North Dakota

The three keys for UND football against North Dakota State

Published

2 months ago

November 3, 2025

The three keys for UND football against North Dakota State

GRAND FORKS — A Top 15 matchup in the FCS will play out in the Alerus Center on Saturday when the Fighting Hawks host North Dakota State for the first time since winning the rivalry matchup in the Alerus Center in 2023.

The No. 13 Fighting Hawks and No. 1 Bison kick off at 1 p.m.

Here are three key factors in the matchup.

The UND and NDSU special teams units are trending in opposite directions, and the Fighting Hawks need to address the situation quickly.

UND hasn’t had its starting kicker for the past three weeks, but the Hawks’ special teams woes don’t even start there.

UND has had a punt blocked in consecutive weeks against Indiana State and South Dakota.

After giving up a safety on the punt block, UND also gave up a long kick return, which set the stage for a 9-0 Coyotes advantage to start the game.

NDSU, meanwhile, saw Jackson Williams return a kickoff for a touchdown in a tight win over Youngstown State on Saturday. The Bison also took advantage of a Penguins fumble on a kickoff.

Special teams were a key part of UND’s win over NDSU in 2023, with Luke Skokna returning the opening kickoff for a touchdown.

“I think that’s a huge emphasis for us, and we’ve done some really good things on special teams this year, so to have that happen was really disappointing,” UND head coach Eric Schmidt said. “(NDSU) does a great job in the return game. I think they have an elite returner. He does it a lot of different ways, breaking tackles, hitting it downhill.

“I think they’re really, really sound covering kicks, too. We know we have our work cut out for us. Field position is really important in these games if you can make teams have to go 75-80 yards. It becomes hard to be able to do that.”

UND’s defense has struggled with the running ability of North Dakota State’s quarterbacks in the Division I era, particularly in the Fargodome.

In last year’s game, Cole Payton ran for 47 yards against UND and Cam Miller for 39 more.

Payton now has the full reins of the offense in 2025 and has proven effective in both the run and pass game.

Payton has 640 rushing yards this year with 10 touchdowns and three games of more than 100 yards rushing.

“He’s a load,” Schmidt said. “He does a great job, not just with his arm, but I think he’s been really accurate this year and made some really timely plays, doing a good job of distributing the ball out to their playmakers … just really not taking losses, being able to break tackles and scramble around.

“He’s a big kid that moves well, so he definitely presents some challenges. I think he’s the biggest, most physical QB that we’ve played up to this point.”

3. Jerry Kaminski bouncing back

UND quarterback Jerry Kaminski entered last Saturday’s game against South Dakota with 22 touchdowns to two interceptions on the season.

Kaminski struggled as much as he has all season in a loss to the Coyotes, finishing with two interceptions and no touchdown passes.

UND offensive coordinator Isaac Fruechte is confident in his sophomore quarterback’s ability to bounce back.

“He’s really strong mentally,” Fruechte said. “I love what he has to say after the game. He and I are two peas in a pod sometimes. Hard on ourselves, to a fault sometimes.

“I talked to him (Sunday) and on the bus Saturday coming back. You have to stay positive and can’t let external factors affect your current play. Don’t make the hero play, make the right play. I think that showed up a little where he felt he needed to press and make a play. On the other side, our guys need to make a play for him. He can help himself by trusting his protection and trust what I’m teaching him. Love his response. He wants to get right back in the film room and talk about it. I expect him to rebound really, really well as we move forward. You’re going to have mistakes — you’re human. I call bad plays at times. I did on Saturday. We were still over 50 percent on third down and about 400 yards of total offense. We just need to be more consistent and take care of the football.”

Miller has covered sports at the Grand Forks Herald since 2004 and was the state sportswriter of the year in 2019 (NSMA, NDAPSSA), 2022 (NSMA, NDAPSSA) and 2024 (NDAPSSA).

His primary beat is UND football but also reports on a variety of UND sports and local preps.

He can be reached at (701) 780-1121, tmiller@gfherald.com or on Twitter at @tommillergf.

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North Dakota

Bankruptcies for North Dakota and western Minnesota published Jan. 10, 2026

Published

39 minutes ago

January 10, 2026

Press Room

Filed in U.S. Bankruptcy Court

North Dakota

Kaitlyn Grace Lucier, Fargo, Chapter 7

Samuel Todd Hicks, formerly known as Thomas Samuel Hicks, Fargo, Chapter 7

Teresa and Dominik Renwick, Fargo, Chapter 13

Susan Renee Fuller, formerly known as Susan R. Schaffer, doing business as Susie’s Sparkling Cleaning Service, Fargo, Chapter 7

Shannon Lynn Taylor, Fargo, Chapter 7

Jesse Patrick and Jaime Elizabeth Brown, Williston, Chapter 7

Kerri Lee Weishaar, Minot, Chapter 7

Terry Marie Moritz, Valley City, Chapter 7

Joshua Allen Sewill, Hatton, Chapter 7

Bryan Eugene Flecker, Minot, Chapter 7

Anna Marie Rahm, formerly known as Anna Marie Tanner, and Joshua Edward Rahm, Bismarck, Chapter 13

Sherri Rae Fisher, Baldwin, Chapter 13

Heather Lynn McElroy, formerly known as Heather Anderson, Grand Forks, Chapter 7

Kaitlyn Autrey, Grand Forks, Chapter 7

Michelle Lynn Miller, Fargo, Chapter 13

Kimberly Georgeann Callahan, Fargo, Chapter 13

Erin Elaine and Jose Luiz Murphy, Bismarck, Chapter 7

Shelly and Kieth Quimby, St. Thomas, Chapter 7

Minnesota

Bankruptcy filings from the following counties: Becker, Clay, Douglas, Grant, Hubbard, Mahnomen, Norman, Otter Tail, Polk, Traverse, Wadena and Wilkin.

David Howard Gilpin, Osakis, Chapter 7

Timothy Virgil Hoag, Moorhead, Chapter 7

Jason Darryl Dykhoff, Ottertail, Chapter 7

Zachary Nicholas Hodgson and Jolynn Beth Warnes, formerly known as Jolynn Beth Hodgson, Kensington, Chapter 7

Riley Matthew Hinman, Alexandria, Chapter 7

Layne Christopher Condiff, Park Rapids, Chapter 13

Thomas Beecher Hoyer, Menahga, Chapter 13

Christine Karen Jakubek, also known as Cristine Anderson, Chapter 7

Chapter 7 is a petition to liquidate assets and discharge debts.

Chapter 11 is a petition for protection from creditors and to reorganize.

Chapter 12 is a petition for family farmers to reorganize.

Chapter 13 is a petition for wage earners to readjust debts.

Our newsroom occasionally reports stories under a byline of “staff.” Often, the “staff” byline is used when rewriting basic news briefs that originate from official sources, such as a city press release about a road closure, and which require little or no reporting. At times, this byline is used when a news story includes numerous authors or when the story is formed by aggregating previously reported news from various sources. If outside sources are used, it is noted within the story.

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North Dakota

Hoeven, Armstrong, Traynor speak on OBBB Rural Health Transformation Fund updates in ND

Published

13 hours ago

January 10, 2026

Press Room

Hoeven, Armstrong, Traynor speak on OBBB Rural Health Transformation Fund updates in ND

BISMARCK, N.D. (KFYR) – On Friday, North Dakota U.S. Senator John Hoeven, Governor Kelly Armstrong and Health and Human Services Commissioner Pat Traynor explained how the state plans to use millions of dollars from the Big Beautiful Bill’s Rural Health Transformation Fund to transform healthcare across the state.

They spoke extensively about the special session to allocate the funds, and confirmed that it is still tentatively set for Jan. 21.

The Big Beautiful Bill allocated $25 billion for rural healthcare nationwide. North Dakota received $500 million for five years and $200 million for the first year. There is still another $25 billion left to be spent, and North Dakota is hoping to receive an extra $500 million.

“I truly believe that with the plan we’re putting in place and the things we built that line up with that, we’ll get a billion dollars over five years,” said Hoeven.

Federal rules require the state to lock in contracts for the money by October first— a deadline officials say is driving the need for a special session.

In the first year, North Dakota will focus on retention grants to keep existing staff, technical assistance and consultants for rural hospitals, as well as telehealth equipment and home patient monitoring.

A KFYR+ exclusive

Governor Armstrong says the special session will include policy bills tied to how much federal rural health funding the state can earn.

“We’re going to have a physical fitness test for physical education courses, nutrition education, continuing education requirement for physicians, physician assistant licensure compact—which North Dakota has been doing, dealing with that since the heart of the oil boom and moving forward—and then an expanded scope of practice for pharmacists,” said Armstrong.

Hundreds of millions of dollars could reshape healthcare in rural North Dakota, and state leaders say the next few weeks are key to receiving and spending that money wisely.

The governor says he only wants to focus on bills related to the Rural Health Transformation Program during the special session and doesn’t intend to deal with other state issues during that time.

Politicians outline plans for ND Rural Health Transformation Program

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North Dakota

North Dakota officials celebrate being among big winners in federal rural health funding

Published

1 day ago

January 9, 2026

Press Room

North Dakota officials celebrate being among big winners in federal rural health funding

North Dakota U.S. Sen. John Hoeven and Gov. Kelly Armstrong on Friday touted the success of the state’s application for federal Rural Health Transformation Program funding, which landed one of the largest per-capita awards in the nation.

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