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.”

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.”