Tom Miller
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Miller has been with the Grand Forks Herald sports department for the past 10 years. He's also a Grand Forks native and UND graduate.
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- Member for
- 3 years 10 months
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BOZEMAN, Mont.—For most of Saturday afternoon, more than 19,000 Montana State homecoming fans created a deafening roar at picturesque Bobcat Stadium. But at the end of the University of North Dakota football team's Big Sky Conference season opener at Montana State, the only noise heard was the Fighting Hawks singing the school song in the locker room.
BOZEMAN, Mont.—As a senior at Lemont High School (Ill.) in 2013, Connor O'Brien was set to play college football at nearby NCAA Division III North Central College. O'Brien had been on a visit to North Dakota, but the program told O'Brien they didn't have the scholarship money to afford an offer. Two weeks before national signing day, former UND defensive coordinator Josh Kotelnicki called O'Brien and said a scholarship was now available. The 2016 version of the Fighting Hawks are glad it worked out for O'Brien.
GRAND FORKS — Paul Rudolph was watching a high school basketball game last winter between Minot and Jamestown. After watching Jamestown's Noah Wanzek on the court, Rudolph, the offensive coordinator for the University of North Dakota football team, texted head coach Bubba Schweigert, defensive coordinator Eric Schmidt and wide receivers coach Danny Freund. "If I'm picking at recess, I'm picking him first," Rudolph texted the coaches. After further evaluation, the rest of the coaches agreed and made a scholarship offer to Wanzek late in the recruiting process.
GRAND FORKS—With a hodgepodge nonconference schedule featuring Division II Western Oregon, FCS Bryant and FBS Idaho, Montana State first-year coach Jeff Choate is looking at his Big Sky Conference opener against the University of North Dakota at 3 p.m. Saturday as a litmus test of the 2016 season. "The true test is this week," Choate said. "This is a team that probably should have been in the playoffs a year ago." The Bobcats, 2-1, are trying to overhaul their identity under Choate, who took over in the offseason for Rob Ash.
GRAND FORKS — As excited as University of North Dakota football fans were after Saturday's double-overtime win over South Dakota, the home fans were just as passionate at halftime when the Fighting Hawks were losing 27-14. For the second straight week, a big play before halftime put UND in a hole. On Monday, at UND's weekly press conference at the High Performance Center, Fighting Hawks coach Bubba Schweigert and his team said they know they have to avoid playing catch-up this Saturday in the Big Sky Conference opener at Montana State.
GRAND FORKS, N.D.—Maybe after two agonizing losses and facing a 20-point second-half deficit against South Dakota, the University of North Dakota football team deserved to storm the field in celebration twice during double overtime. UND first invaded the field in jubilation when running back John Santiago appeared to score on first-and-goal in double overtime. The play, however, was overturned by officials who ruled Santiago was downed inside the 1 yard line.
GRAND FORKS, N.D.—In 2003, Bob Nielson was moving from football coach to athletic director at NCAA Division II Minnesota-Duluth. He chose his replacement to be Bubba Schweigert. Now, 13 years later, Nielson and Schweigert face off against each other at 4 p.m. today. Nielson, a first-year head coach at South Dakota, visits Schweigert-led North Dakota at the Alerus Center. The Schweigert-Nielson storyline is just the beginning when it comes to the history in play and at stake in UND's home opener.
GRAND FORKS — As the NFL regular season opened last weekend, former UND linebacker Will Ratelle was back in Grand Forks. After playing in four preseason games with the Atlanta...
GRAND FORKS—As the University of North Dakota football team looks to move forward after last Saturday's 27-26 loss at Bowling Green of the Mid-American Conference, Falcons first-year coach Mike Jinks told the local media in Ohio the game shouldn't have been close at halftime and his quarterback should've thrown for 600 yards. "(UND) is a scrappy bunch, but really, to be honest, that game should have been 28-3 or 35-0 at halftime," Jinks said Monday during his weekly press conference that was streamed online.
BOWLING GREEN, Ohio—As the final outcome became clear Saturday night, University of North Dakota quarterback Keaton Studsrud laid sprawled face down on the artificial turf at Bowling Green's Doyt Perry Stadium and grabbed his helmet. It was a fitting display of how agonizingly close the No. 25 Fighting Hawks came to an FBS win for the second year in a row. With 13 seconds remaining, Studsrud's 2-point conversion pass to the back of the end zone was just off the fingers of the outstretched hands of Stetson Carr to seal Bowling Green's 27-26 win over the Fighting Hawks.
