5 things you might've missed in UND's 34-10 win over Western Illinois
Oct. 24—1. Belquist has career day
UND sophomore wide receiver Bo Belquist broke the 100-yard receiving mark for the first time in his career with eight catches for 142 yards and a touchdown in the 34-10 win Saturday against Western Illinois at the Alerus Center.
Belquist, a shifty New Rockford, N.D., native, caught eight passes for the second week in a row. He's now caught a touchdown in four games this season.
It was UND's biggest receiving day since Garett Maag caught four passes for 151 yards last spring against WIU.
Belquist had a chance for an even bigger day, but his touchdown catch of about 35 yards was called back in the second half due to a penalty.
"He's just a gym rat," UND coach Bubba Schweigert said. "He watches a lot of football so he can run all different types of routes and plays and he makes people miss. He really did a lot of good things today. He's a coach's kid. He really gets into football. We can ask him to do different plays and he has a knack for running them."
2. End of half gaffe
UND went to halftime with a 17-10 lead but the Fighting Hawks squandered an opportunity late in the second quarter to add to the lead.
On third-and-2 from the WIU 9 with about 20 seconds left, UND ran the ball up the middle with Weah near first-down yardage.
Without any timeouts, UND appeared unsure what to do next and snapped the ball on fourth down with only a handful of players on both teams playing the down out.
UND quarterback Tommy Schuster was incomplete on a pass intended for Bo Belquist to turn the ball over on downs in the final seconds.
"I kind of lost it there," UND coach Bubba Schweigert said. "I had thought they'd signal fourth down. The referee said he signaled fourth down but I missed it. We had time to run our field goal team out there because the play was over with about 20 seconds left. We just have to do better, and I have to do better. We really wanted to run it for a yard and clock it. We expected to get it but I need to do better in that situation."
3. Wide receiver comings and goings
The Fighting Hawks saw two wide receivers return to the lineup in Garett Maag and Chrysten Cochran. Both receivers were injured in Week 1. Cochran has been sidelined since that game and Maag has been shutdown the past couple of weeks as he nurses a hamstring injury.
Against WIU, Cochran had two catches for 14 yards, while Maag played but didn't make a catch.
Jack Wright, an emerging target at wide receiver, was injured in the first half against the Leathernecks as he couldn't reel in a potential touchdown catch.
Wright was sidelined the remainder of the game. In addition to Wright's injury, UND played without wide receivers Marcus Preston and Tyler Burian.
4. Red zone woes
Despite the 600-plus yards of total offense, UND struggled to punch drives into the end zone. The Hawks twice kicked field goals of 23 yards or less and also came up empty in the red zone before the end of the first half.
UND finished 4-for-7 in red-zone scoring chances.
"Plays sometimes don't work," UND's Bo Belquist said. "We have our red zone plays. Sometimes they don't work. But we're not going to go away from plays that have worked in the past. So I think it just wasn't our day in the red zone."
5. Caleb Nelson shines in limiting WIU
Western Illinois wide receivers Dennis Houston and Tony Tate are of two of the most dangerous weapons in the Missouri Valley Football Conference.
UND limited Houston to seven catches for 61 yards, while Tate had six grabs for 71 yards.
Fighting Hawks cornerback Caleb Nelson has drawn the assignment of covering talented wide receivers this fall and continues to hold up in coverage.
He had three tackles and two pass breakups against WIU.
"He seemed to run with Houston really well today," Schweigert said. "We had high expectations for him when he came here as a freshman, but geez, he was 17 years old. Now, he's 19 and that makes a difference. He'll keep getting better. He has a really good personality for corner. He can run with those big guys and go up and get the ball. We're going to keep working at him to improve but he's given us a big lift at corner."
