North Dakota Capitalizes on Bobcat Mistakes to Top MSU 16-12

Saturday, October 26

Grand Forks, ND

11 a.m. MT

Montana State University

5-3 , 2-2

North Dakota

5-3

1st

2nd

3rd

4th

Montana State

North Dakota

DeMareus Hosey

Photo by: Garrett Becker

North Dakota Capitalizes on Bobcat Mistakes to Top MSU 16-12

10/26/2019 8:49:00 PM | Football

Box Score

Late blocked punt provides UND winning margin

By: Bill Lamberty

GRAND FORKS, North Dakota – On a day when both defenses held the opposing offense in check, North Dakota made two kicking game plays that proved the difference in the Fighting Hawks' 16-12 win over Montana State in Grand Forks on Saturday.

After a punt pinned the Bobcats at their own one-yard line, North Dakota blocked and recovered an MSU punt in the end zone with 4:21 remaining to seal UND's win. "Obviously those two special teams plays at the end were extremely impactful. Not fielding that punt and it rolling down inside the one yard line, our inability to move the ball out of there, and then punting on a short field and having that thing blocked, that's the difference of the game in terms of scoring."

On the ensuing drive, which began with 4:21 to play, the Cats gained an initial first down but were forced into a fourth-and-18 with a sack and a penalty and were unable to convert. UND ran out the game's final 61 seconds.

Montana State captured a 12-10 lead with eight minutes remaining after Troy Andersen rumbled 49 yards to the Fighting Hawks one-yard line, then plowed the remaining yard for the first Bobcat touchdown of the day. A two-point conversion failed, but Montana State held the lead and on the next drive forced the UND punt that ended up at the MSU one-yard line.

While the final five minutes proved conclusive, Choate wasn't ready to lay the blame entirely on that handful of plays. "I always go back to other plays that occur during the course of the game," he said, "and one that stands out to me is not converting after that first long run that (Demareus) Hosey had, and settling for a field goal in that situation instead of a touchdown."

The Bobcats struggled to run the ball early, gaining just 89 yards on 20 carries in the first half. One run by Hosey, a 48-yarder to the UND nine-yard line, set up a Bobcat field goal on the team's second drive. The Fighting Hawks answered with a touchdown drive, with running back Brock Boltmann finding Travis Toivonen on a 36-yard gimmick play to give the home team the lead.

The Fighting Hawks appeared poised to expand the lead, but Jahque Alleyne forced a fumble on the back end of a 12-yard run by North Dakota's Dalton Gee to snuff that drive. North Dakota's next drive advanced to the Bobcat 26, but Marcus Ferriter stuffed a Nate Ketteringham run on fourth-and-one to give MSU the ball. The Cats pieced together along drive to close the first half, and Tristan Bailey nailed a 39-yard field goal to draw MSU within 7-6 at the intermission.

Both teams gained 316 yards on the afternoon, but went about it in different ways. UND rushed for only 60 yards, but Ketteringham threw for 256 on an efficient 28-for-37 effort. MSU threw for 97 yards, 20 of them coming in pop passes from Travis Jonsen to Lane Sumner, but the Cats wore down North Dakota's run defense. Montana State rushed for 130 yards on 19 carries (6.8 yards per carry) after halftime. Hosey gained 76 yards, the most of his young career, while Andersen rushed for 64 and Rovig 27.

Choate credited North Dakota's defense for slowing the Bobcat run game early. "They're packing the box, they know we're a run-first team," he said. "I thought they did a nice job (with) their D-line movement, and they did a nice job of blitzing our formation at times. They were keying in on our H-back and bringing some overload pressures to that. That created some issues at first. We did get some tears in the sheet and create some explosive runs. We just needed to back that up with converting on third downs, especially in the fourth quarter."

While he didn't have a clean look at it, Choate said the decisive blocked punt was a byproduct of circumstance. "Obviously when you're in that situation you don't have the normal depth that you do, and obviously you've got to be hyper-sensitive to that. Timing was probably a bit of a factor in that."

Montana State falls to 5-3 overall, 2-2 in the Big Sky Conference in spite of playing a team that's no longer in the league. North Dakota is also 5-3. The Bobcats host Southern Utah next Saturday in Bobcat Stadium at 12 noon.

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