South Dakota State gives UND worst home loss since 2013

GRAND FORKS — By the final moments of the fourth quarter Saturday, the typically noisy Alerus Center fell quiet before a loud chant from the corner visitors section broke out.

“Let’s go Rabbits,” the blue and yellow fans rang out.

Through the final three quarters, the South Dakota State faithful were the only ones with anything to cheer about.

No. 3 SDSU scored 28 points in the second quarter en route to a 38-7 win over No. 21 UND in the worst home loss in the Bubba Schweigert Era.

The Fighting Hawks dropped a third-straight game to fall to 5-5.

UND hadn’t lost at home this bad since Montana State beat UND 63-20 in 2013, the final season of former head coach Chris Mussman.

“We’re going to find out a lot about our team and individuals on our team right now,” UND coach Bubba Schweigert said. “We already talked about it in the locker room. We have to stay together. These are hard times. If we can use sports and teach life, this stuff is worth it.

“There’s going to be hard times in all of our individual’s lives. Harder times than losing football games. It doesn’t seem like it right now because we put a lot of time and effort in to preparing for games and we want to be successful. We’re going to find out a lot of our character. Our coaches have to do it, your players have to do it. I think when you really, really care about your guys and they care about you, I think they’ll stay together.”

UND entered the matchup with the Jacks 5-0 in the Alerus this year and 16-2 at home vs. the Missouri Valley Football Conference since joining the league in 2020. The only losses were 16-10 to North Dakota State in 2021 and 49-35 to SDSU in 2022. NDSU and SDSU went on to win national titles in those respective years.

All but forgotten by the end, UND actually got off to a decent start.

Running back Isaiah Smith, who finished with 87 yards on nine carries, scored on a 62-yard run to give the Hawks a 7-0 lead midway through the first quarter.

But the Jacks dominated from there.

SDSU wide receiver Griffin Wilde finished with five catches for 140 yards and three touchdowns. He caught touchdown passes of 25 and 39 yards in the second quarter.

Quarterback Mark Gronowski was comfortable in the pocket, finishing 11-for-19 for 193 yards. He wasn’t sacked.

The Jacks ran 43 times for 264 yards and picked just the right times to hit deep balls for Wilde, who frequently was able to beat UND’s last line of defense in the secondary.

“They have big formations, and when throw it deep, they kept in a lot to protect to make sure he has time,” Schweigert said. “It’s 1-on-1, so you have to hold up. They beat us in some 1-on-1 situations. Running the football sets up the entire offense.”

UND’s offense was limited after Smith’s breakout run. Quarterback Simon Romfo finished 16-for-23 for 124 yards with one interception and was sacked three times.

Romfo struggled to find time in the pocket and his longest pass of the day was 18 yards to tight end Quincy Vaughn.

Romfo also fumbled on a scramble in the second quarter with UND already trailing 24-7. Seven plays later, the Jacks scored on Amar Johnson’s 3-yard run for a 31-7 lead.

The Hawks also missed two field goals, including a 51-yard attempt with 34 seconds to halftime.

“We just have to make plays,” Smith said.