October 7, 2025 • 9 mins
Coming off a road win at Northern Iowa to begin MVFC play, head UND football coach, Eric Schmidt recaps the win and looks ahead at Youngstown State.
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Episode Transcript
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Speaker 1 (00:00):
After a win at Northern Iowa on Saturday morning, coach
and congratulations.
Speaker 2 (00:07):
Thanks Sam, Good morning, Sam, Good morning, Paul Hey.
Speaker 3 (00:10):
Good morning, coach. Good morning. Go ahead, Tim, you can
lead us off. You probably have a good one.
Speaker 1 (00:13):
Well, Kaminski really had a heck of a game. That
numbers were outlandish. He was on it, wasn't he?
Speaker 2 (00:23):
Yeah. I think, you know, Jerry does a great job
all week long preparing, spends a bunch of time, you know,
with coach Frickty and just I think he was twenty
at twenty three four touchdowns then turn the ball over.
I think when your quarterback's playing that efficiently moving the ball,
you're going to have success. But he just been a
(00:43):
consistent guy. We talk a lot around here about being
consistently good, not occasionally great, and Jerry embodies that every
single day. You know.
Speaker 4 (00:51):
I was trying to describe to Tim because he was
doing hockey, and I said, one of my takeaways, and
this was meant in a positive in a positive way,
is that you know, when you maybe had some struggles
or whatever, you know, in the game, I just felt
like your response and your resilience and your wherewithal the
kind of stay the course was very attributable to why
(01:14):
you ended up having a successful result on the day,
because it didn't all go in a straight line. There
were moments where things went a little sideways. But you
guys just put your head to the nose, to the grindstone,
so to speak, and and manage the game and got
right to it. And I just think that's a great
trait to continue to develop for this football team.
Speaker 3 (01:31):
Coach.
Speaker 2 (01:32):
One of the one of the themes Paul that we
talked about during the week, I think you get at
you know, you get two different you know stages throughout
the year. It's easy you have to start in the
finish of the season, but when you get into the
middle part of the year, I think there's definitely you know,
traits that that good teams have. And we talked about,
you know, being emotionally tough, and I think you know
what you're talking about there. We got down into the
(01:54):
red zones twice early in the game and came away
with zero points, and we just talked about the guys, hey,
you got to have emotional toughness. It's it's so what
now what you know? And moving on to the next series.
And I thought our guys did a good job of
staying the course and just like you said, keeping your
head down and you know, and just playing the next play,
each play as it's as its own life and you
(02:16):
got to play it and then move on to the next.
And you know, I think our guys eventually, you know,
we gained some momentum and did a good job once
again starting fast. Number One scoring on defense was Big
Cayden Big and Lance Rucker and the defensive line. I thought,
especially our edge group were breathing on the quarterback all
day long and were able to make some plays there
and really affect him and speed him up a little bit.
(02:37):
But to score on defense, and then I thought, right
before halftimes, just to be able to go down the
field and score really good you know, throw and catch
between between Jerry and Nate Demontiac to go up fourteen
and then there was still a minute left to go
in the half, and to make sure that we didn't
let them respond before halftime and going to half up
fourteen to fourteen to nothing was important for our football team.
Speaker 1 (03:01):
Apparently, coach the the new Lug defense, if you will,
is starting to come together a little bit.
Speaker 2 (03:08):
Huh Yeah. I think the guys have done a great
job of digging in. You know, it's not always easy
to change. A lot of time, you're recruited here for
maybe a different position, or you know, a spot that
you thought that you really, you know, could shine in
and and fit your skill set, and then all of
a sudden you get a you know, I mean, a
(03:28):
curveball thone at you, and now you're now you're asked
to maybe do something else. And I think our guys
have been, uh, you know, really good just as far
as being open minded. And there hasn't been, you know,
really any any kickback from them. They've they've dove into
this thing and not just you know, touch their toes
in the water. They dove in and and I have
really learned it. And and I think as you continue
(03:49):
to get reps, and as you continue to to grow
and get better and attack it with a with a
growth mindset, we've we've been able to become more consistent
every single week. We still, you know, uh, as a
coach and as a staff, we know we can still
do some things better. Yet that we have to continue
to be able to teach them fundamentals and get better
at certain things. But I definitely. You know, you look
(04:11):
at our guys and how we played on that side
of the ball on Saturday. There wasn't a lot of
moments where you felt like, oh, we're just holding on here,
We're you know, throwing throwing all the chips into the
middle of the table and hoping that that something good happens.
And and just our guys played fundamentally sound, did their jobs,
you know, handled the process of getting lined up, playing
(04:31):
the right technique with the light, right leverage and communicating
and doing it, you know, for a lot of plays.
I mean, one thing that was was a little different,
you know, even on on Saturday is is Northern Iowa
had the ball for seventy nine plays and we only
had it for fifty three plays because we had some
explosives and turned them over and then they go right
back there on offense. So so to win, you know,
(04:53):
at that score and then on top of it, be
able to play that many more plays, I think they
averaged four point two yards per play, and we average
over eight yards per play, so that was a good
number just as far as our guys, even though we
played more on defense and usually you want to play
more on offense to be able to have that margin
of victory was good.
Speaker 4 (05:10):
I was mentioning to Tim, what a great contingent of
green in that building? Holy cal was there great un
d set of road fans for that one. That one
was incredibly noticeable to me. I was impressed. I know
we travel well, but I thought Saturday's game in Cedar
Falls was a good one as far as road attendance.
(05:30):
I don't know if you notice, you're busy with the game,
but I thought it was good on Saturday.
Speaker 2 (05:35):
Yeah, just coming off the bus even you know, two
and a half hours before the game, there was a
bunch of green in the parking lot. The fans met
us when when we were walking into the building. So
I always appreciate, you know, our fan base and making
the trip to Cedar Falls there. I thought it was
it was awesome, you know, and by the end of
(05:56):
the game there was you know, probably just as much
green in there as there was purple. So that's always
to go on the road and uh and to uh,
you know, clear a place out by the end of
the game. Is there's no better feeling in uh, in
college football, to be able to go on the road
and do something like that.
Speaker 3 (06:10):
Yeah, no doubt about it. Youngstown State.
Speaker 4 (06:14):
Boy, were they in a battle with with South Dakota
State on Saturday night over in Youngstown and came out
on the short end. But again, that's one of those
programs that expects to be in the conversation for a
potential FCS playoff spot that's coming into town on on Saturday.
They have a tremendous athlete at quarterback who who is
really you know, made things difficult for the opponents to
(06:36):
play him. What a challenge, what a tremendous We like
meaningful games at all times a year.
Speaker 3 (06:42):
Well we're getting one on Saturday.
Speaker 4 (06:43):
As a fan base, it's going to be it's it's
a It is a great matchup, a challenging matchup for
your squad.
Speaker 2 (06:51):
Yeah, I think a great point. I mean they are
they are what you think, you know, a top twenty five,
top Missouri Valley football team looks like they're they're really
physical on the offensive side of the ball. You mentioned
their quarterback, you know Leeds quarterback rushing in the country
right now. I think he's carried it over ninety times,
a lot of designed runs for him. He's really strong,
(07:12):
not a real you know, tall kid, but but really thick,
especially his lower half, Like he breaks tackles and he's fast,
you know, he circles a lot of defenses and and
and makes plays even when you feel like you got
him hemmed in. So that'll definitely be a challenge. And
then they're a better football team this year than they
were a year ago. He throws it better. Number one,
(07:32):
They have better weapons out on the edges. Their running
backs are still good players. And then defensively, I think
they just improved on that side of the ball. They
have a number of guys that they play in different spots.
I think their secondary is pretty good. They got guys
that can go out there and really make it tough
on you to be able to create face, you know,
at the second and third levels. So I think they're
(07:53):
improved on that side of the ball too as well.
And really, you know, like you said, had had a shot.
I think it was thirty five to thirty, but they were,
you know, they're up fourteen nothing early and playing really
really well and kind of control the game. And then
you know, South Dakota State, like good teams do, was
able to find a way late in that game to
be able to win. But but yeah, They're a team
that that will definitely be in the conversation here and
(08:13):
be one of the top teams in our league, in
the country, you know, come November.
Speaker 3 (08:17):
Tim, anything else for coach?
Speaker 1 (08:18):
No, I'm good.
Speaker 3 (08:19):
I have one last question. It's a fun one. Okay.
Who runs a faster forty at this time? You or
Caden vig Man.
Speaker 2 (08:29):
Well, I was hoping. I was. I looked up at
the at the big screen a couple of times to
see if he had scored yet, because there was a
receiver coming pretty fast. But but no, man, my man,
big he can still put him up and put it
down better than the old head coach here. But it
was awesome to see him rumbling down the sideline and
and it's not an easy play, you know, I'd be
to be able to pick up a ball off the
(08:50):
turf and keep your balance and then and then go score.
Was it was a huge woman, I'm playing. Awesome to see,
you know, Kate and be able to to experience some success,
especially how hard he's worked here. Man, it's great to
see him having a great season like that.
Speaker 3 (09:05):
Well, I'm not.
Speaker 4 (09:06):
Even gonna try because that just shouts pulled hammy. If
I go Hoad and embrace those guys. But even for
a big guy, he was moving pretty good. So that
was great to see. Congratulations on the win, coach, and
we'll see you tomorrow night at Hawk Tac and I
know it's going to be a great week and lead
up to a great matchup on Saturday. Thanks for taking
some time to talk about it.
Speaker 3 (09:27):
Have a great week.
Speaker 2 (09:27):
Okay, awesome, Thanks guys. You guys have a great day.
Speaker 4 (09:30):
All right, there goes head coach Eric Schmidt of North
Dakota Football. Appreciate him dropping in on this Monday morning
After a win at Northern Iowa on Saturday morning, coach
and congratulations.
Speaker 2 (00:07):
Thanks Sam, Good morning, Sam, Good morning, Paul Hey.
Speaker 3 (00:10):
Good morning, coach. Good morning. Go ahead, Tim, you can
lead us off. You probably have a good one.
Speaker 1 (00:13):
Well, Kaminski really had a heck of a game. That
numbers were outlandish. He was on it, wasn't he?
Speaker 2 (00:23):
Yeah. I think, you know, Jerry does a great job
all week long preparing, spends a bunch of time, you know,
with coach Frickty and just I think he was twenty
at twenty three four touchdowns then turn the ball over.
I think when your quarterback's playing that efficiently moving the ball,
you're going to have success. But he just been a
(00:43):
consistent guy. We talk a lot around here about being
consistently good, not occasionally great, and Jerry embodies that every
single day. You know.
Speaker 4 (00:51):
I was trying to describe to Tim because he was
doing hockey, and I said, one of my takeaways, and
this was meant in a positive in a positive way,
is that you know, when you maybe had some struggles
or whatever, you know, in the game, I just felt
like your response and your resilience and your wherewithal the
kind of stay the course was very attributable to why
(01:14):
you ended up having a successful result on the day,
because it didn't all go in a straight line. There
were moments where things went a little sideways. But you
guys just put your head to the nose, to the grindstone,
so to speak, and and manage the game and got
right to it. And I just think that's a great
trait to continue to develop for this football team.
Speaker 3 (01:31):
Coach.
Speaker 2 (01:32):
One of the one of the themes Paul that we
talked about during the week, I think you get at
you know, you get two different you know stages throughout
the year. It's easy you have to start in the
finish of the season, but when you get into the
middle part of the year, I think there's definitely you know,
traits that that good teams have. And we talked about,
you know, being emotionally tough, and I think you know
what you're talking about there. We got down into the
(01:54):
red zones twice early in the game and came away
with zero points, and we just talked about the guys, hey,
you got to have emotional toughness. It's it's so what
now what you know? And moving on to the next series.
And I thought our guys did a good job of
staying the course and just like you said, keeping your
head down and you know, and just playing the next play,
each play as it's as its own life and you
(02:16):
got to play it and then move on to the next.
And you know, I think our guys eventually, you know,
we gained some momentum and did a good job once
again starting fast. Number One scoring on defense was Big
Cayden Big and Lance Rucker and the defensive line. I thought,
especially our edge group were breathing on the quarterback all
day long and were able to make some plays there
and really affect him and speed him up a little bit.
(02:37):
But to score on defense, and then I thought, right
before halftimes, just to be able to go down the
field and score really good you know, throw and catch
between between Jerry and Nate Demontiac to go up fourteen
and then there was still a minute left to go
in the half, and to make sure that we didn't
let them respond before halftime and going to half up
fourteen to fourteen to nothing was important for our football team.
Speaker 1 (03:01):
Apparently, coach the the new Lug defense, if you will,
is starting to come together a little bit.
Speaker 2 (03:08):
Huh Yeah. I think the guys have done a great
job of digging in. You know, it's not always easy
to change. A lot of time, you're recruited here for
maybe a different position, or you know, a spot that
you thought that you really, you know, could shine in
and and fit your skill set, and then all of
a sudden you get a you know, I mean, a
(03:28):
curveball thone at you, and now you're now you're asked
to maybe do something else. And I think our guys
have been, uh, you know, really good just as far
as being open minded. And there hasn't been, you know,
really any any kickback from them. They've they've dove into
this thing and not just you know, touch their toes
in the water. They dove in and and I have
really learned it. And and I think as you continue
(03:49):
to get reps, and as you continue to to grow
and get better and attack it with a with a
growth mindset, we've we've been able to become more consistent
every single week. We still, you know, uh, as a
coach and as a staff, we know we can still
do some things better. Yet that we have to continue
to be able to teach them fundamentals and get better
at certain things. But I definitely. You know, you look
(04:11):
at our guys and how we played on that side
of the ball on Saturday. There wasn't a lot of
moments where you felt like, oh, we're just holding on here,
We're you know, throwing throwing all the chips into the
middle of the table and hoping that that something good happens.
And and just our guys played fundamentally sound, did their jobs,
you know, handled the process of getting lined up, playing
(04:31):
the right technique with the light, right leverage and communicating
and doing it, you know, for a lot of plays.
I mean, one thing that was was a little different,
you know, even on on Saturday is is Northern Iowa
had the ball for seventy nine plays and we only
had it for fifty three plays because we had some
explosives and turned them over and then they go right
back there on offense. So so to win, you know,
(04:53):
at that score and then on top of it, be
able to play that many more plays, I think they
averaged four point two yards per play, and we average
over eight yards per play, so that was a good
number just as far as our guys, even though we
played more on defense and usually you want to play
more on offense to be able to have that margin
of victory was good.
Speaker 4 (05:10):
I was mentioning to Tim, what a great contingent of
green in that building? Holy cal was there great un
d set of road fans for that one. That one
was incredibly noticeable to me. I was impressed. I know
we travel well, but I thought Saturday's game in Cedar
Falls was a good one as far as road attendance.
(05:30):
I don't know if you notice, you're busy with the game,
but I thought it was good on Saturday.
Speaker 2 (05:35):
Yeah, just coming off the bus even you know, two
and a half hours before the game, there was a
bunch of green in the parking lot. The fans met
us when when we were walking into the building. So
I always appreciate, you know, our fan base and making
the trip to Cedar Falls there. I thought it was
it was awesome, you know, and by the end of
(05:56):
the game there was you know, probably just as much
green in there as there was purple. So that's always
to go on the road and uh and to uh,
you know, clear a place out by the end of
the game. Is there's no better feeling in uh, in
college football, to be able to go on the road
and do something like that.
Speaker 3 (06:10):
Yeah, no doubt about it. Youngstown State.
Speaker 4 (06:14):
Boy, were they in a battle with with South Dakota
State on Saturday night over in Youngstown and came out
on the short end. But again, that's one of those
programs that expects to be in the conversation for a
potential FCS playoff spot that's coming into town on on Saturday.
They have a tremendous athlete at quarterback who who is
really you know, made things difficult for the opponents to
(06:36):
play him. What a challenge, what a tremendous We like
meaningful games at all times a year.
Speaker 3 (06:42):
Well we're getting one on Saturday.
Speaker 4 (06:43):
As a fan base, it's going to be it's it's
a It is a great matchup, a challenging matchup for
your squad.
Speaker 2 (06:51):
Yeah, I think a great point. I mean they are
they are what you think, you know, a top twenty five,
top Missouri Valley football team looks like they're they're really
physical on the offensive side of the ball. You mentioned
their quarterback, you know Leeds quarterback rushing in the country
right now. I think he's carried it over ninety times,
a lot of designed runs for him. He's really strong,
(07:12):
not a real you know, tall kid, but but really thick,
especially his lower half, Like he breaks tackles and he's fast,
you know, he circles a lot of defenses and and
and makes plays even when you feel like you got
him hemmed in. So that'll definitely be a challenge. And
then they're a better football team this year than they
were a year ago. He throws it better. Number one,
(07:32):
They have better weapons out on the edges. Their running
backs are still good players. And then defensively, I think
they just improved on that side of the ball. They
have a number of guys that they play in different spots.
I think their secondary is pretty good. They got guys
that can go out there and really make it tough
on you to be able to create face, you know,
at the second and third levels. So I think they're
(07:53):
improved on that side of the ball too as well.
And really, you know, like you said, had had a shot.
I think it was thirty five to thirty, but they were,
you know, they're up fourteen nothing early and playing really
really well and kind of control the game. And then
you know, South Dakota State, like good teams do, was
able to find a way late in that game to
be able to win. But but yeah, They're a team
that that will definitely be in the conversation here and
(08:13):
be one of the top teams in our league, in
the country, you know, come November.
Speaker 3 (08:17):
Tim, anything else for coach?
Speaker 1 (08:18):
No, I'm good.
Speaker 3 (08:19):
I have one last question. It's a fun one. Okay.
Who runs a faster forty at this time? You or
Caden vig Man.
Speaker 2 (08:29):
Well, I was hoping. I was. I looked up at
the at the big screen a couple of times to
see if he had scored yet, because there was a
receiver coming pretty fast. But but no, man, my man,
big he can still put him up and put it
down better than the old head coach here. But it
was awesome to see him rumbling down the sideline and
and it's not an easy play, you know, I'd be
to be able to pick up a ball off the
(08:50):
turf and keep your balance and then and then go score.
Was it was a huge woman, I'm playing. Awesome to see,
you know, Kate and be able to to experience some success,
especially how hard he's worked here. Man, it's great to
see him having a great season like that.
Speaker 3 (09:05):
Well, I'm not.
Speaker 4 (09:06):
Even gonna try because that just shouts pulled hammy. If
I go Hoad and embrace those guys. But even for
a big guy, he was moving pretty good. So that
was great to see. Congratulations on the win, coach, and
we'll see you tomorrow night at Hawk Tac and I
know it's going to be a great week and lead
up to a great matchup on Saturday. Thanks for taking
some time to talk about it.
Speaker 3 (09:27):
Have a great week.
Speaker 2 (09:27):
Okay, awesome, Thanks guys. You guys have a great day.
Speaker 4 (09:30):
All right, there goes head coach Eric Schmidt of North
Dakota Football. Appreciate him dropping in on this Monday morning
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