UND starts poor, then piles on points against Murray State

Oct. 3—GRAND FORKS — Perhaps as expected, UND quarterback Jerry Kaminski spent the fourth quarter Saturday afternoon wearing a headset and signaling plays to his backup quarterbacks.

How the Fighting Hawks arrived at this scene, however — completely unexpected.

No. 5 UND let Murray State score the first 21 points of the game before answering with 55 unanswered points en route to a 55-28 victory over the Racers on homecoming in front of 10,985 at the Alerus Center.

With UND looking lifeless early, Kaminski ignited the rally with his arm and legs. He finished with a career-high 98 rushing yards and 186 passing yards, plus a combined four touchdowns.

Kaminski, who hasn't thrown an interception in the last three games, now has 19 touchdowns this season to two interceptions.

"There wasn't ever a splinter of doubt going through my head," said UND linebacker Ethan Boll, a Crookston native. "I have so much confidence in what Jerry and his group can do. It was 'So what? Now what?' I was just thinking we have to find a way to get off the field and get the ball back in Jerry's hands."

UND's offense could share the blame in the bad start, though. UND's first three possessions included a Charles Langama fumble, a Kaminski fumble and a three-and-out.

The two turnovers and a three-and-out resulted in a Tyrell Campbell 8-yard touchdown run, a Mykell Allen 2-yard touchdown run and another Allen 2-yard touchdown run.

With about 12 minutes left in the first half, the Racers led the Fighting Hawks 21-0.

"There's never doubt and not looking at guys with fear in their eyes," Kaminski said. "The offense put the defense in tough situations. We never lost confidence in the defense. We know they're going to bounce back. Guys were confident on the sideline."

The comeback started on UND's next drive. After picking up a fourth down thanks to a pass interference call on a deep ball from Kaminski to Korey Tai, UND scored on the next play. Kaminski found tight end Nathan Hromadka for a 26-yard score to cut the lead to 21-7.

After a Murray State three-and-out, UND needed four plays to trim the lead again. Kaminski ran in from 38 yards out, utilizing a stop-and-start shake around the 10-yard line to deke out a defender and cut the lead to 21-14.

The Hawks tied the game quickly, too. After a three-and-out thanks to a Braden Mohr sack and a Boll third-down stuff, UND's Cameron Weir took a punt 57 yards to a touchdown.

"Cam's return flipped the whole game," Kaminski said. "He comes to work every day and puts his head down and doesn't complain. He's came alive the last couple weeks. We knew that was going to happen right from spring ball. He's super dynamic. When you get the ball in his hands, you expect good things."

Despite trailing 21-0 with 11:55 left in the first half, UND went to halftime with the lead after a Kenten Laughman 22-yard field goal in the final seconds of the half.

UND then scored on all four drives of the third quarter. After stopping Murray State on fourth down in Racer territory, UND countered with a 3-yard touchdown pass to Grand Forks Central product Tray Kuntz.

Moments later, Weir scored his second touchdown of the game — a 17-yard pass from Kaminski to make it 38-21. On Murray State's next play, the Racers fumbled. UND's ensuing play was a 26-yard Langama run for a touchdown and a 45-21 lead.

"Obviously, not a good start for us," UND head coach Eric Schmidt said. "Credit Murray State coming in and giving us a problem defensively. Took us until we could get off the field with our guys a bit to talk about adjustments. We have to do a better job emphasizing holding onto the football. Defensively, we have to respond better and force field goals. The overall demeanor on the team was we had some confidence yet, even though it was 21 points. I thought Jerry's series where we put it on him to get to 21-7 ... after that, we had our footing and got our ball back to our offense."

The Fighting Hawks improved to 5-1 and 2-0 in the Missouri Valley. UND travels to Northern Iowa next week. The Panthers were on bye this week and are coming off an upset of Illinois State last weekend.