#9 WASHINGTON (0-1) vs NORTH DAKOTA (1-0)
SATURDAY, 2 PM
HUSKY STADIUM, SEATTLE
TV: PAC-12 NETWORK
RADIO: KOMO
LINE: None
The #9 Washington Huskies (0-1) will take the field this weekend with the leftover taste in their mouth of a loss last weekend on the road in Atlanta.
Washington has won 16 consecutive home, non-conference games, and entering this week they have the fortune of playing what most consider a “leser opponent”, but the visiting North Dakota Fighting Hawks will not be taken lightly by Chris Petersen and his group.
“I’m anxious to play these guys because it’s a completely new challenge”, Petersen told the media this week following practice, “They use a fullback — they use multiple tight ends — they’ve got three big wide receivers…I can wait to see our guys line up against this”.
North Dakota fields a very, very good running back duo in Brady Oliveira and John Santiago. The two tailbacks earned All-Big Sky honorees for the second consecutive season in 2017, while Santiago earned All-American accolades for the third consecutive year after averaging a Big Sky-best 6.0 yards per carry and leading the FCS with 1,780 all-purpose yards during the regular season.
Their quarterback, Nate Ketteringham, likes to distribute the ball too, so be on the lookout for junior wideout Noah Wanzek (6-4, 210) and sophomore wideout Travis Toivonen (6-4, 220).
The Hawks only field one senior on the o-line, however, and the rest are sophomores and redshirt freshmen.
“It’s going to be a fun experience for us,” North Dakota quarterback Nate Ketteringham said this week, “Coming here (to Washington), we kind of have a little bit different mindset. ‘We can win this one,’ that’s the kind of mindset we’ve got to have.”
Defensively, a couple guys to keep an eye on are 6-4, 257 lb. DE Mason Bennett, who led the defense with two ssacks and three tackles-for-loss against MVS, and senior DL, Austin Cieslak who recorded 1.5 sacks in the opener against Mississippi Valley State.
Washington will be (again) without offensive lineman, Trey Adams, but the Huskies still kept the Auburn defense on their toes last weekend with the help of junior, Jared Hilbers at left tackle.
“He’s taken a lot of reps for us and I thought he did a solid job for us in there”, Petersen said about the player of Hilbers against Auburn, “I’m anxious to watch his progression as we continue (to play)”.
Jake Browning is ready to return to the field, and the rest of the depth chart for Washington is intact from last weekend, barring Adams’ situation.
Watch those Stats
Last Saturday vs. Auburn, Myles Gaskin became the UW’s all-time leading rusher, moving past Napoleon Kaufman, who had held the record since 1994. Gaskin enters the UND game vs. 4,130 yards, 10th-most in Pac-12 history.
Jake Browning is four touchdowns away from the Pac-12’s all-time top-10. His 9,400 career passing yards currently rank number two in Husky history and number 21 in the Pac-12 .
Browning moved up six spots on the Pac-12 chart with 296 yards vs. Auburn.
More Game Notes
This will be the first time the UND Fighting Hawks have played at Husky Stadium, and also the first time they’ve played an FBS team ranked as high as Washington at number nine.
North Dakota is 1-9 against FBS teams, with just one win coming in their history against Wyoming.
Expect to see some Jake Haener in this game if the Dawgs pull out to a big lead. Haener has been a real comer in the spring and fall, and he’s been patiently backing up Browning.
Keys to the Win for Washington
Don’t shy away from flexing those muscles: Just because it’s “not cool” to go out and wallup a lesser opponent, the Huskies need to go get a W and get their swagger intact before heading on the road next week. North Dakota will need to reminded quickly of where their place is in the scheme of things and Washington needs to just ram it down their throat.
Stop the run: UND will try to keep the Husky defense in their toes with their running game. Washington will need to get the penetration up front, get into the backfield, and keep those run plays from developing.
Force UND’s offense to be zero-dimensional: There’s no reason the Husky defense can’t keep UND off the scoreboard. They could force them to be one-dimensional by stopping the run, but it would also be nice to some blitzes and swarming of the quarterback.
Offensively, Washington will need to clean things up in the redzone: While this isn’t a Pac-12 team, getting the “little details” ironed out now for Washington will be crucial before they open Pac-12 play next weekend in Utah.
Predictions
Washington takes no prisoners in this contest and gets rid of some pent-up frustration after last weekend.
Ruth Robbins: Washington 65 North Dakota 14
Kyle Walto’s Prediction: Washington 52 North Dakota 3
Tune into Realdawg.com Saturday following the game for a recap, analysis, photos, videos, and commentary from Coach Petersen.
