UND Football’s Early Surge Lifts Them To First FCS Playoff Win

The Fighting Hawks scored a season-high 44 points in Saturday's 1st round win over Missouri State

GRAND FORKS, ND (KVRR) – The Fighting Hawks scored on their first four drives of the game against Missouri State in their 1st round showdown, beating them 44-10. This was a Bears defense that hadn’t allowed 30 or more points once this year and had the. But in UND’s first game in over a month, the 2nd best scoring offense in the Missouri Valley put up their highest point total in six games so far this spring and that after a month hiatus. The Green and White outgained their counterparts, 364 yards to 185. Winning their first FCS playoff game was a motivator heading in according to Bubba Schweigert.

“This was a challenge for us,” he said. “A lot of practices without competing. I just feel like those guys have really handled it well. It’s brought us together and made us a close group. Excited for them that they got to experience this and be a part of it that only one team gets to be the first one to do it and to earn our first Division 1 playoff victory is pretty special.”

“That was a really big motivation for us,” said Garett Maag. “We kept mentioning all week that we hadn’t won a Division 1 playoff game.”

They visit James Madison next week in the FCS quarterfinals.