POCATELLO — Head coach Cody Hawkins said his offense linemen “played their nuts off” in a season-opening, hard-fought loss to Oregon State. Idaho State University linemen shined again when the Bengals beat Western Oregon last week.

On Saturday, the University of North Dakota defense had its way with that unit — at least in the first half. The result was a 52-28 drubbing at the hands of the Fighting Hawks (2-1)

Senior quarterback Kobe Tracy spent much of his time on the field in Grand Forks scrambling for his life. He was sacked just twice but seemed to be on his back after every pass attempt.

Making matters far worse for the Bengals (1-2), Tracy was stripped both times he was brought down, and both fumbles were recovered by the Fighting Hawks. And after one of the hits he endured, Tracy suffered an injury serious enough to send him to the bench temporarily.

Jackson Sharman came in for two snaps, hading the first off. His lone pass attempt of the game was made across the field, from the left hash to the right sideline. As is often the case, that pass was picked and returned for UND a defensive touchdown.

ISU’s struggles were not contained to the offensive side of the ball. After forcing a three-and-out on their first effort, the Bengal defense struggled to even slow the Fighting Hawks, who scored on three consecutive possessions — not including the pick-six — and jumped out to a 38-0 lead.

Down huge, Hawkins went to the more mobile quarterback, Hunter Hays.

Tracy had completed just six of his 18 pass attempts for 72 yards, and Sharman did not see the field again. Wide receiver Adam Watts attempted one throw on a reverse pass — completing it for 15 yards.

Hays, though, ignited the offense with both his legs and arm.

He completed 18 of 23 attempts for 206 yards and four touchdowns, adding 62 rushing yards.

While Tracy struggled under the pressure of a collapsing pocket, Hays seemed to relish it. Things do seem to loosen up on both sides when the score is what it was, however, so Hays may have benefitted from that a bit as well.

Regardless of the situation, Hays’ ability to lead the offense to four scores added respectability to the final score.

Wide receiver Jeff Weimer hauled in six catches for 92 yards and two scores — including a perfectly thrown 30-yarder from Hays that dropped perfectly into Weimer’s hands to beat a declined defensive pass interference penalty.

North Dakota was paced by senior wideout Bo Belquist, who set a school Division I career receptions record en route to a eight-catch, 165-yard performance. He added a touchdown, the Fighting Hawks’ last of the day.

UND improved to 46-12 all-time in the Potato Bowl. ISU last won the rivalry game in 2018.

BISMARCK — North Dakotans may feel like there are a lot of ballot measures to vote on in the general election, but recent history shows that the amount is not out of the ordinary.

The deadline to put measures on the general election ballot was July 8, meaning the ballot is finalized. Voters will decide whether to pass or fail five measures on Nov. 5.

Three are constitutional — put on the ballot by the North Dakota Legislature — while the other two were initiated by citizens. They need 50% plus one vote to pass.

Absentee ballots are available beginning Sept. 26.

The last time North Dakota had this many ballot measures in an election was for the 2016 general election, Secretary of State Michael Howe said. During that election, legislators put two on the ballot, while three came from citizens, he noted.

The most North Dakota has had since the turn of the millennium was 2014 with eight measures, with four each from the Legislature and citizens, Howe said. According to a list showing measures for elections dating back to 1889, the year North Dakota became a state, the most measures residents voted on was in the 1938 primary election with 13 questions.

The most in a general election was 10 in 1918.

It’s unclear why there are so many measures this election, compared to two each in the 2020 and 2022 general elections, Howe said.

“If you’re trying to find a pattern there, there really isn’t one,” he said. “Why are there more questions this time around then, say, the 2022 general election, where there were only two, I don’t know. I don’t have an answer for that.”

Compared to other states, North Dakota has a light ballot for the general election. Colorado voters will have to decide on 14 questions, the most of any state for November. Arizona has 13 measures, California has 10 and New Mexico has eight.

Minnesota has one.

If there is an anomaly in the data, it was 2020 during the coronavirus pandemic, when there were only two measures, Howe said. Both questions were from the Legislature.

North Dakotans had two measures in 2022 as well, one each from lawmakers and citizens.

It’s also hard to find a pattern that could conclusively show how the election will turn out with multiple ballots. In 2012, voters approved all but one of the five measures on the ballot. They reversed course in 2014, when they rejected all but one of the eight. In 2016, all but one of the five measures passed.

In 2008, two of the four measures passed.

North Dakotans do their homework and research when it comes to voting on measures, Howe said. They take the time to educate themselves so they know how to vote, he said.

“The citizens of North Dakota take these things seriously,” Howe said.

The Secretary of State’s Office website has the full text of each measure, official ballot language, an analysis of how the question will change North Dakota law and fiscal impacts at

sos.nd.gov/elections/voter/ballot-measures/measures-ballot

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Measure 1:

A Constitutional question that would change outdated terminology that describes public institutions in North Dakota. That would include changing the “school for the deaf and dumb of North Dakota” to the “school for the deaf and hard of hearing,” the “state hospital for the insane” to a “state hospital for the care of individuals with mental illness,” the “institution for the feebleminded” to a “facility for individuals with developmental disabilities,” and the “state hospital for the mentally ill” to a “state hospital for the care of individuals with mental illness.”

Measure 2:

A Constitutional measure that would require initiated measures to be limited to one subject, measure sponsors and petition circulators to be qualified electors and petition signers to provide a complete residential address. The number of signatures needed to get a measure on the ballot would increase to 5% of the state population.

Measure 3:

A Constitutional measure that would decrease the amount of principal that the state could spend from the Legacy fund.

Measure 4:

An initiated measure that would eliminate property taxes.

Measure 5:

An initiated measure that would legalize marijuana use, production and sales by anyone at least 21 years old.

I recently read a blog by Kent Nerburn, author of the trilogy Neither Wolf Nor Dog, The Wolf at Twilight, and The Girl Who Sang to the Buffalo, most of which are set in North and South Dakota.

Nerburn is a northern Minnesota author who was not initially impressed with North Dakota. He described it as “endless miles of boredom.” But then he went on to say that the Dakotas began to whisper to him, and he found himself being “pulled magnetically into the vast openness of the plains and prairies to the west.” So his next book, Long Dog Road, will be set, in his words, “in the land that had so touched my spirit and fired my imagination.”

Sound familiar? For many, be they native North Dakotans, transplants, or those just passing through, it often takes some time to warm to the wide-open spaces of the North Dakota landscape.

Although there is a lot of crop land, I suspect that for many people, the wide-open expanses of prairie are a large part of what calls people to love and appreciation of the landscape. Looking out over those vast expanses of prairie can be humbling. But those large tracts of prairie are getting harder to find. There are, however, still places in the state where one can look across the landscape and see largely unobstructed prairie with few if any trees or signs of modern human occupation.

John Madson described the prairie well in his book, Where the Sky Began: Land of the Tallgrass Prairie:

“A man could stand in a small grove of virgin white pine of the same size and feel that he was in primeval forest. Not so with prairie. To the average man, a scrap of native prairie is just a shaggy weed patch between cornfields. Prairie must have sweep and perspective to look like prairie. It is more than native grasses and forbs: it is native sky, and native horizons that stretch the eye and the mind. To be good prairie, really good prairie, it must embrace the horizons.”

So, as you travel about the state, take a little more time to more closely observe and appreciate the unique aspects of the North Dakota prairie landscape. It may touch your spirit and fire your imagination, as well.