GRAND FORKS -- After a long night in the Louisiana heat, the University of North Dakota football team welcomed the chance to get back to Grand Forks and its cooler temperatures and lower humidity.
But the Sioux, who beat Northwestern State of Louisiana 27-20 on Saturday night, left knowing they'll be back in the heat and humidity this week. UND plays at Stephen F. Austin -- another Southland Conference school roughly 100 miles from Natchitoches.
But the heat may be a lot hotter at Stephen F. Austin. And the heat has nothing to do with the temperature.
The Sioux will play a team coming off a big road win. SFA beat Missouri Valley Conference member Western Illinois on Saturday in Macomb, Ill., where the Lumberjacks racked up 523 yards of offense -- 396 through the air.
UND left the Northwestern State campus knowing its offense will have to put up better numbers as the program continues to build a competitive Division I FCS team.
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"This is a game we'll learn from," Sioux quarterback Jake Landry said. "We'll move forward."
UND racked up 269 yards of offense against Northwestern, 103 coming in the second half. And 55 yards of that total came on Landry's touchdown pass to Ismael Bamba.
"We put ourselves in some tough situations," Landry said of the second half. "We weren't getting the yards we needed on first and second downs and that left us in some tough third-down situations."
The Sioux converted 6 of 16 third-down plays. Still, UND's offense had enough to produce three touchdowns and the Sioux never trailed.
"You saw our inexperience on offense some in the second half," UND coach Chris Mussman said. "There were times when we went into a shell a little bit. But give the guys credit. They got the job done."
Stephen F. Austin, in Nocogdoches, Texas, lost its opener at SMU, 31-23, before overwhelming Texas College 92-0.
The Lumberjacks are averaging 396 passing yards per game. Their quarterback, Jeremy Moses, already has thrown for 1,039 yards and 12 touchdowns.
UND will play its third straight game on the road, perhaps the first time in school history that the Sioux have opened the season with three straight road games.
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"Hopefully, we can take the momentum from this game and get another win," said redshirt freshman running back Mitch Sutton, who ran for a touchdown, threw for another and was credited with a safety.
Sutton praised his team's defense, saying, "That's what kept us in there during the second half."
The Grand Forks Herald and The Dickinson Press are both owned by Forum Communications Co.
