$3.00 (Suggested retail price) Copyright 2022 The Forum NORTH DAKOTA STATE SATURDAY, NOVEMBER 19, 2022 NORTH DAKOTA BISON GAME DAY Presents ► When: 2:30 p.m., Gate City Bank Field, Fargodome ► TV: WDAY (ABC) ► Radio: 1660-AM, 107.9-FM
UND junior Tommy Schuster keeps getting better, one of the hottest hands in the FCS last three games
PROBABLE STARTERS
An NDSU roster tainted by injuries will put all the pressure on Bison kicker Griffin Crosa who will need to have a big day NDSU 20 UND 17
S C H E D U L E
Saturday Western Illinois at Illinois State 11 a m (ESPN+) Southern Illinois at Youngstown State 11 a m (ESPN3) Missouri State at Indiana State, noon (ESPN+) Northern Iowa at South Dakota, 1 p m (Midco, ESPN+) North Dakota at North Dakota State, 2:30 p m (ND ABC WDAY+ ESPN+)
Thinking about a new JOB?
M E D I A B L I T Z
10-11 a m : Bison Gameday pregame show with Dom Izzo, Kyle
Emanuel Logan Campbell and Jeff Kolpack on North Dakota statewide ABC network (WDAY-Fargo WDAZ-Grand Forks KBMY-Bismarck and Dickinson KMCY-Williston and Minot)
2:15 p m : Gate City Bison Social Media Flow on InForum com
After game: Gate City Media Blog Postgame Show with Mike McFeely and Eric Peterson on InForum com FCS Bracketology show with Dom Izzo and Jeff Kolpack on InForum com
BISON GAME DAY BISON Kaczor RUSHING No Yds Avg Long TD Hunter Luepke TaMerik Williams Kobe Johnson Dominic Gonnella 621 476 393 257 6 3 7 6 6 1 7 1 47 38 47 27 9 6 3 1 PASSING Comp Att Yds Int TD Cam Miller 162 1299 2 10
FIGHTING HAWKS RUSHING No Yds Avg Long Tyler Hoosman Isaiah Smith Red Wilson 149 56 22 810 330 145 5 4 5 9 6 6 55 63 45 12 3 1 PASSING Comp Att Yds Int TD Tommy Schuster 217 303 2393 5 16 BISON OFFENSE Pos No Name Ht Wt Yr WR LT LG C RG RT TE WR FB RB QB 0 70 66 77 63 74 82 9 49 22 7 Zach Mathis Cody Mauch Nash Jensen Brandon Westberg Jake Kubas Grey Zabel Joe Stoffel DJ Hart Hunter Brozio TaMerik Williams Cam Miller 6-6 6-6 6-4 6-4 6-4 6-6 6-3 5-11 5-11 6-1 6-1 205 303 329 286 304 290 245 191 230 229 208 Sr Sr Sr Jr Sr Jr Jr Jr Jr Sr Jr BISON DEFENSE Pos No Name Ht Wt Yr DE DT NG DE OLB MLB OLB CB SS 99 91 58 90 26 47 20 6 25 Spencer Waege Will Mostaert Javier Derritt Tony Pierce James Kaczor Luke Weerts Julian Wlodarczyk Destin Talbert Michael Tutsie 6-5 6-2 6-1 6-1 6-0 6-1 6-3 6-0 5-11 282 260 279 242 215 218 207 187 189 Sr Jr Jr Sr Sr Jr Sr Sr Sr These NDSU-UND games rarely get into a shootout so I m taking the better defensive team in the fourth quarter especially at home NDSU 19 UND 13 The Bison are banged up after back-to-back road games but a return to the Fargodome and a strong running game is enough to hold off the Fighting Hawks NDSU 24 UND 17 Zabel Schuster Belquist RUNNING BACKS RECEIVERS UND's Bo Belquist is tied for first in the Missouri Valley in receptions per game averaging 5 43 OFFENSIVE LINE M A T C H U P S P R E D I C T I O N S GAME DAY BREAKDOWN DEFENSIVE LINE The interior is not where Bison coaches would like yet but improvement noticeable of late LINEBACKERS The return of Cole Wisniewski seem to also have elevated the play of OLB James Kaczor in the past three game SECONDARY NDSU has picked off nine passes in seven conference games including fiv in the past two games Fighting Hawks ranked in top six in FCS in kickoff, punt returns and always a threat to block a punt SPECIAL TEAMS RECEIVING Rec Yds Avg Long TD Bo Belquist Garett Maag Isaiah Smith 57 33 22 688 452 292 12 1 13 7 13 3 47 38 50 6 4 3 98 63 64 35 S T A N D I N G S Sept 10 Sept 17 Sept 24 Oct 1 Oct 8 Oct 15 Oct 29 Nov 5 Nov 12 North Carolina A&T at Arizona at South Dakota Youngstown State at Indiana State South Dakota State Illinois State at Western Illinois at Southern Illinois T E A M S C H E D U L E S The Bison offensive line has dominated the four previous D1 matchups between these teams Without two starters can they do it again? UND s defense has been suspect this year watch for a big game from Zach Mathis NDSU 28, UND 21 Eric Peterson The Forum Record: 9-1 Logan Campbell WDAY-TV Record: 10-0 112 Dom Izzo WDAY-TV Record: 10-0 RECEIVING Rec Yds Avg Long TD Zach Mathis Joe Stoffel Hunter Luepke Braylon Henderson Jake Lippe 21 17 14 12 11 313 170 196 187 118 14 9 10 0 14 0 15 6 10 7 3 0 4 0 0 40 21 31 41 26
Games
Opp Date Opponent UND Sept 3 Sept 10 Sept 17 Sept 24 Oct 1 Oct 8 Oct 22 Oct 29 Nov 5 Nov 12 Nov 19 at Nebraska Northern Iowa at Northern Arizona at Southern Illinois Missouri State at Youngstown State South Dakota State Abilene Christian at Indiana State South Dakota at North Dakota State 38 27 24 34 31 30 49 31 7 19 17 29 27 17 48 35 35 34 42 28 Even without Luepke Bison have Williams and Johnson who would be No 1 back on most teams in FCS MISSOURI VALLEY FOOTBALL CONFERENCE Team Conf Overall S o u t h D a k o t a S t a t e N o r t h D a k o t a S t a t e N o r t h e r n D a k o t a Y o u n g s t o w n S t a t e N o r t h e r n I o w a S o u t h e r n I l l i n o i s I l l i n o i s S t a t e M i s s o u r i S t a t e S o u t h D a k o t a I n d i a n a S t a t e W e s t e r n I l l i n o i s 8-0 6-1 5-2 4-3 4-3 4-3 3-4 2-5 2-5 1-6 0-7 10-1 8-2 7-3 6-4 5-5 5-5 5-5 4-6 3-7 2-8 0-10 TD Losing Hunter Luepke limits Bison offense Hawks offense dangerous enough NDSU 24 UND 23
56 43 28 34 27 31 21 24 56 21 14 3 31 17 14 26 23 7 17 18
Mike McFeely The Forum Record: 10-0
Start here.
The legend of the fourth-quarter four fingers
By Jeff Kolpack The Forum
Fargo
The legacy that Buck Nystrom left with the North Dakota State football program was one of toughness and grit. He coached a position, offensive line, that is built on those traits in an era, the 1960s, that regarded three-a-day practices in August heat as a badge of honor.
There was no Gate City Bank Field at the Fargodome, no indoor football performance complex or artificial turf fields. This was grass, dirt and in the elements mud.
But behind the intense exterior of Nystrom was a mastermind of how to win the fourth quarter of football games. It was all about being prepared and as a signal to turn up the toughness meter, Nystrom had his players hold up four fingers after the third quarter horn.
It started with Darrell Mudra as the Bison head coach.
It’s a practice still being used to this day. When the horn to end the third quarter sounds between the University of North Dakota and North Dakota State on Saturday, and Bison players and staff hold up their four fingers, trace that to 1963-65 when Nystrom was at NDSU.
“Mudra was a big outside-the-box guy,” said Kyle Nystrom, Buck’s son. “That was the cutting edge of it. It wasn’t as refined yet.”
Behind the scenes in their approach was former NDSU head wrestling coach Bucky Maughan, whose background from bluecollar Pittsburgh lent itself to toughness, also.
“They were doing stuff in the racquetball courts with the kids, movement stuff,” Kyle said. “They were putting together the base foundation.”
Buck Nystrom refined the program after he left NDSU to take a position at the University of Oklahoma. It got tweaked over the years to the point that in 1983 at Michigan State, the staff was handed a 57-page manual on how to win the fourth quarter.
Broken down, it consisted of three different phases of movement circuits, with those chopped into different stations.
“I grew up watching it and doing it when I was young,” Kyle said. “He used to make me do it when I was at camps and stuff back when football camps were the whole week. It was a lot of football movement, body position, footwork change of direction, leverage. If you couldn’t move your hips and you couldn’t move your feet, you died in the thing. You have to accommodate it a little bit for the big boys, your power group of the D-line and O-line.” It wasn’t so much about strength training. Kyle, in a minor way, compares it to Navy SEAL training “because there’s a lot of mental barriers to get through.”
“You push the team, all they have is each other,” he said. “They learn to form that bond in that relationship
because the only ones they have out there are themselves. It’s a lot of learning how to be tougher, how to knock down barriers and doing it together because they’ll help each other.”
That 57-page manual, by the way, is not what NDSU exclusively uses in today’s training of its football players. On one page was an excerpt from a speech by former President Teddy Roosevelt, with one line reading: “If he fails, at least fails while daring greatly; so that his place shall never be with those cold and timid souls who know neither victory or defeat.”
When Bison players hold up their four fingers after the third quarter, it may mean something different than it did to Mudra and Buck Nystrom.
With Buck, they stood for discipline, commitment, motivation and effort. But the concept remains the same.
“There’s always been a level of physicality and a level of toughness that’s been preached since the ‘60s,” said Bison offensive coordinator Tyler Roehl. “A lot of those core principals have stayed the same through the course of time. The methods may change but the philosophy and
the type of people we desire to do it with probably hasn’t.”
NDSU head coach Matt Entz, a program history buff, was talking about it in August during fall camp. Former legendary trainer Denis Isrow was also part of starting the four fingers tradition. Entz appeared to get emotional during his speech at the grand opening of the Nodak Insurance Football Performance Complex in talking about Buck Nystrom.
“It initially started with more of the offseason conditioning program,” Entz said this week. “I think it stemmed from that and moved its way onto the football field. It never really was intended to indicate the fourth quarter, which it’s kind of grown into that, but
I think it had a number of other characteristics behind it.”
Roehl was a young Bison player, around 2005, when former head coach Craig Bohl got Buck Nystrom to talk to the team. He remembers Buck going through the four fingers of the program. It was 20 to 30 minutes of old school grit that made an impact on the players.
Roehl said the last point of emphasis from Buck was discipline, and all that went into it.
“You could tell the passion and conviction that he had for that theory, that philosophy,” Roehl said. “I think it gave you a little more understanding of what Bison pride was, especially for a young kid at the time. I want to be held more accountable, I want to give more to the program, I can do better, I can give more, I can invest more so, yeah, at the end of the day, potentially going to run through a brick wall.”
Buck Nystrom was ahead of his time in the strength and conditioning field. While at Michigan State, he went after some of the top minds in the country in the field and further got into how the Spartans were going to be the stronger and better conditioned team in the fourth quarter.
He moved the workout times to 6 a.m. over a nine-week period, a time of day
NDSU players for many years began strength and conditioning workouts in the winter and summer.
Buck Nystrom died a year ago last September in his hometown of Marquette, Mich., at the age of 88. On the whole, his stint at NDSU was just a fraction of what he did in the profession. He was part of national championships at NDSU in 1965, Oklahoma in 1968 and Northern Michigan in 1976.
“You have to have good coaches to run it, that’s the biggest thing,” Kyle Nystrom said. “I knew how to do all this stuff because I saw it, it was like brushing my teeth to me. You have to bust your butt as coaches and some people can’t handle it. He was smart about it. But if Buck saw you as a coach not doing it the right way, you got in trouble.”
Kyle Nystrom was a Bison assistant from 2006-08. He most recently was the head coach at Northern Michigan.
“It was run every offseason and you watch your freshmen, by the time they’re going into their third year, they’re a different person,” he said. “You can count on them and you can depend on them a lot more than you can when they’re younger.”
Readers can reach Forum reporter Jeff Kolpack at jkolpack@ forumcomm.com. Twitter@ KolpackInForum
month CD 2.85% APY*
month CD 3.35% APY* * Annual Percentage Yield (APY) as of 9/07/2022. Required opening and a minimum balance of $25,000.00. Penalties for early withdrawal may be imposed. ** Annual Percentage Yield ( APY) as of 9/07/2022. No minimum balance is required. FARGO, ND LOCATION 5195 45th St S. Fargo, ND 58104 • 701-293-3662 HATTON, ND LOCATION 415 7th St S. Hatton, ND 58243 • 701-543-3121 BISON GAME DAY NORTH DAKOTA AT NORTH DAKOTA STATE inforum.com the forum | Saturday, november 19, 2022 | SPORTS | AA3
7
13
David Samson / The Forum
NDSU players and staff signal the start of the fourth quarter in Terra Haute, Indiana.
Bison OL Grey Zabel proves invaluable with his versatility
By Jeff Kolpack and Eric Peterson The Forum Fargo
North Dakota State lost its second starter along the offensive line after right tackle Mason Miller suffered a season-ending injury against Southern Illinois last weekend. Senior center Jalen Sundell is out indefinitely after having foot surgery about a month ago.
The unit has continued to thrive, however, despite the key injuries as the Bison are rushing for 251.6 yards per game.
“I think the biggest thing is our guys have confidence in the next guy up,” said Bison offensive line coach Dan Larson. “They’ve all been around each other three, four, five years now so I think when the next guy goes in they don’t flinch.”
Junior Grey Zabel is set to start at right tackle at 2:30 p.m. Saturday against the University of North Dakota in Missouri Valley Football Conference play at Gate City Bank Field at the Fargodome. The 6-foot-6, 290-pound Zabel has been the team’s sixth extra offensive lineman this season and has played in formations in which the Bison use an extra linemen.
“Any position to help the team is my favorite position,” said Zabel, who has the ability to play all positions along the offensive line. His first career start came against UND during his true freshman season in the spring of 2021. He played guard in that game.
““It was definitely nerve wracking,” Zabel said of that first start. “It was really exciting. Any time you can start a game for NDSU it means a lot to you. I really
didn’t understand what it truly meant to be playing Bison football.”
Zabel made a start at left guard earlier this season against Youngstown State in place of senior Nash Jensen, who missed that game due to injury.
“He’s a guy that’s worked really hard at understanding what goes on at every position,” Larson said of Zabel. “I think that’s things he’s watched upperclassmen do throughout the course of the year. Whatever spot we
have to put him in, I wasn’t going to be too concerned about it.”
Junior Brandon Westberg has started the previous five games at center in place of Sundell. Senior left tackle Cody Mauch and senior right guard Jake Kubas have started every game this season at their respective positions.
Miller started every game at right tackle prior to his injury. Jensen has started at left guard for every game but one.
“That’s just the chemistry
in the room, leadership in the room, as well,” Zabel said.
“Nash Jensen, Cody Mauch, awesome leaders in the room.” Bison head coach Matt Entz said Zabel has been invaluable with his versatility.
“He might be the best sixth offensive lineman in the country,” Entz said. “I think he could start for a number of schools all over the place. That’s how special I think he is, especially with athleticism.”
Senior Week has different look to it
NDSU’s traditional “Senior Week” that concludes with the introductions of players in their last regular season home game at the dome has changed in the last couple of years because of the pandemic.
For one, a senior isn’t necessarily a senior anymore because of the extra year of eligibility. Safeties Dawson Weber and Michael Tutsie,
NOTEBOOK: Page AA5
can ’ t make the game in person ? Stream WDAY Sports + anytime, anywhere for just $9.99/month or $100 for the entire year! WDAY Sports + includes live & on-demand Bison games & ND high school sports! visit INFORUM.COM/WDAYSPORTSPLUS and start streaming today ! AA4 | SPORTS | Saturday, November 19, 2022 | the forum iNforum.com BISON GAME DAY NORTH DAKOTA AT NORTH DAKOTA STATE GAME DAY NOTEBOOK
David Samson / The Forum
The North Dakota State offensive line has performed well throughout this season, despite multiple injuries and being down two starters heading into the final game of the regular season against the University of North Dakota.
NOTEBOOK
From Page AA4
offensive linemen Cody Mauch, Luke LaCilento and Nash Jensen, linebacker
James Kaczor, fullback Hunter Luepke, running back TaMerik Williams, tight end Noah Gindorff and defensive end Spencer Waege are in their final year. In addition, running back Jalen Bussey and defensive back Anthony Coleman, both juniors, are graduating and playing in their last home game.
“It’s kind of unique,” Entz said. “We haven’t really had a full class that will graduate together since COVID happened. It’s always partial classes, people coming back and I think it hits more of the team because everyone’s kind of connected differently now.”
Seniors expected back next year are cornerback Jayden Price, linebacker Julian Wlodarczyk, offensive linemen Jalen Sundell and Jake Kubas, receiver Zach Mathis, running back Kobe Johnson and defensive ends
Jake Kava and Tony Pierce. Jensen sets record, gets all-star invite Jensen, by the way, who wears jersey No. 66, will play in his 66th career game, breaking the Bison career record of 65 games set last year by fellow offensive lineman Cordell Volson. Jensen redshirted in 2017, played on special teams in 2018 and started all but one game in the past four seasons, including the COVID-19 season that didn’t count toward his eligibility.
He also became the third NDSU player to receive a post-season all-star invitation. The NFLPA Collegiate Bowl Jan. 28 at the
2012 by the NFL Players Association.
“Can’t thank everyone enough who have been involved with my process in my career,” Jensen said on his personal Twitter account.
“Work isn’t done yet.”
play in the Senior Bowl in Mobile, Ala.
FCS showdowns on Saturday NDSU and UND isn’t the only hotly contested rivalry game in the FCS on Saturday, where playoff spots and
line. Perhaps the marquee matchup is happening in Bozeman, Mont., for the annual “Brawl of the Wild” game between 13th-ranked Montana and No. 3 Montana State. Adding spice to the day: ESPN’s “College GameDay” pregame show will be at MSU on a day when the forecasted high temperature is in the high 20s, but is expected to be colder for the 10 a.m. MDT start to the show.
It’s the second major matchup in the Big Sky Conference with No. 2-ranked Sacramento State hosting No. 24 UC Davis in the “Causeway Classic.” Sac State is gunning for an undefeated regular season while at 6-4, UC Davis could make a strong case for reaching the 24-team playoff field with a victory.
It will be the 121st meeting between the two schools. That’s 12 fewer than eighthranked William and Mary and No. 11 Richmond, who will be playing for the “Capital Cup” in Richmond. William & Mary, Richmond and New Hampshire are all 6-1 in the Colonial Athletic Association, with New Hampshire having a victory over Richmond. William & Mary and UNH don’t play each other.
In the Southern Conference, No. 9 Samford hosts No. 19 Mercer with Samford having the opportunity to further strengthen its resume at 9-1 overall with the only loss to the University of Georgia. Samford secured the SoCon title last weekend with a win at Chattanooga. Etc. etc. etc.
► UND has won the close games this year. The Fighting Hawks are 4-0 in games decided by a touchdown or less and has won six of the last seven one-score games.
► It will be the 115th meeting between the two schools, with UND holding a 62-49-3 lead dating back to 1894. The Bison are 4-0 in the Division I matchups that started in 2015 with three of those being staged at the Fargodome.
► It’s also the annual Harvest Bowl at NDSU and the Bison will be wearing their green helmets with the stalk of wheat stripe in the middle. NDSU is 42-2-2 in its previous 46 Harvest Bowl games. UND has never been a Harvest Bowl opponent.
► The Fighting Hawks are the least penalized team in the FCS averaging just 3.5 a game and 33.1 yards per game. The Bison tied a season low with 25 yards of penalties at Southern Illinois last week.
BISON GAME DAY NORTH DAKOTA AT NORTH DAKOTA STATE inforum.com the forum | Saturday, november 19, 2022 | SPORTS | AA5
Michael Vosburg / The Forum
North Dakota State’s Dawson Weber intercepts a Southern Illinois pass during their football game Saturday in Carbondale, Illinois.
David Samson / The Forum
NDSU offensive guard Nash Jensen (66) has been a fixture on the Bison offensive line throughout his career.
AA6 | Saturday, November 19, 2022 | the forum iNforum.com
