South Dakota State won't be the only desperate team in Grand Forks on Saturday that has lost its grip on what was a promising season and is holding on for dear life to reach the postseason. North Dakota was a strong 6-2 — losses only to current No. 2 Montana by one point and Kansas State by three — and ranked No. 8 when the Fighting Hawks soared into Vermillion and were suffocated by South Dakota's defense for most of three quarters, trailing 26-7 en route to a 26-21 loss. UND followed that up the next week by forcing No. 1 North Dakota State on the ropes before the Bison recovered to deliver a late knockout punch to win 15-10. The Hawks then did what every Missouri Valley Conference Football team does — beat Murray State. Losers of two of three, UND is now in the same 7-4 boat as SDSU — losers of four straight — likely needing to win Saturday in the Alerus Center to reach the FCS playoffs. While the Hawks have four "quality losses" by five or fewer points, they don't have the win total nor enough "quality wins" to just slip into the postseason. So, what about UND has made it tough for the top two FCS teams and a Big 12 team to beat the Hawks? And why have they also not been world beaters? Has something slipped down the stretch? Just like SDSU, UND has a combination of strengths, weaknesses, and key late season injuries. Why are the Hawks the No. 2 defense in the MVFC (18.8 ppg), and how will they make life miserable for an SDSU offense — even if Chase Mason returns — that is averaging just 14 points in the Jacks' recent 0-4 stretch? All the straight-shooting UND insight you need is in Thursday's Happy Hour pre-game interview with the veteran Voice of the Hawks Jack Michaels. Before Michaels, it's that time of the week. John Gaskins and Trent Singer sip on beer while chewing on all the juicy storylines of this SDSU-UND desperation duel. They also look back to Brandon Valley's impressive 34-27 Class 11AAA state championship win to deny Lincoln a three-peat while looking ahead to which teams might have the arsenal to reach the DakotaDome next November. Trent and John also dive into Sioux Falls Christian's thrilling win over Lennox to gain revenge and the Chargers' first state title in seven years. How did Jared Smith build SFC back after taking over for back-to-back champion Jake Pettengill in 2019, the year the Chargers' enrollment forced them to move up a class from 11B to 11A? Hint: It wasn't easy. Smith opens a vein about his struggles those first few years and the pain of losing last year's championship game as a favorite. How he harnessed that heartache for an entire year in the SFC locker room to motivate this year's group to accomplish nothing less than the title trophy is something you'll want to hear. Smith also describes his reuniting with Kim Nelson, the all-time South Dakota high school football wins leader who mentored Smith at Sioux Falls Roosevelt from 2009-16 and joined Smith's staff at SFC this past summer to run the offense. Nelson had retired after 45 years of head coaching, then spent a season as Roosevelt's freshman coach. The bond between the two, storytelling of how Nelson fit right in, and the moment the two shared as Saturday's clock struck zero on a championship is also something you'll want to hear. Oh, and Smith's response to a growing chorus of South Dakota high school football fans who feel SFC has an unfair dominance in Class 11A and needs to move up to 11AA? Yeah, you'll want to hear that. He doesn't hold back.
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