9-30-2026 Head Football Coach Eric Schmidt 2

UND Head Coach Eric Schmidt previews the upcoming matchup against Northern Iowa, set to take place on the road in Iowa. He explains that during downtime, he studies old games to learn about their opponents’ strategies and playing styles. Coach Schmidt stresses the importance of both mental and physical toughness as key components to competing at a high level.

Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:01):
And we welcome you back here to howk DOOC downtown
Grand Forks from the five oh six Pub. We welcome
you to come out and join us live, and we
want to welcome you listening all across the Planning Hawks
Radio Network. Tigers they won today as well, I think
in a narrow game. I see the Tigers hat in
the building as well, So I mean it's baseball playoff time.
The games are on here at the five oh six Pub.
We're right on the corner of Fifth and Demurs as

(00:23):
everybody's rolling by, So swing on in and enjoy a
beverage and maybe something to snack on as well, and
of course grab some groceries on your way home. Hugos
is the official grocery store of U and D athletics
when it comes to tailgating. Where else would you get
all the needed goodies that go into making a perfect tailgate.
It's with Hugos. Use any location region wide. Head coach

(00:44):
Eric Schmid is our guest. We're talking undie football, and
I'll just say that Northern Iowa, they had a coach
there that was there for a very very long time.
He steps away, and in steps a local coach who
was just down the road there at Drake, who's very
proud and ran a good program, and it looks like

(01:05):
they're starting to get their footing underneath him and him
and his philosophies. Although I think it's a lot of
similar things, because you were identifying some of the things
yesterday that you've already seen already with them through the
early portion is same kind of physical type of play.
They're not going to back down to getting into a battle,
and they then they play that way through their defense
and the way they play offensively.

Speaker 2 (01:25):
Yeah, I think there's still a really talented football team.
I think, you know, when you really dig into the
tapes and start watching some of the matchups and things
like that, there's there's not a huge talent, you know
what I mean difference in the two clubs. I think
it's very very similar as far as you know the
line of scrimmage even on the perimeter two as well,
and and you know they've done a good job. I think,

(01:46):
you know, the one thing I'll give him a lot
of credit for is just watching their their team. They
have an identity of who they want to be both
offensively and defensively. They're sound on special teams, defensively, they
you know, they really played downhill. They're a taxile defense,
you know, do a lot of things to be able
to disrupt what you want to do. In the backfield.
You know, really played tight coverage. I think, you know,

(02:07):
body on body do a good job there too as well.
And then offensively, want to be physical, want to you know,
run the football. Have two really good running backs guys.
That one guy's number one is a Tulsa transfer who
is a really you know, downhill one cut type guy
that really both that way. And then a thirty two
was here a year ago and played on their team
too as well. And those two guys, really, you know,

(02:29):
I think are the are the jump starter for them.
They get those guys when in the games that they've
been able to establish the running game and this which
thirty two and one are the games that they've been
able to be successful.

Speaker 1 (02:39):
I think this is another program that feels pretty good
about their tight end group and is not afraid to
use them. Do they run multiple set tight ends? Are
they going to run three tight ends at a time?
Put two in at a time and can really force
you to line up correctly.

Speaker 2 (02:53):
Yeah, And they're you know, their best tight end eighty
eight is actually the brother to Gave Anderson.

Speaker 3 (02:58):
Who's a redshirt freshman on our team.

Speaker 2 (03:00):
Yeah, he's probably one of the one of the top
returning tight ends in the conference last year. Actually, uh,
going back and watching played tight end and d end
I think played almost one hundred STAPs against North Dakota
a year ago, which does not happen when guys played
both sides of the ball. It's usually going to be
the skill spots. Yeah, that guy that yeah, you know
what I mean. But he was playing tight end in

(03:20):
the end, you know what I mean a year ago,
so barely barely coming off the field, and probably some
of that was due to you know, some of their
their injuries and things like that that they had in
their roster. But tell us you a little bit about
the kid, you know what I mean as far as
going out there and be able to withstand you know
that type of you know, that type of physical just punishment,
you know what I mean, and play you know, play
in and play out. So h Like I said, I

(03:41):
think they have an identity. You know, they do a
really good job of playing to their identity. They're not
going to try to get out of character. Whatsoever. And
then the quarterback is a is a two year starter
now and a guy that can you know, move his feed.
He's made a ton of people's miss and has been
able to stay on the field by making people miss
and then making plays.

Speaker 3 (03:57):
With his with his feet as well as his arms.

Speaker 2 (03:59):
So we know we're gonna have to go over there
and play really, really well and play tough, you know.
I think that's the one thing that we've really talked
about with our guys is that, hey man, we got
to be you know, going down there. And it's it's
about emotional toughness, like hey, whatever you know happens in
the momentum of the game, like so what now?

Speaker 3 (04:14):
What? All right?

Speaker 2 (04:15):
You got to move on to the next play off
of it, it's mental toughness. It's, you know, just being
able to focus on what's ahead. It's never letting a
negative thought complete itself in your mind. And then it's
physical toughness at the end of the day too as well,
Like we need these guys to have to fill our pads,
you know what I mean on Saturday, and our guys
got to be able to do a good job of.

Speaker 3 (04:32):
Being tough when we go down there. On Saturday.

Speaker 1 (04:34):
You know, you know, North Dakota has already challenged itself
in in tough atmospheres. This one will be no different.
Northern Iowa. I give credit to their fan base. They
make the Unidome a tough, darn tough place to play,
and and that's part of it too. But that's part
of I think you've said it time and time again.
That's part of being a college football player. When you're
coming out to high school. You want to play in
these atmospheres. You want to This is what it's all about,

(04:55):
being in these opportunities with the whether you're in a
building like your own, like the Alert Center, if we
are in Northern Iowa, where you got a bunch of
fans right on top of you, it's what it's all about.

Speaker 2 (05:04):
Yeah, I mean, that's the league that we play in.
It's the type of league that everybody wants to play in.
Like every Saturday, you want there to be a lot
of attention. You want there to be a really good
atmosphere that you go in and play. So I think
you know a lot of times the uh, you know,
those types of things get built up in the media
and outside noise and that kind of stuff as far
as going on the road, like none of the stuff

(05:24):
that you know, as far as it being homecoming and
you know, we're not playing the occasion. We're playing against
Northern Iowa, you know what I mean at four o'clock
And that's what matters to us, and that's where our
attentionion's at, and that's what we got to make sure
that we focus on that we put a good product
on the field for those two and a half hours
start at four o'clock on Saturday.

Speaker 1 (05:40):
Before I let you go, somebody did ask me because
in the non conference campaign, you get to bring x
amount of players Missouri Bentley Football Conference seas and you
get to bring how many players on a road trip.

Speaker 2 (05:51):
Yeah, so if it's a non conference game, we can
really bring as many as we want.

Speaker 1 (05:55):
Yeah.

Speaker 2 (05:55):
Typically that's somewhere in the in the mid seventies as
far as uh, you know, bringing guys that are actually
going to be a part of the plan. And there's
only so many seats on a on a plane or
on a bus or those types of things that go.
So once we get into Missouri Valley Football Conference play,
now it's seventy is the number that you can take.
So you know, you look at that, it's probably roughly
thirty on offense, thirty on defense, and then you're taking

(06:16):
five or six specialists you know with you two as well.
So every one of those guys that gets on the
plane are guys that you know that that we have
a plan for. They're going to be on the field
typically some way, shape or form, whether that's offensively, defensively,
or they're covering a kick or they're you know, I
mean protecting a kick or doing something like that. So
so yeah, man, everybody needs to be ready to go
when you when you get into a league.

Speaker 1 (06:37):
Game, Yeah, no doub't. It's it's time to go. And
when you're making the trip, you're you're putting that uniform
on and it's you're going to be a part of
what's happening on the day that there's no doubt about that.
Super excited about this opportunity. Love that it's game one
in a great place like that. It's going to be
a lot of fun on Saturday. Great to be a
part of it. Thanks for this tonight, yep, Thanks Baul
all Right. Head coach Eric Schmidt North to go to football.

(07:01):
We appreciate him dropping by tonight as North Dakota getting
set to take on Northern Iowa at the Unidome in
Cedar Falls, Iowa, Saturday afternoon. You'll hear it all across
the Fighting Hawks Radio network. Jack Michaels, Mike Berg, I'll
be roaming the sidelines, and of course we'll be on
the air at three Central across the Fighting Hawks Radio
network with the Bud Light und Football tailgate show, and

(07:22):
then we'll have the kick at just after four with
the Fighting Hawks and the Panthers. When we return, we're
going to talk to you indie volleyball. We've already gotten
a weekly award for one of the volleyball players, so
we'll talk about that. Jesse Tupac joins the broadcast next
as we continue with more of Hawk Talk all across
the Fighting Hawks Radio network.