The University of Northern Colorado football team is off this weekend, giving the Bears time to rest, heal and plan and prepare for the remainder of the 12-game regular season.
UNC (2-3, 0-1 Big Sky) took a couple of days off earlier in the week, and the team will have additional time off over the weekend before gearing up for a very challenging portion of the schedule coming out of the bye.
Starting with the Oct. 11 game at Idaho, the Bears will face a Football Championship Subdivision ranked team for four of the next five weeks.
Certainly, much can change week to week. As of Sept. 27, Idaho was ranked 12th and 15th in two FCS polls. The Vandals are ranked 12th in the STATS Perform FCS Top 25 and 15th in a coaches poll.
The Bears then play at Sacramento State (Oct. 18), home against UC Davis (No. 7, Oct. 25), home against Montana State (No. 4-5, Nov. 1) and at Northern Arizona (No. 13, Nov. 8). Sacramento State received votes for the top 25 this week after dropping out following a loss to Cal Poly.
The upcoming games against the ranked teams are known as gold brick games in the UNC program. Gold brick games are played against Football Bowl Subdivision teams or ranked FCS opponents. With a win in those games, players will paint a brick gold and add the opponent and date of the game.
One UNC player is relying on his training and coaching in looking at the gold brick games.
“I trust my coaches and their plan,” offensive lineman Levi Johnson said. “With the players out there, I trust my guys. I play next to them every single day.”
University of Northern Colorado head coach Ed Lamb walks the sideline during the Bears' loss to Idaho State in the teams' Big Sky Conference opener Saturday, Sept. 27, 2025 at Nottingham Field in Greeley. (Joseph Sykes/For the Greeley Tribune)Bears head coach Ed Lamb said the preparations now are all about Idaho. The Vandals (2-3, 0-1) are also off this week after losing to ranked Montana in their first Big Sky game last weekend.
“Whether they’re ranked at the end of the season, we’ll find out,” Lamb said. “Right now, they’re a ranked team. They’ll be highly favored over us. It’s a tough road environment, and the challenge has our full attention.”
Idaho plays its home games in the Kibbie Dome, a facility Lamb said earlier this season is the loudest stadium he’s ever been in as a coach. Lamb was the Vandals’ defensive coordinator in 2002-03.
“Just the way that noise can echo when the crowd really gets into it, those are the loudest places that you can play in,” Lamb said.
Finding balance
The bye week also allows UNC time to work on an issue from the first five games: balance on the offensive side of the ball.
The Bears have been much better in the passing game than in the run to this point. UNC is averaging 247.8 yards per game and nearly eight yards per attempt throwing the ball through five games. Most of those yards are from quarterback Eric Gibson Jr., who’s thrown for more than 300 yards in two of his four starts including 397 and two touchdowns last weekend against Idaho State. He’s completing 66% of his passes.
In contrast, UNC is averaging 114.4 yards per game on the ground and only 3.1 yards per attempt.
The Bears ran for 166 net yards in the season opener against Chadron State, 63 against Colorado State, 91 yards against South Dakota, a season-high 222 against Houston Christian and 30 against Idaho State.
Saying the numbers behind UNC’s running game “don’t lie,” Bears offensive coordinator Justin Walterscheid added the team then has to look at what’s behind the stats.
This could be about scheme, meaning the system the Bears use in the run game. Play selection and injuries are factors. Guys have been hurt from the offensive line. Tight end Hank Gibbs was also hurt. He’s been used in short-yardage situations.
“We haven’t busted any runs,” Walterscheid said. “If you don’t have explosives in the run, you’ve got to understand how that makes your average for carries look. You could be bad all game and bust an 80 yarder, and it’s like, ‘Wow, we ran the ball great.’ Are we doing it at an efficient level per play?”
An average of 3.1 yards per run attempt is not efficient.
The team’s longest run of the season is a 20 yarder by back Aliou-Rocco Traore in the opener against Chadron State.
While certain situations in a game might dictate a direction on the play call — for example, a quarterback’s skill set or the down and distance in a game. On third-and-long, more than six yards, it’s generally a passing down. An offense wants to get to a place where both the run and the pass are threats to a defense.
That’s not happening with UNC.
“Ideally, your O line, your running backs — all in a perfect world — gels together,” Walterscheid said. “We’re learning our identity more and more. This being a bye week allows us to hone in on, ‘OK, here’s where we are.’ How do we set our guys up in the best position to be successful on the most consistent level?”
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