Northern football ready for a dog fight

The Montana State University-Northern football team has dropped both of their games to start the fall 2021 season and things will not get much easier this Saturday. The Lights will head on the road to Dillon to face University of Montana Western as they try to pick up their first win this season. While the Bulldogs should be a formidable opponent, MSU-N head coach Andrew Rolin believes his team can compete if they execute their game plan.

"Western's well-coached and they're disciplined and they do what they do and they do it well," Rolin said. "If we do our job well, I think we can match up against anybody. It's going to come down to consistency for our team."

UMW is 2-1 and 1-1 in the Frontier Conference while MSU-N is 0-2. The Bulldogs have defeated Carroll College and non-conference opponent Dickinson State. Their lone loss came against Eastern Oregon. Through their first three games, the Bulldogs offense has been productive with 270.67 passing yards a game and 171.7 rushing yards a game.

Quarterback Jon Jund will lead the offense as he has completed 65.74 percent off his passes for 812 yards, five touchdowns and five interceptions. His number-one receiver will be Trey Mounts who leads the team with 19 catches, 163 yards and two touchdowns. The Bulldogs can also run the ball with running back Reese Neville who has 338 yards and five touchdowns on five yards carry this season.

"Quarterback and the running back are great players. Got two good outside receivers as well," Rolin said. "They know upfront they do a nice job. They do a really nice job creating lanes for that tailback."

In their last game against Southern Oregon, the Lights defense slowed down the running game. However, SOU quarterback Matt Struck lit up the MSU-N defense for 326 yards and five touchdowns. If the Lights are going to bounce back and limit the Bulldogs' passing attack, they will need to fix their mistakes.

"It's those explosive plays that we give up that break your back so we just got to do our job, we can't blow assignments," Rolin said. "We're only going to get better. These guys are only going to get better in understanding the defense and how to play in it."

The UMW offense is not the only thing the Lights will need to worry about this weekend as they will have to face the UMW defense. Linebacker Joe Caicedo leads the Bulldogs with 21 total tackles this season. The Lights will also need to watch out for defensive back Kameron Rauser who already has an interception this season.

"Defensively, they're stout, they're good. Their front seven are really good," Rolin said. "Coverage-wise, they're disciplined and they're a bend-but-don't-break type of defense."

If the Lights are going to compete this weekend, their offense will need to pick up the pace. Through two games this year, the Lights average 10.5 points a game. Quarterback Kaymen Cureton has completed 44 percent of his passes for 243 yards, two touchdowns and three interceptions. He has also run for 113 yards and a touchdown this year. With the goal of scoring more points this weekend, Rolin and the offense have been hard at work through the week.

"I challenged the offense and we're executing at a higher level and doing what we're supposed to be doing," Rolin said. "You win games Monday through Friday in my opinion. Saturday is just the fun part. You get to go out and do what you've done all week."

However, Rolin believes the team will need to execute in all phases of the game as well as push through adversity if they are going to pick up their first conference win in years.

"It's going to come down to consistent execution on both sides of the ball. Do your job and do it well. You got to beat the man across from you one play at a time," Rolin said. "When stuff goes bad, you got to be able to recover. You've got to be able to persevere because that's football."

MSU-N football will play UMW at Vigilante Field in Dillon Saturday at 2 p.m.