Holy smokes!  I just woke up and I’m still feeling the high of yesterday’s win in Grand Forks! Frankly, I’m surprised I was able to sleep at all.  The Jacks came into the game NEEDING a win to clinch their spot in the playoffs.  UND also needed that (even if now it appears the loss may not hurt them).  At halftime it felt like UND was going to win and SDSU’s season was on life support.  Through sheer grit, the Jacks stormed back and won in overtime 34-31. What a day, what a game!

Rants & Raves

Rave: First, we have to start at the end.  Grahm Goering and Jack Henry made the best one of the best game winning plays I can remember.  Henry rolled right, closely trailed by 3 UND defenders who they had sent on an all-out blitz.  As Henry approached the sideline he whipped it into the endzone and Goering made a terrific leaping catch. The SDSU fans section was right in that corner of the stadium and it was just an absolute riot. Man, I was there with my son, dad, and brother-in-law and it was a moment I will never forget.

Rave: Jack Henry OVERALL was not good on Saturday.  However, he was great when he needed to be.  He ended the day 6 for 17 for 132 yards, 2 TDs and 2 INTs and just 13 yards on the ground.  The kid is just absolutely a gamer and has been huge the last few weeks.  I’m unbelievably excited for his future!

Rant: The official who threw out Quinten Christensen today needs to be suspended by the MVFC for a game next season.  Unbelievable behavior for an adult.  See the clip below.

This is the “contact with an official” that got Quinten Christensen ejected.
That’s brutal. pic.twitter.com/5Tt0xy9PA2

— Jay Elsen – Midco Sports (@ElsenMidco) November 22, 2025

Rave: The #605Hogs were outstanding on Saturday.  I have been maybe their biggest critic this season and I own that.  Saturday that was the group that we expected to see.  Nate Adams started at Center and was absolutely awesome.  Quinton Christensen and Shane Willenbring I think started at tackles but there was plenty of swapping (at least early) with sides that it was a little wild.  Will Paepke and John Pica were the guards, I think.  I could have this wrong.  Once Q was ejected, Kyan Rauk came in and was terrific against possibly the best past rusher in the MVFC in Lance Rucker.   However, the #605Hogs lined up, they played really well paving the way for 202 net rushing yards and allowing just 1 sack to a defense that had come in with 30+ on the season.

Rave: Let me just reemphasize Kyan Rauk and his impact on this game.  He’s a 6’8, 300 lb redshirt freshman seeing his first extended action that came in cold off the bench and controlled the best pass rusher in the MVFC for nearly half the game.  Crazy!

Rant: The Alerus Center sure looks really nice and is a beautiful facility but what a weird atmosphere.  The crowd was dead for nearly every play besides on 3rd down.  I don’t get it because they are a smart fanbase and there were plenty of them there.

Rave: The #ChainGang and Kobe Clayborne played a really really good game on Saturday.  They allowed just 75 rushing yards and racked up 2 sacks and 9 QBHs.  Clayborne’s strip sack of Kaminsky was beautiful to watch in real time.

Rave: Jalen Lee continues to be one of my favorite players on defense.  He’s just flying around from his safety position and seeing the game really really well.  He finished the day with 6 tackles and they all felt big.  His pairing at safety continued to rotate between Dontay Johnson and Koby Bretz.  Both also made good plays and Bretz’s tackle in overtime being a HUGE play.

Rave: Julius Loughridge and Josiah Johnson ran really really hard yesterday.  They combined for 188 yards and Johnson had 3 TDs.  They did not have a single negative rush in their 43 rushing attempts!

Rant: Part of UND’s atmosphere problem might be their annoying announcer.  It’s hard to tell if he is the head cheerleader or the public announcer.  “Tackled by the entire fighting hawk defense”, 6-7 yards, and the hum/growl into the mic on 3rd down until the huddle broke was such a bush league thing to do. If I had to listen to that every home game, I’d want to sit there like a zombie too.

Rave: I’m unbelievable happy for Greyton Gannon and his success over the past two weeks.  He had just one catch for 42 yards and a TD.  However, it was a terrific catch and run on a ball that was slightly overthrown (again this happened right in front of a majority of the SDSU fans that were in the building).  He also showed really good effort in run blocking along with Coleman Kuntz.

Rant: I don’t love the decision to go for it on 4th and goal when we were down by 10.  Obviously it all worked out but that extra field goal prevents overtime.  It just felt overly aggressive when there was still lots of ballgame left.

Rave: Now it’s time for a redemption story.  Grahm Goering has had some HUGE catches in his Jackrabbit career but he has also had some huge drops.  Saturday was his biggest catch of his career!  It wasn’t an easy one but it truly kept the Jackrabbit season alive.  Thank you Grahm!

Rant: The defense continued to allow big scoring plays.  UND scored on an 89 yard touchdown reception on a play that saw zero over the top help on a slant and from there it was just a foot race.

Rave:  Joe Ollman and Cullen McShane just continue to make plays for the Jackrabbits. They tied for the team lead with 7 total tackles, and combined for 3 QBHs.  Even with Chase Van Tol being out they are still making plays.

Rave: Max Pelham was pretty damn good yesterday after getting injured in the Illinois state game.  Pinning UND at the 1 yard line (great play by Cody Cotton) followed by some BOOMING punts that put the Hawks inside the 20- on 4 different occasions.

Rave: Shoutout to the Hagen family for hosting us for tailgating!  We only had about 30 minutes and it was a race to get from the bus to the tailgate!  The generosity of the Jackrabbit family is awesome.

Rant: I feel bad for UND losing BJ Flemming due to leg injury.  The kid is an absolute difference maker.  It didn’t look like a terrible injury but he never returned.  I have to imagine his knee found a hard spot in the turf in that corner. I was really impressed with him prior to the injury.

Rave: Eli Stader did a great job stepping in on kickoffs and making his field goals.  He’s really had a great second half of the season and I’m grateful he chose to be a Jackrabbit this year.

Rant: Besides Stader and Pelham though… the special teams was again not good.  I love Myles Taylor but at this point we have to try someone or something else on punt return.  His confidence on fielding the punt is just not there. Ryan Harrington kicking two out of bounds after being soooooo good on kickoffs all season was head scratching.  The kick return had a bright moment with a great Jack Smith kick return but that was certainly an outlier on how the day went.

Rave: I have to end with giving a huge shoutout to my friend Jim Poppen and his organization of the bus trip up I29 to Grand Forks.  It was amazing to have 40+ Jackrabbit fans traveling together, sitting together, and (hopefully) making a ton of noise.  My family and I had an awesome time.  My son relieved his favorite moments in the hour drive from Summit to our house and it was fun to hear what caught his eye throughout the day.  As I write this, he’s still sleeping, and I’m pretty sure he went to bed smiling.  It takes invested fans/leaders like Jim to create experiences like this and he did!  Thank you Jim!

Game Balls

Offense: Nate Adams and the #605Hogs

Defense: Kobe Clayborne

Special Teams: Eli Stader

Go Jacks!

Matt