Kolpack: After 18 years, NDSU vs. UND lives up to a game of rivalry

The rivalry is back, sort of. What happened on Saturday afternoon at the Alerus Center was the bloodbath games of the state of North Dakota and old North Dakota.

The only thing missing was some sort of one-coin trophy for the winning team, in this case the Bison, to take to the field.

In the first game between the two teams at Grand Forks in 18 years, the NDSU left the building with a 16-10 victory that ended with the last two goods. That’s what this game in the state needed after three convincing wins at Fargo: 34-9 in 2015, 38-7 in 2019 and 34-13 last spring.

In all three cases, the Bison dominated. It was different in the UND house. It sounded like a rivalry.

Ultimately.

“It was about as much fun of a game as I remember playing,” said Bison senior linebacker Jackson Hankey. “It was fun. The place was packed. They were loud. It created a really fun atmosphere.

It created a noisy atmosphere. NDSU has performed in very important places like Iowa, Iowa State, Minnesota, Kansas State and Montana. But the Bison offense has never seemed so intimidated by the crowd as it did against the Fighting Hawks.

There were times when the UND blitz packages seemed to have 14 players defending.

“It was harder than I thought,” Bison quarterback Quincy Patterson said of the environment. “We were preparing for the noise, but we couldn’t prepare for what it was. We had to clean up communication with the offensive line.

The Alerus was not Fargodome Jr. when it comes to decibel levels. It was equal to some of those playoff vibes that NDSU brought to the FCS from 2011. It’s the 12,846-person covered stadium effect whose voices bounce off a metal roof and metal cladding. .

The UND fans brought the heat and it was evident in the NDSU series of plays.

The Bison looked disjointed.

Running back Dominic Gonnella was injured in the first game. He returned later. Patterson missed a low snap on the second game. NDSU was called for illegal move and faced a third and 13.

Patterson landed a perfect 32-yard shot to tight end Noah Gindorff and NDSU was out of a hole. It was the best offensive game of the afternoon for either team.

It was old school football.

It was rivalry football.

“Great environment for football, harsh environment for us,” said NDSU security Dawson Weber. “We hugged him and loved the opportunity.”

Weber had the game’s only turnover, an interception late in the third quarter with UND setting the end zone. He kept NDSU ahead 9-7. If the Bison are dropping points before the fourth quarter, Fighting Hawks fans may have lost their minds shouting the Bison offensive in the fourth quarter.

“It was nothing I have ever experienced before,” said UND linebacker Devon Krzanowski. “The crowd was electric. It was the best atmosphere I have ever played in.

Before you all get nostalgic and think that this game will turn into the heated debates of yesteryear, note that Division I FCS football is a different era. This game is big in this condition, it’s true. But the Missouri Valley Football Conference offers more good programming than the old North Central Conference.

There is a danger in making this game the end of all regular season games. NDSU has northern Iowa next weekend. It has been a heated brawl for a decade.

UND is playing in South Dakota, playing well this year. There’s the state of South Dakota, which looks like a national title contender, and an enhanced Missouri state program and so on.

Hankey, for his part, isn’t about to return to his hometown of Park River, North Dakota and put a bison flag on the town sign. Like many communities, there are fans on both sides of the aisles and in this game players on both teams.

“I’m definitely not going to go and throw it in anyone’s face,” he said. “They have Park River kids on this team and I’m delighted to see them play the rest of their careers.”

For fans of this series, it must be exciting to see a game like this.

This is what rivalries are made of. After 18 years, it’s back.