Even when the first two opponents are MAC teams, it's unusual to consider an FCS school the toughest non-conference test on the schedule. Still, North Dakota isn't the usual FCS team. The Nebraska football team isn't taking the Fighting Hawks lightly, and the fans and the media shouldn't either.
During Matt Rhule's Monday press conference, the Husker head coach made it clear that North Dakota has his full attention. In fact, when a reporter tried to ask him about NU's Big Ten opener in two weeks, Rhule was having none of it, saying he wasn't looking past this week's opponent. The way he delivered that line, this wasn't the usual coach speak. Nebraska believes it will have a fight on its hands.
"I think the football team we're playing against is as well-coached and disciplined and well-playing, executing of a team as I've seen in a while," Rhule said. "Coach Schmidt's done a great job. Got to the second round of the playoffs last year."
Rhule then pointed out that Nebraska is facing an offense this week that has been prolific in its first three games of the season.
Nebraska football must respect Jerry Kaminski and North Dakota’s high-powered attack
"The offensive line is probably one of the best well-coached offensive lines I've seen. They've got good players, and they play really well together. The quarterback, Kaminski, makes the whole thing go. They've got wideouts who can get open."
"Their first two games, they had 42 points at halftime. It's really hard to do. We couldn't do it on Saturday."
The Nebraska coach said one of the biggest reasons he's looking forward to Saturday's game is that it could be another test. While Bowling Green and Eddie George are still rebuilding and learning to do things the right way, North Dakota knows how to win and wins often.
North Dakota is indeed one of the top offenses at the FCS level after three games. The Fighting Hawks have scored 42, 62, and 47 points and have won all three games by at least three touchdowns.
As Rhule pointed out, starting quarterback Jerry Kaminski certainly knows how to make the offense go. So far this season, he's completed 77% of his passes for 801 yards, 11 touchdowns, and 2 interceptions. While he's not a big runner, he's also plenty mobile, carrying the ball 21 times for 75 yards.
South Dakota can also run the ball effectively. Charles Langama is the Fighting Hawks' lead rusher, and he's tallied 254 yards on 29 carries (8.8 yards per carry) and 2 touchdowns. The high-scoring blowouts have allowed as many as four running backs to get decent carries this season, and all four have averaged 5.0 or more per carry.
While the Fighting Hawks have allowed at least 21 points in every game they've played, that has more to do with getting plenty of backups into every single appearance, according to the Nebraska football head coach: "They also have, I don't know what they are, 12th or top-15 defense, and probably would be in the top 10 if they hadn't played four-deep each of the first two games."
It's clear that Nebraska cannot afford to overlook its Week 3 opponent just because North Dakota is in the FCS, and fans shouldn't expect a cakewalk when the game kicks off on Saturday night.
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