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Nov. 15—GRAND FORKS — The UND football team closes the regular season Saturday against Illinois State at 1 p.m. at the Alerus Center with both teams in search of a seventh win of the year.
Here are eight things to know about the visiting Redbirds.
Illinois State spent most of the season with returning starting quarterback Zack Annexstad.
Annexstad suffered a knee injury in Illinois State’s win over Missouri State two weeks ago, and he was unable to play last week at Murray State.
Illinois State turned to Tommy Rittenhouse, who had started the final three games of the 2022 season for Annexstad, a one-time Minnesota Gophers transfer.
Redbirds coach Brock Spack, though, told Scott Prerost of the Illinois State student newspaper he isn’t ruling out Annexstad for UND.
“I can’t. No. I can’t do that yet,” Spack is quoted by Prerost on X, formerly Twitter. “We’ll play it by ear this week and try to let you know. We’ll see.”
Rittenhouse, a 5-foot-11 sophomore, threw for 165 yards last week, a career-high, as Illinois State rushed all over Murray State.
Illinois State received a shot in the arm this offseason with the addition of junior transfer running back Mason Blakemore from Northern Illinois.
Blakemore played in six games in 2022 at NIU, carrying 23 times for 88 yards and a touchdown.
At ISU, Blakemore is having a monster season. He’s the No. 2 rusher in the Missouri Valley Football Conference — just behind South Dakota State star Isaiah Davis.
Blakemore is averaging 98 yards per game. He’s rushed for more than 100 yards in a game four times.
He had 169 rushing yards and three touchdowns last week against Murray State.
Although it’s unclear who’s going to be throwing the passes Saturday, Daniel Sobkowicz will be the likely target.
Sobkowicz is No. 2 in the MVFC in receiving, just behind Missouri State’s Raylen Sharpe.
The…
Source link : https://sports.yahoo.com/8-things-know-und-footballs-013300297.html
Author : Grand Forks Herald
Publish date : 2023-11-16 01:33:00
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