2008 North Dakota Fighting Sioux football team

The following are the events of the season for the 2008 North Dakota Fighting Sioux Football Team.

The season was the first in which the team jumped from Division 2 and competed in the Division 1 Great West conference. UND faced many challenges in the season with the biggest being new coach Chris Mussman as Dale Lennon left to go coach at Southern Illinois. UND also had to replace their leading rusher Ryan Chappell as he was suspended for academic reasons.

The Sioux started out with four straight wins including their first win over a FCS opponent as they held on to beat the Idaho St. Tigers 38 to 35. The Sioux then went down to face Southeast Louisiana. The Sioux would fight back from down 38 to 21. The comeback was almost completed but kicker Brandon Hellavang missed a 49 yard field goal as time expired. Brady Trenbeath also had 201 yards receiving for the Sioux. After two weeks off the Sioux had a home game against the Western Washington Vikings.

The Sioux went on to win 42 to 32 but the story was Sophomore running back Jash Murray securing the starting job as he rumbled for 223 yards and two scores. The following week the Sioux went to the UC Davis Aggies in their conference opener. The Sioux got blown out but found a positive as true freshman Ismael Bamba showed his speed as he scored on a fifty-yard touchdown pass from quarterback Danny Freund.

After a blow out loss to Dale Lennon's Southern Illinois Salukis UND had the home finale against the Southern Utah Thunderbirds. After UND took a 14 to 0 lead at halftime the Thunderbird came within five. With just over a minute left Southern Utah scored on a sixteen yard score and won the game 15 to 14. In the final game of the season the Sioux took on the South Dakota Coyotes, another transition team. In the final game of the season the game was tied at halftime at 17. The Sioux took a thirty-one to seventeen lead with eight minutes left. The Coyotes fought back and tied the game with over a minute left to send it into overtime. After a UND stop the Sioux would end the season as Hellevang kicked the ball right through the uprights from 33 yards out to give UND a six and four record.

Schedule

Date Time Opponent# Rank# Site TV Result Attendance
August 28 7:00 PM Texas A&M-Kingsville* Alerus Center • Grand Forks, ND W 40–14   11,434
September 6 1:00 PM St. Cloud State* Alerus Center • Grand Forks, ND W 17-2   9,143
September 13 1:00 PM UW-LaCrosse* Alerus Center • Grand Forks, ND (Potato Bowl) W 7–3   10,256
September 18 7:30 PM at Idaho State* Holt Arena • Pocatello, ID W 38–35   5,970
September 27 6:00 PM at SE Louisiana Strawberry Stadium • Hammond, LA L 35–38   5,216
October 18 1:00 PM Western Washington*dagger Alerus Center • Grand Forks, ND FS-North W 42–32   12,164
October 25 8:00 PM at UC Davis* Aggie Stadium • Davis, CA L 21–34   8,876
November 1 2:00 PM at #11 Southern Illinois* McAndrew Stadium • Carbondale, IL L 21–40   8,082
November 8 7:00 PM Southern Utah* Alerus Center • Grand Forks, ND L 14–15   7,840
November 22 12:00 PM at South Dakota* DakotaDome • Vermillion, SD MC23 W 34-31 OT  7,885
*Non-conference game. daggerHomecoming. #Rankings from The Sports Network FCS poll. All times are in Central Time Zone.

Leaders

Passing Att Com Yds TD Int
Danny Freund 220 315 2407 23 7
Jake Landry 3 4 77 1 0
Rushing Att Yds TD
Josh Murray 188 1212 12
Brandon Brady 56 233 3
Catlin Solum 29 127 1
Receiving Rec. Yds TD
Brady Trenbeath 85 1001 10
Alex Nicholas 39 444 6
Ismael Bamba 21 310 3
Josh Murray 21 187 0

References

  1. ↑ "North Dakota - Cumulative Season Statistics". Archived from the original on 2009-08-11. Retrieved 2009-08-09.
  2. ↑ "Search Results for "undathletics.com"". Archived from the original on 2009-08-11. Retrieved 2009-08-09.