubba Schweigert said. “We know that. The answer is making plays and getting momentum. It’s a difficult thing against a talented team. We didn’t get off to a good start to get that momentum.”
UND is 3-9 on the road in the Missouri Valley Football Conference since joining the league in the 2020-21 season. In that same time, the Hawks are 12-2 in the Alerus with the only losses coming to that season’s FCS national champion.
“It’s tough,” UND linebacker Ted Mullin said. “We have to find ways to elevate our game and our standards. Winning on the road is tough. You have to bring your own energy. You can’t let swings of the game on the road affect you, and I think we did today. Playing catch-up is tough against a good football team. It’s not letting the crowd affect you, not letting travel affect you. We have to be a tough football team. If we want to be the team we want to be, we have to win on the road.”
UND, which scored 35 or more points four times this season and scored 49 against NDSU last Saturday, was shutout for the first time since 2014 at Missouri State — the first season under Schweigert.
“We had a good plan in, but we couldn’t execute,” UND wide receiver Bo Belquist said. “It was just a stagnant day. Couldn’t get going.”
UND quarterback Tommy Schuster fumbled on UND’s first series as he slipped trying to avoid a defender. His day didn’t get much better, as he was sacked four times and also threw an interception for the first time all season.
UND, which was 21-for-21 in the red zone over the last five games entering this weekend, went 0-for-2 in the red zone against Northern Iowa.
Fighting Hawks kicker CJ Elrichs, who hadn’t attempted a field goal all season, missed a 34-yard attempt in the second quarter and UND couldn’t punch in a score in the fourth quarter in the red zone after Red Wilson dropped a Schuster pass in the back of the end zone on second-and-goal from the 8.
UND, making its first trip to Cedar Falls since upsetting the Panthers as a Division II program in 2006, now has back-to-back games against teams in the bottom half of the MVFC standings. UND hosts Indiana State, then travels to Murray State.
“We really needed to get off to a good start, and we had a good drive going but then an unforced turnover gave them some life,” Schweigert said. “We never seemed to recover from that in the first half. Too many negative plays and not enough explosive plays.”
