UND football Week 9 primer: How to watch, injuries and matchups with Abilene Christian
Oct. 29—GRAND FORKS — The UND football team looks to regroup Saturday at 3 p.m. against Abilene Christian following the Fighting Hawks' second-half collapse last Saturday in a rare home loss to No. 1 South Dakota State.
UND lost for just the second time at home in 19 tries against the Jackrabbits.
The Wildcats, 5-2 overall and 2-0 in the Western Athletic Conference, present a scary, unfamiliar opponent for a UND team without much remaining wiggle room for a potential playoff berth.
This matchup will be the fourth time the Wildcats have played indoors in their 101-year history. The other indoor games came in 1977 NAIA national championship at the Kingdome in Seattle; 1989 and 1995 at the Northern Arizona Walkup Skydome; and 2014 against Georgia State at the Georgia Dome in Atlanta.
UND has had one of the toughest schedules in the FCS in 2022 and ACU will be the seventh-straight week of the Hawks playing someone receiving votes in at least one of the major polls.
Here are the quick details of this week's game.
Kickoff: 3 p.m.
Where: Alerus Center.
TV: Midco Sports, Brian Shawn play-by-play, Andre Fields analyst.
Radio: 96.1 FM (Jack Michaels on play-by-play, Tom Dosch analyst, Paul Ralston sidelines)
Streaming: ESPN-Plus
Injuries: UND has started to collect some injuries the past few weeks, most notably linebacker Caden White last week against SDSU. White is out for the year. Wide receiver Marcus Preston has been out the past few weeks with an injury, as well, and is questionable for the ACU game. Running back Luke Skokna practiced this week for the first time since mid-August but spent the week on the practice squad, so UND appears to be taking a slow approach to his recovery.
The Fighting Hawks need to get a turnover. UND lost the turnover battled 3-0 to SDSU last week and that was a major difference in the end result. But more glaringly, UND hasn't had an interception since Week 3 against Northern Arizona and hasn't had a fumble recovery since Week 1 against Nebraska. UND's four takeaways on the year ranks UND No. 121 (out of 123) in that category nationally. The Hawks' defense needs to put pressure on ACU quarterback Maverick McIvor, who has thrown for 1,270 yards, eight touchdowns and five interceptions. The Wildcats haven't played indoors since 2014 and UND's crowd, which might be light with the UND hockey game in Vegas this weekend, needs to make a different.
The Wildcats need to force UND's defensive backs to make tackles in space. UND's secondary is inexperienced and the Texas-based program from the WAC should have the playmakers to test the Hawks' back end. ACU is averaging 400.4 yards of total offense, so the offense should have a chance to pick up yards against a UND defense that is allowing 33.3 points per game compared to ACU's defense giving up 19.6 points per game.
