No.6 UND Football Improves To 3-0 With 47-23 Win At Portland State Late Saturday

(UND Sports Information) -No. 6/7 North Dakota put its 47-23 victory over Portland State away with a big fourth quarter that featured a trio of touchdowns Saturday at Hillsboro Stadium. The Vikings had closed to within 10 points late in the third quarter, but the Fighting Hawks responded with three straight touchdowns to ensure a 3-0 start for the just the third time in the program’s Division I era.

Jerry Kaminski enjoyed another dominant day through the air for the Fighting Hawks, completing 21-of-29 passes for 336 yards and a trio of touchdowns. Kaminski completed passes to 10-different receivers and tossed for the most passing yards by a UND quarterback since Tommy Schuster on Sept. 10, 2021 at Utah State.

Charles Langama and Matt Lawson spearheaded a 1-2 rushing attack for NoDak, with Langama rushing for 83 yards on six carries and Lawson adding 75 yards and a touchdown on 13 carries to help the visitors rack up 291 yards on the ground.

North Dakota finished the night with 627 yards of offense while adding an additional 206 return yards while the defense was led by Ethan Boll’s seven tackles.

For the third straight game, UND scored a touchdown on its opening offensive drive as Kaminski found Mason South for an 11-yard reception to put the Fighting Hawks up 6-0. Kaminski found six different receivers on the opening possession.After the Vikings missed a 42-yard field goal on their opening possession, Langama opened the next UND drive with a 44-yard rush and Kaminski would cap it with a one-yard scoring toss to Tray Kuntz. Deng Deng would haul in the two-point conversion attempt to make it a 14-0 contest.

PSU would drive down the field again only to have the drive stall and Joshua Hossmann Lees miss a 37-yard field goal attempt. UND would tack on three more points on its next possession as Kenton Laughman drilled a 38-yard field goal to stretch the lead to 17-0.

The Vikings forced UND to punt for the first time midway through the second quarter and would get on the scoreboard on the ensuing possession when Grant Downing found Tanner Beaman on a seven-yard scoring strike. Beaman would also haul in the two-point conversion attempt to cut the Vikings’ deficit to 17-8.

Langama quickly returned the momentum to the UND sideline when he took the ensuing kickoff 99 yards to the end zone to get the touchdown right back for the visitors.

After the teams traded punts, the UND defense came up with a safety late in the opening half when Ethan Boll and Kylin Macklin stuffed Niall Raby trying to rush the ball from the Vikings’ one-yard line. Those two defensive points allowed the visitors to take a 26-8 lead into the break.

UND had the ball inside PSU territory on its opening drive of the third quarter but the Vikings came up with the first turnover of the game when Isaac Redford came up with a diving interception.

The Fighting Hawks turned the ball over on downs the next time they had the ball and the Vikings would cap off an 11-play drive with a touchdown pass from Downing to Cru Newman and another two-point conversion to Beaman that made it a 26-16 contest.

That would be as close as the home team would get as UND responded with back-to-back touchdown drives to open the fourth quarter. Lawson scored on a 26-yard scamper than Kaminski found Korey Tai on a 74-yard touchdown pass to push the lead to 40-14.

UND would force its first turnover on PSU’s next possession when Brody Thornton registered a strip sack that was recovered by Kaden Vig on the Vikings’ 14-yard line. Backup signal caller Javance Tupou’ata-Johnson would scored two plays later on a 10-yard carry to extend the advantage to 47-14.

UND remains on the road for its only FBS matchup of the season next Saturday. The Fighting Hawks will face Nebraska with kickoff against the Cornhuskers set for 6:15 p.m. CT on Big Ten Network.

POSTGAME NOTES

UND has its first 3-0 start to a season since 2020 season when the Fighting Hawks started 4-0 and won the Missouri Valley Conference title. The only other 3-0 start at the Division I level was the first year of transition back in 2008 when UND also started 4-0.
The last time UND won its road opener was 2021 when the Fighting Hawks defeated another Big Sky opponent, Idaho State, 35-14.
UND improves to 8-2 all-time series vs. PSU (won five straight)
With 47 points, UND fell just one point shy of besting their best scoring output in a season’s first three games as the Fighting Hawks have compiled 151 in their 3-0 start. The 2012 team put up 152 points in a 2-1 start to the campaign.
The 47 points were also the second most the program has scored on the road in a FCS contest, falling a point shy of that mark that was set in a 48-21 victory at Portland State in a Big Sky showdown.
Kaminski’s 336 passing yards were a new career-high, while Tai had four grabs for a career-high 140 yards.
Langama’s 99-yard kickoff return for a touchdown tied for the second longest in program history and was the fourth all-time of that distance. The last 99-yarder Red Wilson’s against South Dakota in 2023 (Nov. 11).
Langama had 200-plus all-purpose yards for the second straight game, finishing the game with 284 (83 rushing, 18 receiving, 183 kickoff return).
Boll had a career-high seven tackles, including 2.0 for a loss and a sack.
Watson Hafer had his first two receptions of the season.
Weir finished with career-highs in receptions (4) and receiving yards (58).

How It Happened
First Quarter
11:27 – UND | Mason South 11-yard pass from Jerry Kaminski (Kenton Laughman miss). 8 plays, 68 yards, 3:27
4:01 – UND | Tray Kuntz 1-yard pass from Kaminski (Deng reception). 8 plays, 75 yards, 4:03
Second Quarter
9:35 – UND | Laughman 38-yard field goal. 10 plays, 60 yards, 3:56
4:14 – PSU | Tanner Beaman 7-yard pass from Grant Downing (Beaman reception). 4 plays, 54 yards, 2:03
3:59 – UND | Charles Langama 99-yard kickoff return (Laughman kick).
00:26 – UND | Kylin Macklin and Ethan Boll safety.
Third Quarter
1:38 – PSU | Cru Newman 2-yard pass from Downing (Beaman reception). 11 plays, 80 yards, 5:03
Fourth Quarter
14:20 – UND | Matt Lawson 26-yard rush (Laughman kick). 5 plays, 80 yards, 2:13
12:04 – UND | Korey Tail 73-yard pass from Kaminski (Laughman kick). 3 plays, 99 yards, 1:06
10:01 – UND | Javance Tupou’ata-Johnson 10-yard rush (Laughman kick). 2 plays, 14 yards, 00:47
6:29 – PSU | Darius Bailey 39-yard pass from Downing (Joshua Hossmann Lee kick). 9 plays, 75 yards, 3:32