Author: Jim Dahl

UND’s offensive production began with 513 yards of offense in the season-opening 59-0 shutout of Humboldt State, and has only gone up from there. UND’s total yards of offense has increased each of the four games this season to a current average of 566 yards of offense per game.

Most Sioux fans already know about Chappell’s record-breaking rushing performance vs. Central Washington, but the splash the 2007 Sioux may soon make in the record books may surprise some.

Fallen individual game records

Record	Previous	New
Rushing yards	282, Phillip Moore vs. Augustana (1998)	306, Ryan Chappell vs. Central Washington (2007)

Regular season records at risk

Less than half way into the regular season, there are several single-season record tables with a 2007 Sioux already knocking on the door of entering the top ten:

Record	Player	First 4 games	Top ten	Top spot
Rushing TDs	Chappell	8	11	26
Rushing yds	Chappell	705	1043	1771
Receiving TDs	Dressler	5	8	11
Receiving yds	Dressler	514	676	1210
Passing TDs	Freund	13	15	23

Record Tables

SINGLE-SEASON RUSHING YARDS
1. Phillip Moore (1997) 1,771 	 
2. Phillip Moore (1998) 1,567 	 
3. Shannon Burnell (1991) 1,461 	 
4. Phillip Moore (1996) 1,283 	 
5. Shannon Burnell (1993) 1,224 	 
6. Bill Deutsch (1974) 	1,173 	 
7. Bill Deutsch (1975) 	1,169 	 
8. Milson Jones (1981) 	1,159 	 
9. Milson Jones (1980) 	1,117 	 
10. Shannon Burnell (1992) 1,043 	
 
SINGLE-SEASON RUSHING TOUCHDOWNS 	 
1. Mike Deutsch (1972) 	26 	 
2. Dale Kasowski (1975) 16 	 
3. Phillip Moore (1998) 15 	 
4. Phillip Moore (1997) 14 	 
Shannon Burnell (1991) 	14 	 
6. Phillip Moore (1995) 12 	 
Tom Biolo (1979) 12 	 
8. Jed Perkerewicz (2000) 11 	 
Shannon Burnell (1993) 	11 	 
Dale Kasowski (1973) 11 	 
Mark Bellmore (1971) 11 	 

SINGLE-SEASON TOUCHDOWN PASSES 	 
1. Kelby Klosterman (2001) 23 	 
2. John Bowenkamp (2003) 20 	 
3. Kelby Klosterman (2000) 19 	 
Tony Stein (1999) 19 	 
Corey Colehour (1966) 19 	 
6. Chris Belmore (2005) 18 	 
Kevin Klancher (1995) 18 	 
8. Jay Gustafson (1972) 17 	 
9. Chris Belmore (2004) 16 	 
10. Kevin Klancher (1997) 15 	 
Kevin Klancher (1996) 15 	 
Clay Wagner (1994) 15 	 
Kory Wahl (1992) 15 	 
Todd Kovash (1990) 15 	 
Jay Gustafson (1973) 15 	 

SINGLE-SEASON RECEIVING YARDS
Ron Gustafson (1973) 1,210
Jesse Smith (2002) 1,011
Dan Grossman (2005) 1,001
Mike Juhasz (1999) 895
Tracy Martin (1986) 874
Jeff McElroy (1995) 867
7. Willis Stattelman (2003) 792
8. Dan Graf (2001) 714
9. Jim Kleinsasser (1998) 710
10. Mark Poolman (1988) 676

SINGLE-SEASON TOUCHDOWN RECEPTIONS
1. Jeff McElroy (1995) 11
2. Ron Gustafson (1973) 10
3. Dan Graf (2001) 9
Mike Juhasz (1999) 9
Tracy Martin (1986) 9
Peter Porinsh (1966) 9
7. Weston Dressler (2005) 8
Luke Schleusner (2001) 8
Jeff McElroy (1994) 8
Josh Ostby (1994) 8

It’s Potato Bowl week! What’s that mean for Sioux fans?

Potato Bowl celebration
The Official Potato Bowl site contains a complete calendar of events. Here are some highlights:

• Monday, September 10: Hugo’s Hidden Medallion Contest Begins! Oops, this week-long contest ended after perennial G.F. hidden item contest winner, Jeff Barta, found it after only one clue.
• Thursday, September 13: World’s largest french fry feed! Sponsored by Simplot, stop by University Park at 5pm.
• Saturday, September 15: Potato Bowl Parade 9:30am, downtown.

A football game
UND’s final conference run in D-II, and the North Central Conference’s final football season, begins on September 15. Recent NCC football affiliate, Central Washington University (1-0), visits Grand Forks for the 42nd Annual Potato Bowl.

Tabbed to finish in the middle of the NCC by the coaches and media, CWU is led by d2football.com preseason All-American signal caller Mike Reilly. In his first two seasons with CWU, the 6’4″ 215lb junior completed 64.5% of his passes for 5356 yards and 51 touchdowns. He has thrown for more than 200 yards in 18 of 21 starts. Reilly is CWU’s best hope for a win over the Sioux; he will test the Sioux secondary, hoping to find a weakness that leads to a shootout with the potent Sioux offense.

Central Washington opened its 2007 campaign with a resounding 44-0 home win over Humboldt State. Reilly threw for 270 yards and 3 TDs, while the CWU defense held Humboldt State to 117 yards of total offense. Bear in mind, however, that for its opener UND comparably blew out Humboldt State, 59-0, with 513 yards of total offense while holding HSU to 181.

Though Freund may be up for a matchup of gunslingers, a lot of Sioux fans would be unhappy to see the secondary bend too much under Reilly’s assault. After seeing the Sioux handily contain SUU quarterback, Wes Marshall, optimism isn’t unjustified.

Stats dump
Head-to-head: UND leads 5-1

• 2006 @UND 28-14
• 2005 UND 44-20
• 2004 @UND 34-0
• 2002 CWU 43-7
• 2001 UND 17-14
• 2000 @UND 52-7

Potato Bowls: UND is 30-11 all-time. UND has won 11 of its past 12 Potato Bowls, including a 34-0 win over CWU in their only previous Potato Bowl matchup in 2004

At Home: UND has won 31 of its last 32 games at home

Central Washington 2007 Statistics
Central Washington 2006 Statistics
UND 2007 Statistics

Links dump
UND game preview
CWU Football Home
SiouxSports.com forums pre-game discussion
Central Washington Live Stats feed (check it out during the game)

As UND prepares to begin its transition to D-I FCS (formerly I-AA) football in 2008, the Sioux have scheduled a road game against a D-I FCS opponent for the second straight year. On Sept. 9 the Sioux will travel to Cedar City, Utah, to face the Southern Utah Thunderbirds.

Though SUU may currently be unfamiliar to most UND fans, the matchup is likely the first of many. SUU has been been a charter member of the Great West Football Conference since 2004, while UND has accepted an invitation to join the GWFC beginning in 2008.

SUU achieved a 3-8 record in 2006 against a grueling schedule. The 2006 Thunderbirds handily defeated their lower-division opponents, crushing NAIA Montana Tech 34-0 and NCAA D-II Western State 55-3. SUU lost 2006 matchups against in-transition former D-II (and NCC) institutions NDSU 7-31 and SDSU 21-31.

The Thunderbirds face an equally difficult schedule in 2007, with all but one opponent having been ranked at the end of 2006. Despite hanging with Montana for the first three quarters of its season opener, SUU faltered in the fourth to lose 17-37. SUU will enter it’s match against UND hungry for a win against its lone lower-division opponent this season.

Fans who watched the matchup with Montana noted in the SiouxSports.com Forums that SUU runs quite a few option plays and confirmed that SUU’s talented quarterback throws pretty well and isn’t afraid to run. They also praised SUU’s defense as keeping them in the game against powerhouse Montana for three quarters, but also noted that they can be run on and gave up some long returns.

The Thunderbirds are returning seven offensive starters and eight defensive starters. Leading SUU on offense is signal caller Wes Marshall. Marshall’s 2006 performance earned him a few slots in the SUU record book with 16 passing TDs (#5), 1942 yds (#4), and 183 completed passes (#2). Also returning are 2nd team all-GWFC running back Jonnny Sanchez (589yds rushing, 15-129yds receiving in 2006) and running back Kyle Coop (378yds 3 TD, 12-116yds TD). The Thunderbirds lost both starting wide receivers from last year’s squad.

Turnovers were a weak point for SUU in 2006, giving up 8 fumbles and 15 interceptions. Head Coach Wes Meier notes, “if you take away a fourth quarter turnover in each of those games [an 18-14 loss at Cal Poly and a 30-27 loss at McNeese State] we start out 5-1 and who knows what would have happened?” SUU gave up three interceptions and lost one fumble in its 2007 opener against Montana.

Southern Utah 2007 Statistics
SiouxSports.com Forums pre-game discussion
Southern Utah Football Media Guide (1/2)
Southern Utah Football Media Guide (2/2)

Stats dump

Head-to-head history: Never met
Common opponents:
Though UND and SUU have not had any common opponents in the past few years, SUU has regularly played recent members of the NCC who had joined the Great West Football Conference.
2006 NDSU L 7-31
2006 SDSU L 21-31
2005 No. Colorado W 20-17 (OT)
2005 NDSU L 21-37
2005 @SDSU L 7-55
2004 @NDSU L 21-27
2004 @No. Colorado L 7-42
2004 SDSU W 23-17 (2OT)
2003 No. Colorado L 25-29

SUU 2006 Final Stats

           Southern Utah Overall Team Statistics (as of Nov 18, 2006)
                                 All games
TEAM STATISTICS                         SUU          OPP
--------------------------------------------------------
SCORING.......................          215          276
  Points Per Game.............         19.5         25.1
FIRST DOWNS...................          179          212
  Rushing.....................           81          107
  Passing.....................           86           81
  Penalty.....................           12           24
RUSHING YARDAGE...............         1560         1903
  Yards gained rushing........         1805         2172
  Yards lost rushing..........          245          269
  Rushing Attempts............          342          431
  Average Per Rush............          4.6          4.4
  Average Per Game............        141.8        173.0
  TDs Rushing.................           12           17
PASSING YARDAGE...............         1976         1988
  Att-Comp-Int................   333-187-15    278-159-7
  Average Per Pass............          5.9          7.2
  Average Per Catch...........         10.6         12.5
  Average Per Game............        179.6        180.7
  TDs Passing.................           16           18
TOTAL OFFENSE.................         3536         3891
  Total Plays.................          675          709
  Average Per Play............          5.2          5.5
  Average Per Game............        321.5        353.7
KICK RETURNS: #-YARDS.........       36-807       36-745
PUNT RETURNS: #-YARDS.........       23-274       22-225
INT RETURNS: #-YARDS..........         7-18       15-158
KICK RETURN AVERAGE...........         22.4         20.7
PUNT RETURN AVERAGE...........         11.9         10.2
INT RETURN AVERAGE............          2.6         10.5
FUMBLES-LOST..................         19-8        23-11
PENALTIES-YARDS...............       87-781       74-697
  Average Per Game............         71.0         63.4
PUNTS-YARDS...................      54-1917      43-1531
  Average Per Punt............         35.5         35.6
  Net punt average............         31.3         29.2
TIME OF POSSESSION/GAME.......        28:10        30:50
3RD-DOWN CONVERSIONS..........       53/139       65/143
  3rd-Down Pct................          38%          45%
4TH-DOWN CONVERSIONS..........         9/16         6/13
  4th-Down Pct................          56%          46%
SACKS BY-YARDS................       16-117       21-144
MISC YARDS....................           70           21
TOUCHDOWNS SCORED.............           30           35
FIELD GOALS-ATTEMPTS..........          2-8        11-16
PAT-ATTEMPTS..................        27-30        31-34
ATTENDANCE....................        26110        43836
  Games/Avg Per Game..........       5/5222       6/7306