Box Score It wasn't the start the University of Minnesota Duluth had anticipated, but the finish is all that mattered for the Bulldogs Saturday afternoon in Aberdeen, S.D. Northern State jumped out to an early 7-0 lead by marching 87 yards on three plays, but UMD pretty much took control after that as the No. 5 Bulldogs rattled off 39 straight points and whipped the Wolves 39-7 to close out the 2013 regular season. The win was the eighth in a row for UMD, which improved to 10-1 and all but assured itself a spot in the NCAA Division II playoffs for a sixth consecutive year. The 24-team field for the 2013 championship will be announced at 4 p.m. (CT) Sunday on ncaa.com.

Freshman quarterback Drew Bauer registered a rare touchdown double -- running eight yards for one score and hauling in a 15-yard pass from sophomore wide receiver Justin Fowlkes on a trick play for another six points  -- while Austin Sikorski rushed 14 times for a game-high 129 yards and found the end zone once. With that effort, the junior running back went over 1,000 yards for the first time in his career (he now has 1,117 yards on the season) and cracked the 100-yard rushing barrier for 10th time as a collegian. Half of the passes Bauer completed on the day (he was 16-of-26 for 171 yards) landed in the capable hands of junior wide out Zach Zweifel, who equaled a career-high with eight receptions. The Bulldogs, who led 19-7 at the half and 25-7 after three quarters before icing the game with a pair of fourth-quarter touchdowns by senior running back Chaz Thomas and senior wide out Austin Selvick, rolled up 468 yards of total offense (260 on the ground and 208 through the air). On the other side of the football, they limited the Wolves (4-7 overall) to just 57 rushing yards and 205 yards overall.  Senior outside linebacker Nate Zuk topped UMD defensively with five total tackles, while five others -- sophomore linebacker Ryan Peterson, senior defensive end Chris Vandervest, freshman linebacker Beau Bates, senior linebacker Colby Ring and sophomore freee safety David Boegel -- were each credited with four stops. Ring also came away with UMD's lone interception, his team-high second of the year.

The Bulldogs, who are unbeaten in their last six confrontations with the Wolves, have now won nine straight regular season finales. They also hiked their all-time NSIC North Division record to 36-2.