Bison football looks ahead to the Southern Utah game
While last week’s game against the Gophers may have been the equivalent of the Super Bowl for the Bison, they face a team standing in the way of another one of the team’s goals on Saturday. The Southern Utah Thunderbirds are one of NDSU’s Great West Football Conference opponents and will be looking to pick up its first win of the season on Saturday. Here’s the breakdown.
Quarterback
“Steamin’” Steve Walker has taken some pretty tough shots in the past few games and has been visibly slowed by some of the hits he has taken. Of course, looking at his numbers it appears that he hasn’t even been touched this year, completing 73.5 percent of his passes and throwing 13 touchdowns and averaging just over 200 yards per game passing.
Wes Marshall is the quarterback for the Thunderbirds and has struggled quite a bit this season, completing just 51 percent of his passes for 160 yards per game. He has also thrown 10 interceptions compared to just four touchdowns. As with pretty much every other quarterback the Bison have faced, he will also run the ball, averaging 47 yards per game on the ground.
Advantage: Bison
Running Back
The rushing attack for Southern Utah has not been overly effective this season, averaging just 124.4 yards per game as a team. Johnny Sanchez is the team’s leading rusher at just under 65 yards per game. Sanchez stands at 5’9” and weighs 195 pounds, which is an unusual combination and should provide a different look for the Bison defense.
Tyler Roehl had a well-publicized game last week, setting the school record for rushing yards in a game with 263. He has scored 14 touchdowns and averages an astounding 7.1 yards per carry. Pat Paschall has continued to improve his play and had a big game against the Gophers as well. Paschall and Pete Blincoe both average 5.8 yards per carry and make up one of, if not the best running back group in the country.
Advantage: Bison
Wide Receiver/Tight End
The receivers were largely absent from the offense last week, although they weren’t really needed. Big kudos go out to Thor Brown for catching his first career touchdown pass that gave the Bison the lead in the fourth quarter. Heckendorf hasn’t had a big game in a few weeks; look for him to insert himself a little bit more into the offense this Saturday.
Southern Utah possesses a couple of different weapons than the Gophers had, featuring a couple of smaller, faster receivers in Nick Miller and Craig Gritton. Jeremy Edwards has the height in this corps however, standing at 6’3” and could provide a mismatch for the Bison. Although nickelback Nate Agbetola proved that he can out-jump 6’5” Ernie Wheelwright, so maybe the height doesn’t matter much after all.
Advantage: Bison
Offensive Line
Opponents have sacked the Thunderbird quarterbacks 18 times so far this season and the team is averaging just 3.5 yards per carry on the ground.
The Bison have given up 11 sacks and average 5.7 yards per carry, and watching them tear apart the Gopher defensive front was amazingly dominating. Not even a question here.
Advantage: Bison
Defensive Line
The Bison defensive line has produced 11.5 sacks on the season, led by Joe Lardinois, Christon Dallas and Nick Compton with three. Those three defensive ends have all done a good job putting pressure on opposing quarterbacks. Matthew Gratzek, Mike Fairbairn and Michael Brown are a solid trio in the middle and do a good job at plugging up the running game.
Southern Utah’s defensive line has actually done a pretty good job this season, chalking up nine sacks on the season. They will probably have a tough time against the Bison offensive line, but if the Thunderbirds are going to be successful, this group is going to have to play their best game of the season.
Advantage: Bison
Linebackers
Rob Takeno, Robert Bala and TJ Tabatabai lead a solid SUU linebacking corps, with all four of them in the top four on the team in tackles. They have not done much in coverage this season, deflecting just two passes between the three of them. Look for the Bison to try to challenge them with Jerimiah Wurzbacher over the middle.
Joe Mays, Ramon Humber and Mike Maresh did a great job keeping the Gophers off balance with their blitzing and are a tough challenge for any team. Mays has 2.5 sacks and Humber has another two, while Maresh has two interceptions for this talented and balanced group.
Advantage: Bison
Secondary
Nate Agbetola picked up his first career interception in a huge spot against the Gophers Saturday, picking off Adam Weber in the fourth quarter that set up a Shawn Bibeau field goal and gave the Bison the final score of the game. Kyle Belmont and Nick Schommer are both heavy hitters at safety and David Earl and John Richardson have continued to get better at corner.
The Thunderbirds have picked off just three passes all season and only two of those are by secondary members. If Walker decides to, he could throw for 400 yards in this game pretty easily. Derrick Brown lead the bunch with 41 tackles and has also recovered two fumbles and recorded a safety.
Advantage: Bison
Special Teams
The Thunderbirds are just 3-7 on field goal attempts this season and have not made any inside of 45 yards, although Steve Pulver has made three longer than that, including a 52-yarder. Trevor Ward averages 38 yards per punt, while Nick Miller is an average returner both with punts and kicks.
Shamen Washington had a rough game against the Gophers but is still a big weapon for NDSU. Shawn Bibeau seems to make kicks against everyone except the Gophers, so he should be good this week. Mike Dragosavich pinned the Gophers inside the 20 twice, including one kick that went out of bounds at the four-yard line.
Advantage: Bison
Overview
If the Bison have any problems against the Thunderbirds, it will be because they don’t take SUU seriously. Coach Bohl has not let that happen to his team over the past few years and don’t expect that to happen this game either. The Bison should blow out the Thunderbirds handily inside the Fargodome.