Missouri: UND football leads the FCS in net punting, kick return yards.
MissouriLangama's 99-yard kickoff return and 36. UND punter Luke Silvernale had a strong argument for runner-up honors, too.
Silvernale drilled a 55-yard punt down to the Portland State 2-yard line, which set up a UND safety to give the Hawks a 26-8 halftime lead. "We spend a lot of time on (special) teams," UND head coach Eric Schmidt said.
"We think it's really, really important for us to be able to be sound ... to be able to make some game-changing plays on special teams, and that's been something I've really seen here early on in the season."
The Fighting Hawks have 249 yards of punting and have surrendered just 5 punt return yards. Silvernale has had a limited number of chances to punt with the Hawks averaging 50.3 points per game through the first three weeks of the season.
KEY POINTS
- UND football leads the FCS in net punting, kick return yards.
- Sep. 15—GRAND FORKS — For the second week in a row, UND kick returner Charles Langama was named the Missouri Valley Football Conference Special Teams Player of the Week on Monday.
- Langama's 99-yard kickoff return and 36.6 yards per return average during UND's win over Portland State secured the honor.
- UND punter Luke Silvernale is averaging 49.8 yards per punt, which would lead the FCS if he had enough punts to qualify for the individual stats.