GRAND FORKS — If the University of North Dakota football program is going to beat Sam Houston State in back-to-back seasons, the Fighting Hawks are going to have to do it with a new quarterback.

UND starter Nate Ketteringham, who led the Hawks to a fourth-quarter comeback road win over the Bearkats in 2018, remains sidelined with a right leg injury, UND coach Bubba Schweigert said Monday, Sept. 9, at his weekly press conference at the High Performance Center.

UND (1-1) hosts No. 24 Sam Houston State on Saturday, Sept. 13, at 4 p.m. at the Alerus Center in the annual Potato Bowl.

Fighting Hawks backup quarterback Andrew Zimmerman, who made his first career start in a 38-7 loss at North Dakota State on Saturday afternoon, will see snaps with the No. 1 offense again this week.

“Right now, Nate’s not ready yet,” Schweigert said. “We’ll continue to try to get Nate ready to play.”

Zimmerman, a senior from Monroe, Wash., finished 16-for-27 for 150 yards and two interceptions against NDSU, which annually boasts one of the top defenses in the FCS.

“I thought Andrew really ran the offense and held his composure,” Schweigert said. “On the scoring drive, he was really efficient, converting some third-and-longs. If we could take one throw back it would be early in the second half when he tried to make a play and it didn’t work out. We’re going to continue to challenge him to get better and better each and every day.”

Ketteringham, a senior captain, led the Hawks to an upset over then-No. 5 Sam Houston in Huntsville, Texas, last year. In snapping the Bearkats’ nation-best 21-game home unbeaten streak, Ketteringham was 16-for-29 for 189 yards.

The Sacramento State transfer hit Noah Wanzek on fourth-and-goal from the 8 with 4:44 left in the fourth quarter for a 24-23 victory.

Ketteringham was injured on the first drive of the second half in UND’s 47-7 Week 1 win over Drake.

Sam Houston finished last year with a 6-5 record and has started 1-1 in 2019. The Bearkats lost at FBS New Mexico 39-31 in Week 1 and dominated NAIA Oklahoma Panhandle 77-0 at home last Saturday.

Sam Houston, a typically high-powered, hurry-up offense, has rotated two quarterbacks this year. The two combined for 443 passing yards in the loss in Albuquerque.

Ty Brock was 21-for-38 for 258 yards and a touchdown, while Eric Schmid was 14-for-21 for 185 yards and a touchdown.

UND has a bye week following the Sam Houston game. It’s the first of two 2019 bye weeks for the Hawks, who elected to schedule 11 games in a rare season in which teams could schedule 12.

“In the fourth quarter (against NDSU), I was talking with Mason (Bennett) and Donnell (Rodgers), and we were saying that as much as this one is going to hurt, we have a huge game this weekend,” Zimmerman said. “Monday morning we rolled in at 6 a.m. and there was a lot of good life.”