Aug. 31—GRAND FORKS — UND football coach Eric Schmidt held his weekly press conference Monday at Memorial Village after the Fighting Hawks' 42-21 season-opening win over Long Island University.
UND, ranked No. 8 in Monday's Stats Perform FCS Top 25, plays Pioneer League member St. Thomas at 3 p.m. Saturday in the Potato Bowl at the Alerus Center.
Here are five things to know from Monday's press conference.
UND's season opener was over at halftime with the Hawks holding a 42-0 lead. UND quarterback Jerry Kaminski and many UND standouts on both sides of the ball sat out the entire second half, which was lackluster for the Hawks.
"The young players getting out there ... those are data points now that we have," Schmidt said. "The good part is it wasn't five or six plays for a lot of those guys. They played the most of anybody else. Our backups played more than the starters.
"For us, we talk about the standard being the standard. There's a goal and expectation every week that you're going to go out there and perform your job and do it at a high level. We want to see what that consistency factor looks like. It's easy to do it one time. Can you do it week in and week out? Can you do it for an entire season? The best teams there are probably close to 25 to 30 guys that are the core group they're counting on. We need to grow that on our football team right now. That's got to get better here from Week 1 to Week 2."
One of the reasons UND's offense didn't build on the lead was a lack of explosive plays on the ground.
UND ran 46 times for 168 yards against LIU for an average of 3.7 yards per carry. UND's longest carry was a 13-yard run for Charles Langama.
"I think it's something that we feel like we need to improve on here," Schmidt said. "I think just getting targeted right, the communication before the ball is snapped, and then just being able to believe in the guy next to you, belief in the call and executing. I think there should be an entry wound and an exit wound when you're trying to block someday.
"It's not just our offensive line. We challenged those guys, but it's our tight end group, too. We want to be able to do a good job there of making sure that we can secure the edges."
Schmidt extended the challenge to the running backs, who were led by Langama's 51 yards and Matt Lawson's 46 yards and two touchdowns.
"Those guys have got to be able to hug gaps and have a plan as far as how to beat second-level defenders to be able to turn good runs into explosive runs," Schmidt said. "Making it second-and-4 and second-and-3 ... that to me is even more important. If you get those, eventually you're going to start getting some of the 13, 14, 20, 25's."
UND defensive backs Jonnie Wiltshire and Avery Scott, who are in the process of challenging the NCAA's eligibility rules for this season, are expected to be able to play against St. Thomas.
Wiltshire and Scott have both received temporary restraining orders from the in-state court system, which has provided the ability to play in games until a preliminary injunction hearing can be held.
Schmidt indicated Wiltshire and Scott would be eligible through the next two games before a possible hearing takes place.
Wiltshire had an interception against Long Island.
UND safety Jy Martin was on the sidelines but not dressed for the Long Island game. Martin, who had his eligibility course altered when the Wisne vs. NCAA case was appealed during training camp, is pursuing an in-state process, Schmidt said last week.
UND's kicking game struggled against Long Island in the place-kicking debut of punter Luke Silvernale, who went 4-for-5 on extra points and missed his only field-goal attempt from 37 yards out in the third quarter.
Schmidt indicated the starting kicking roles remain a competition.
"We've got to do a better job kicking extra points and kicking field goals," he said. "That's something I think (Silvernale) and Kenten (Laughman) ... we already started with kind of resetting things there and making that a competition. I thought Luke got a little bit spooked out there. He punted the ball exceptionally well with two punts over 50 yards. He just didn't feel comfortable kicking the ball. That was the first time really I felt that way about him. He's been pretty solid here the last three weeks of training camp. That's something we're going to continue to monitor. We'll see how the guys battle throughout the week and make a decision late in the week."
UND didn't suffer any new injuries against Long Island, Schmidt said, but he noted a few players may return to the lineup after sitting out the opener.
Tight end Aidan Behymer, wide receiver Kristen Hoskins and wide receiver Vucuri Hakim were mentioned Monday as possible to return to the lineup against St. Thomas.
"(Monday) is a big recovery day for us with our recovery team, then this afternoon we'll sit down and see where they're at," Schmidt said. "We think we'll get a few guys back here, especially on offense."
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