No. 7 North Dakota Survives Indiana State Rally for 42-35 Road Win
The short version
- No. 7 North Dakota beat Indiana State 42-35 on the road to move to 4-1.
- Jerry Kaminski threw for a career-high 381 yards and four touchdowns.
- Indiana State scored twice in the fourth quarter after recovering an onside kick, cutting a 21-point UND lead to seven.
- Brady Allen, starting for the injured Elijah Owens, passed for 270 yards and four touchdowns in his first start.
- UND's Braden Mohr recorded three sacks; the Hawks held Indiana State to 44 rushing yards.
The Fighting Hawks let a 21-point fourth-quarter lead shrink to seven before closing out a Missouri Valley Football Conference victory in Terre Haute.
Seventh-ranked North Dakota escaped Terre Haute, Indiana, with a 42-35 win over Indiana State on Saturday at Memorial Stadium, improving to 4-1 in a Missouri Valley Football Conference road game witnessed by 2,765 fans.
The game capped a grueling stretch for the Fighting Hawks, who had taken six flights across three time zones over the previous three weeks.
Quarterback Jerry Kaminski delivered a career-best performance, completing 33 of 48 passes for 381 yards and four touchdowns. His 39-yard scoring strike to Cameron Weir with 9:37 remaining put North Dakota up 42-21 and appeared to settle the outcome.
Indiana State refused to fold. Ninety-six seconds later, quarterback Brady Allen found Jayden Reed on a 33-yard touchdown to make it 42-28. The Sycamores then recovered an onside kick that North Dakota's hands team failed to attack, and Allen connected with B.J. Wuest on a 17-yard score, cutting the margin to 42-35 with 6:36 left.
North Dakota's offense could not run out the clock on its next possession, punting back to Indiana State after just one first down. The Sycamores took over needing 89 yards with more than three minutes to play, but the Hawks forced incompletions on third-and-4 and fourth-and-4 to end the threat. UND took over at the Indiana State 34 with 1:52 remaining and ran out the clock.
Allen, an FBS transfer making his first start in place of injured starter Elijah Owens, threw for 270 yards and four touchdowns. Reed finished with eight receptions for 129 yards and two scores. Indiana State managed only 44 rushing yards on 28 carries.
UND edge rusher Braden Mohr recorded three sacks. He said the team knows it has plenty to learn despite the win, emphasizing that the Hawks are at their best when they dictate the game rather than letting opponents influence them.
Coach Eric Schmidt acknowledged his team's inconsistent finish, pointing to explosive plays allowed on defense, the onside kick recovery and a kickoff out of bounds. He said the defense lacks continuity, with pressure arriving too slowly and coverage discipline breaking down, and stressed that the group is not a finished product.
Kaminski noted that conference road wins are difficult to get and said the team is proud of how it fought while recognizing plenty to clean up in the games ahead.
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