Off to its best start in six years, the University of Minnesota Duluth will continue on its diet of Northern Sun Intercollegiate Conference North Division competition Saturday (Sept. 27) when the Bulldogs host the University of Mary. Opening kickoff is set for 1 p.m. at Malosky Stadium (4,500 capacity/artificial surface) on the UMD campus.
Complete Football Release (pdf)
THE RECORDS: The Bulldogs are 4-0 in all games this fall and 3-0 in NSIC play while the Marauders sport an even 2-2 overall record and a 2-1 NSIC mark.
HOW THEY RANK: Here is how UMD and Mary stack up in this week's American Football Coaches Association Division II and d2football.com polls:
AFCA d2football
UMD 15 14
UM NR NR
THE BROADCAST: Saturday's Bulldog-Marauder matchup will be carried locally on WDSM 710 AM with Mark Fleischer handling the play-by-play duties. That broadcast can also be heard via the internet at: umdbulldogs.com.
In addition, all of UMD's home outings and NSIC contests in 2008, including the one Saturday at Malosky Stadium, will be videostreamed live and can be accessed for free at: www.northernsun.tv.
THE COACHES: After a four-year hiatus, Bob Nielson is back on the UMD football sidelines this fall. Nielson, whose first tour of duty with the Bulldogs ran from 1999-2003, was officially appointed to his old post on Jan. 3, 2008. (He'll also continue to serve as UMD's athletic director, a position he's held since 2003-04). His overall record at UMD now stands at 42-19, which translates into a .688 winning percentage -- the best mark in school history. During his five previous years with the Bulldogs, Nielson helped marshal the UMD football program to unprecedented heights. In 2002, for example, his Bulldogs posted their only 11-0 regular season record to date, advanced to the NCAA Division II playoffs for the first time ever and captured the NSIC championship. Nielson, who also coached UMD to its inaugural post-season appearance (the 2001 Mineral Water Bowl in Excelsior Springs, Mo.) and the school's greatest one-year turnaround in team history (the Bulldogs went 7-4 in 2000 after managing a 3-8 mark the previous fall). The 2002 NSIC Coach of the Year and a runnerup for the American Football Monthly magazine NCAA II Coach of the Year award, Nielson joined the UMD staff in the spring of 1999 after he had guided the Blugolds to a share of the 1998 Wisconsin Intercollegiate Athletic Conference title (their first since 1983) and an initial berth in NCAA III playoffs five months earlier. He amassed a record of 22-11 in three years with the Blugolds, including a 10-3 mark in his farewell season when Wisconsin-Eau Claire claimed a share of its first Wisconsin Intercollegiate Athletic Conference title while setting a team standard for victories. Nielson, the Football Gazette's 1998 Division III Coach of the Year, also was employed for five years as the head football coach at his alma mater, Wartburg College, where he strung together five successive non-losing seasons and landed a pair of back-to-back NCAA III playoff berths (1993 and 1994) and two years at Ripon College (1989-90) in Wisconsin. He is 112-52-1 in 16 years of collegiate coaching activity, but has never faced Mary.
Myron Schulz (Mary, 1987) is in his 10th year as Mary's head coach and has a 77-24 record to show for it (0-1 vs. UMD). Schulz and the Marauders captured the NAIA national title in 2004 -- the seventh straight year they had qualified for NAIA postseason play. Before being appointed to the top post with the Mary football program, Schulz spent the previous eight years as Marauder assistant coach.
THE SERIES: The Bulldogs and Marauders have met only one time previously, that coming on Sept. 9, 2006 when UMD kicked off its home schedule with a 42-14 victory.
LAST WEEK: UMD posted its fourth lopsided win as many weeks, blasting Augustana College 40-10 Saturday afternoon in Abderdeen, S.D. Senior quarterback Ted Schlafke threw for four touchdowns, ran for another, and completed 19 of 31 passes for a 276 yards. He also rushed 10 times for an additional 64 yards. Sophomore Noah Pauley, who finished with a game-high six receptions (for 96 yards), and fellow wide out D.J. Winfield each were on the receiving end of two of Schlafke's scoring strikes. The Bulldogs finished with a season-best 508 yards of total offense, 307 of which was accumulated in the opening 30 minutes of play when UMD raced to a 20-0 advantage. The Bulldogs held their former North Central Conference rivals to 257 yards of total offense, including just 69 on the ground, and had five quarterback sacks.
Quarterback Jamal Lomax sprinted 48 yards for a touchdown on Mary's first offensive play of the day and the Marauders went to put a 52-9 licking on the University of Minnesota Crookston Saturday in Bismarck, N.D. The winless Eagles mustered a mere 146 yards on the day and nine first downs.
THIS IS YOUR CAPTAIN SPEAKING: The Bulldogs' team captaincy responsibilities in 2008 rest in the hands of a quartet of seniors -- offensive guard Nate Baier, strong safety Jim Johnson, quarterback Ted Schlafke, and free safety Tyler Yelk.
A FAVORABLE NSIC FORECAST: In their annual preseason poll, the NSIC coaches picked the Bulldogs to finish first in both the North Division and in the overall league standings. The NSIC has expanded to a 14-team league in 2008-09 and, for football, will be broken down into two, seven-school divisions. UMD, which had competed in the North Central Conference the past four seasons, picked up 151 total points and garnered seven first-place votes to edge out defending conference titleholder Winona State University (148 points and four first-place votes), a member of the South Division. Rounding out the top five were Minnesota State University-Mankato (143 points and three first-place votes) Augustana College (141) and St. Cloud State University (120). Those three clubs, like UMD, are all NCC refugees.The Bulldogs, incidentally, were also chosen as the preseason favorite in the NSIC preseason poll back in 2003 (the last time they were aligned with the conference).
YOU CAN HAVE IT BOTH WAYS: UMD currently sports both the NSIC's top offense (447.5 yards per game) and defense (236.5 ppg).
WHAT'S THE RUSH?: The Bulldogs have given up fewer yards on the ground (42.0 yards per outing -- and just 1.4 yards per attempt) than any NCAA II school in the country at the moment.
LEADERS OF THE SACK: Opposing running backs aren't the only ones who have found the going tough this season. UMD is also racking up quarterback sacks (4.5 an outing -- the fourth best figure in NCAA II football) at a record-breaking pace thus far. To date, the Bulldogs have been credited with 18 sacks (23 shy of the school record with at least seven games to play), including a team-leading 3.0 by junior defensive tackle Kevin Pexa.
TOUCHDOWN TEDDY: With his four-touchdown passing performance (his second in as many weeks) last Saturday at Augustana College, senior quarterback and Harlon Hill candidate Ted Schlafke moved another step closer to seizing the one remaining career team passing and total offense record he doesn't already own. Schlafke, who has thrown at least one touchdown pass in 34 of 36 outings as a collegian, now has 82 career scoring strikes -- the second highest total in club history -- to his credit. He needs just nine more passing touchdowns to unseat Ricky Fritz (1998-2003) as the school record holder in that department. Earlier this season, the 2008 NSIC North Division Preseason Offensive Player of the Year became UMD's all-time total offense (he's now rolled up 10,580 yards) and passing yardage leader (9,504). A starter in all 36 games over the past three seasons, Schlafke has also established UMD career records for pass completions (908) and pass attempts (1,457) while his .623 lifetime completion percentage is well above the current team mark (.548 by Darrell McKibbon between 1970-73). Last fall, the three-time NCC All-Academic Team selection became just the second quarterback ever to lead the Bulldogs in rushing (500 yards on 176 carries) and compiled the sixth best total offense average (319.8 yards per outing) of any NCAA Division II player in the country. Schlafke, the first three-time team captain in the 76 years UMD has been playing football, also is the owner of Bulldog single-game and single-season records for pass completions, pass attempts, passing yards, total offense and total plays. He is well within range of becoming just the 11th NCAA II player to crack the 11,000-yard plateau for total offense and the 16th to reach 10,000 passing yards in a career.
MAKING A POINT: In its four games thus far, UMD has outscored the opposition 170-49 (53-3 in the first quarter alone) and, for the first time since the end of the 2002 season, has amassed 40 or more points four consecutive times.
SAFETY FIRST: Senior free safety and 2007 All-NCC pick Tyler Yelk, who has paced the Bulldogs in tackles three straight seasons -- a UMD first -- heads into Saturday's clash with Mary needing just nine stops to become the program's career leader in that category. The current team record of 277 total tackles was set by strong safety Kevin Westbrock between 1998 and 2002.
LEAD 'DOGS: The Bulldogs are 45-1 in the last 46 games they have been ahead after three quarters and 38-1 when they've led at halftime going back to November 2001. UMD has also gotten on the scoreboard first in 24 of its last 25 victories. On the flip side, since defeating the University of South Dakota 23-21 on the road on Sept. 22, 2002, UMD has lost 22 straight times when trailing at the half and is 0-24 when it's been behind heading into the final quarter (The Bulldogs last posted a win in that situation on Sept. 8, 2001 by rallying from a 10-7 deficit to shade South Dakota 14-10).
CATCHING ON FAST: Freshman wide receiver D.J. Winfield, whose debut year with the Bulldogs lasted less than two quarters (he suffered a season-ending ankle sprain in the 2007 opener with Bemidji State University), has parlayed seven of his team-leading 20 pass receptions into touchdowns. His one other score came on 48-yard run off a lateral in the season opener at Concordia University-St. Paul.
A REAL ONE-TWO PUNCH: The 2008 Bulldogs sport what is arguably the most gifted safety tandem in the NSIC (and perhaps in the storied history of UMD football) in seniors Tyler Yelk and Jim Johnson. Johnson, who like Ted Schlafke was a member of both the All-NCC (honorable mention) and NCC All-Academic Teams last fall, has been a fixture in the Bulldog defensive secondary over the last four seasons. The Little Chute, Wis. product and third-year starter placed second among Bulldogs in total tackles for the second successive year in 2007 with a career-high 77 stops and had a team-leading four interceptions as well. In UMD's 40-10 victory at Concordia University-St. Paul four weeks ago, Johnson became the 15th member of UMD's 200-tackle club (he now has 214 stops as Bulldog).
INJURY UPDATE: Senior wide out Bernie Cevis (foot), who transferred to UMD last spring from the now-defunct La Salle University (Pa.) football program, junior wide out D'Andre Sherill (foot), who played the last two years at Rainy River Community College, freshman nose tackle Qortney McLeod (foot), junior placekicker Brian Peek (hamstring) and freshman running back Rob Casasnovas (knee) are all expected to be sidelined for Saturday's game against Mary with injuries. Cevis, Sherill and McLeod have been out since the start of the season while Casasnovas, who went down last Saturday at Augustana, is out for the remainder of the year. In his first collegiate appearance as a true freshman (at Central Washington University on Sept. 22, 2007) Casasnovas also suffered a season-ending shoulder injury and was subsequently granted another year of eligibility as a medical red shirt.
BULLDOG BITES: The last time UMD and Mary collided (Sept. 9, 2006 in Duluth), current senior wide receiver Tony Doherty established a personal best with two touchdown receptions in UMD's 42-14 triumph. The third-year starter and two-sport standout (he completed his Bulldog baseball career last fall) currently has 118 catches to his collegiate credit, which places him in the No. 3 spot on the Bulldogs' career pass receptions charts .. At 4-0, UMD is enjoying its best start since 2002 when it ran the table during the regular season (11-0) en route to securing the school's first-ever NCAA II playoff berth ... UMD's No. 15 AFCA II ranking the past three weeks is the highest for a Bulldog club since Sept. 22, 2003 when they also held down the No. 15 slot in the AFCA II poll. UMD's highest ranking ever in a major national poll was a No. 9 designation it received on Sept. 9, 2003 (AFCA) as well as in 1980 (NCAA) and 1981 (NCAA) ... Jon Lynch has relieved Ted Schlafke in three of the Bulldogs' four engagements to date and, in the process, has become just the second true freshman quarterback in 24 years to see varsity time for UMD (Ricky Fritz was the other in 1998) ... The Bulldogs have already registered nine interceptions this fall (only five less than they had all of last year), including two (one each by junior cornerback Cole Strilzuk and junior nose tackle Tyler Johnson) which have brought back for touchdowns ... Going back to the 2007 finale, UMD has produced a 100-yard rusher in four last five games after failing to do so for the previous 26 outings. Sophomore running back Isaac Odim was the latest to accomplish that feat with an 105-yard effort this past Saturday at Augustana.
UP NEXT: UMD will hit the road for an Oct. 4 NSIC confrontation against Minnesota State University-Moorhead.
