North Dakota football tops the University of Northern Colorado with run game

The numbers continued to pile up for the University of Northern Colorado football team Saturday afternoon — albeit on the wrong side of the ledger.

First and foremost, the Bears dropped their second straight game, 48-38, to North Dakota at the Alerus Center before a crowd of 10,234 fans.

The loss drops the Bears to 1-2 in Big Sky Conference action and 2-3 overall. UND snaps a three-game losing streak and is 1-2 in BSC action, 2-4 overall.

Now, for the rest of the story:

» The UNC defense had its moments but failed in its attempt to stop the run as the Fighting Hawks rambled for 314 yards on their way to 362 of total offense.

» The Bears failed to score in the fourth quarter after laboring to a 38-38 tie after three quarters.

» UNC's running game finished with a measly 18 yards, albeit three sacks didn't help.

» The Bears were unable to stop UND's fourth-down chances — they were 3 for 3.

» UND possessed the ball for 14 minutes, 46 seconds longer than the Bears.

"We are not playing good enough football right now the way we need to on both sides of the ball," UNC coach Earnest Collins Jr. said in a new release. "It comes to all sides of the coaches and the players."

What made matters worse, UNC quarterback Jacob Knipp re-injured his sprained left shoulder and missed the second half.

Twenty-four straight points by the Bears went for naught.

Both teams scored in spurts, starting with the Fighting Hawks, who put up 21 straight points in the first half on touchdown runs of 5 and 4 yards by Travis Toivnen and James Johannesson, respectively, and a 21-yard scoring pass from Keaton Studsrud to Alex Cloyd.

The Bears answered with four straight scores, two the result of UND fumbles as Bears players Luke Nelson and Marshaun Cameron made huge hits to cause the fumbles.

Kicker Collin Root hit a 46-yard field goal, followed by a fumble recovery return by Khairi Bailey, a 1-yard run by Anthony Daivs and a 10-yard run by Trae Riek.

Other than a 7-play, 61-yard drive directed by backup quarterback Conor Regan that resulted with a 9-yard touchdown pass to Hakeem Deggs to tie the score at 38, UNC played catch-up.

UND finished the scoring with a 5-yard run by Travis Toivonen with two minutes left to ice the victory.

"We have to take this bye week and have some serious gut checks," Collins said. "We have to look at ourselves in the mirror and see what the heck is going on with this football team or it's not going to be a very good ending."

All week, UND coach Bubba Schweigert stressed the importance of snapping the Fighting Hawks' losing streak and felt Saturday's victory was exactly what they needed.

"We really needed that one," Schweigert said in a news release. "Our guys needed a positive result, and I was really proud of our team for the way we battled, especially in the second half."

UNC's 14 third-quarter points gave them late momentum and the lead at 31-28 on Riek's scoring run.

"We lost a big lead and things were not looking very good for us," Schweigert said. "We lost a lot of momentum, but our guys came back. We ran the football, found ways to get off the field and make some plays to seal the win down the stretch."

Added Collins: "We have to go figure it out, and figure it out quick. We're 1-2 in the conference and we have to get this ship righted."

UNC 7 17 14 0 — 38

UND 14 14 10 10 — 48

First quarter

UND — Keaton Studsrud 41 run (Reid Taubenheim kick). 8:57. Drive: 4 plays, 50 yards, 1:21. UND 7, UNC 0

UNC — Theron Verna 80 pass from Jacob Knipp (Collin Root kick). 7:51. Drive: 3 plays, 75 yards, 1:01. UND 7, UNC 7.

UND — Travis Toivonen 5 run (Taubenheim kick). :10. Drive: 12 plays, 75 yards, 7:41. UND 14, UNC 7.

Second quarter

UND — Alex Cloyd 21 pass from Studsrud (Taubenheim kick). 13:34. Drive: 1 play, 21 yards, :07. UND 21, UNC 7.

UND — James Johannesson 4 run (Taubenheim kick). 7:17. Drive: 8 plays, 77 yards, 3:33. UND 28, UNC 7.

UNC — Collin Root 46 field goal. 5:06 left to play. Drive: 7 plays, 23 yards, 2:00. UND 28, UNC 10.

UNC — Khairi Bailey 25 fumble recovery (Root kick). 3:04. UND 28, UNC 17.

UNC — Anthony Davis 1 run (Root kick). 1:56. Drive: 3 plays, 22 yards, :57. UND 28, UNC 24.

Third quarter

UNC — Riek 10 run (root kick). 13:30. Drive: 5 plays, 66 yards, 1:25. UNC 31, UND 28.

UND — Taubenheim 30 field goal. 10:30. Drive: 7 plays, 62 yards, 3:00. UND 31, UNC 31.

UND — John Santiago 2 run (Taubenheim kick). 6:42. Drive: 5 plays, 72 yards, 1:43. UND 38, UNC 31. UNC — Hakeem Deggs 9 pass from Conor Regan (Root kick). 3:40. Drive: 7 plays, 61 yads, 2:58.

Fourth quarter

UND — Taubenheim 19 field goal. 13:40. Drive: 10 plays, 71 yards, 4:54.

UND — Travis Toivonen 5 run (Taubenheim kick). 2:00. Drive: 7 plays, 70 yards, 4:06.

Team statistics

UNC UND

First downs 16 26

Rushes-yards 22-18 52-314

Passing 313 248

Comp-Att-Int 19-36-2 17-23-1

Total offense 331 562

Offensive plays 58 75

Avg./Play 5.7 7.5

Sacked-yards lost 2-3 3-19

Punts-Avg. 5-35.8 2-42.5

Fumbles-lost 1-0 3-2

Penalties-yards 6-50 7-82

Third-down conv 6-13 6-14

Fourth-down conv 0-0 3-3

Red zone 3-4 6-7

Time of poss 22:53 34:07

Individual leaders

Rushing — UNC: Trae Riek 10-29, Ellis Onic II 1-22, Conor Regan 2-8, Anthony Davis 4-1. Jacob Knipp 2 -(19). UND: Brady Oliveira 18=-109, Keaton Studsrud 10-97, John Santiago 15-70.

Passing — UNC: Knipp 11-17-1-198, Regan 8-19-1-118. UND: Studsrud 17-23-1-248.

Receiving — UNC: Theron Verna 4-91, Alex Wesley 4-80, Frank Stephens 4-17. UND: Alex Cloyd 2-58, Noah Wanzek 5-54, Izzy Adeoti 2-47.

Punting — UNC: Keifer Glau 5-179-35.8 long of 46. UND: Austin Dussold 2-85-42.5, long of 43.

Punt returns — UNC: None. UND: None.

Kickoff returns — UNC: Hakeen Deggs 3-54, Onic 3-59, Anthony Davis 1-4, Verna 1-2. UND: Torrey Hunt 3-64, Santiago 1-20.

Interceptions — UNC: Michael Walker 1-0. UND: Chuck Flowers 1-0, Cam Hunt 1-0.

Sacks — UNC: Luke Nelson 1-3, Tank Terrell 0.5-0, Keenan Leary 0.5-0. UND: Jade Lawrence 1.5-0, Hayden Blubaugh 1.5-0.

Tackles — UNC: Stone Kane 11, Nelson 10, Henry Stelzner 10, Marshaun Cameron 9, Sherand Boyd Jr. 8. UND: Blubaugh 6, Jake Rastas 6, Charlie Flowers 5.