Buoyed by last weekend's convincing 40-0 season-opening victory over Concordia University-St. Paul, the University of Minnesota Duluth moved up five spots to No. 17 in this week's American Football Coaches Association Division II Poll. The Bulldogs also jumped from 24th to 18th in the d2football.com poll and were the only Northern Sun Intercollegiate Conference team to crack the top 25 in either of the two rankings.

It represents the highest national ranking for a Bulldog club since Sept. 22, 2003 when they held down the No. 15 slot in the AFCA II poll.

UMD, off to a 1-0 overall start for the ninth consecutive year, will face Missouri Western State University, which received votes in the most recent AFCA poll, this Saturday night in St. Joseph, Mo. It will be the Bulldogs' lone non-conference assignment of the 2008 season.