The University of Minnesota Duluth will launch the Northern Sun Intercollegiate Conference North Division portion of its 2015 regular season schedule this Saturday (Oct. 3) when the Bulldogs take their show on the road for a clash with Minnesota State University-Moorhead. Opening kickoff is scheduled for 2 p.m. at Alex Nemzek Stadium (4,000 capacity/artificial turf) on the MSU-Moorhead campus.

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THE RECORDS: UMD is off to an even 2-2 start this fall while MSU-Moorhead is 3-1 on the year.

HOW THEY RANK: Here is how the Bulldogs and Dragons stacked up in this week's American Football Coaches Association Division II and the D2Football.com polls:
 
        AFCA    D2Football    
UMD        No. 25    No. 15
MSUM        NR    NR     
   
THE BROADCAST: The Bulldog-Dragon matchup will be carried live locally on 92.1 FM The Fan with Jeff Papas handling the play-by-play responsibilities. The broadcast can also be heard on KQ 105.5 FM in Grand Rapids/Hibbing, Minn.; KQ 106.7 FM in Ely/Virginia, Minn.; 105.7 FM The Fan Siren/Pine City, Minn., and Red Zone Sports Radio 930 in Aitkin, Minn., as part of the Bulldog Radio Network and at: 921thefan.com or free via the iHeartRadio app.

Saturday night's game will be videostreammed as well and can be accessed for free at: portal.stretchinternet.com/umd.

THE COACH: Curt Wiese is now in his third season of head coaching duty with the Bulldogs, having guided them to a 26-5 overall record, two consecutive NCAA II playoff appearances, one overall NSIC title (it shared that honor with Minnesota State University-Mankato last fall) and two straight NSIC North Division crowns. Last fall, UMD went 13-1 (its third most single-season victories ever) and closed out the year holding down the No. 3 spot in the final AFCA Division II poll. That followed up a rookie-go-around that included an 11-2 mark in all games and a No. 8 final AFCA II poll ranking.

For his exemplary efforts, Wiese was selected the 2013 Liberty Mutual Coach of the Year Award winner for Division II, a prestigious honor recognizing coaches for their responsibility, integrity, sportsmanship and excellence, on and off the field.

Since being appointed UMD's sixth head coach on Dec. 21, 2012, Wiese has helped produce 10 All-Americans and 16 All-NSIC first team selections while 26 of his Bulldogs have earned NSIC All-Academic status (including offensive lineman Andrew Pattock, who as a senior in 2013 was named a first team CoSIDA Academic All-American).

In addition, UMD has cracked the Top 25 in every American Football Coaches Association Poll during Wiese's head coaching tenure.
 
Over the course of Wiese's successful five-season run as the team's offensive coordinator, the Bulldogs finished near the top of the NCAA II leader board four times in scoring (third in 2012 with a school-record 46.5 points per game average, fifth in 2008, sixth in 2010 and ninth in 2009) and in 2012 possessed the nation's seventh best rushing attack (after ranking seventh, fourth, and third, respectively, in that department the previous three seasons). The 2012 Bulldogs were also the nation's leader in third down conversions (54.8 percent). In addition, no less than 15 of his pupils landed some kind of All-American recognition, including a pair of Harlon Hill Award finalists -- quarterback Ted Schlafke (2008), the school's career passing and total offense leader, and running back Isaac Odim (2009), UMD's No. 1 all-time ground gainer and scorer and the holder of 17 school records. In addition, his starting offensive guard from 2009-12, Garth Heikkinen, became the school's first recipient of the Gene Upshaw Division II Lineman of the Year of Award and earned a playing spot in the annual East-West Shrine Game in January 2013.

Since Wiese's arrival at UMD in February 2008, the Bulldogs have gone 88-12 (for an NCAA II-best .880 winning percentage) while capturing two NCAA II national championships (2008 and 2010), six overall NSIC titles and seven NSIC North Division crowns. They've also made seven NCAA II playoff appearances and produced two perfect 15-0 seasons and three 11-0 regular seasons.

Wiese, 39, came to UMD following two years of employment as the head coach at NCAA III member Marietta College (Ohio). He compiled a 9-11 career overall record with the Pioneers, including a 6-4 mark in 2006. The Stoughton, Wis., native signed on with the Marietta football program in 2003 when he became the team's offensive coordinator -- a duty he continued to maintain after he was elevated to head coach. In five years of directing the Marietta offense, Wiese helped churn out two All-Americans and 12 All-Ohio Athletic Conference selections and was a finalist for the 2004 AFCA Division III Assistant Coach of the Year Award.

Prior to his move to Marietta, Wiese worked as a graduate assistant at the University of Wisconsin-Eau Claire, tutoring the tight ends for two years and the offensive line for one season. He entered the coaching arena a little over a dozen years ago on the heels of a four-year collegiate playing career. After three seasons at Minnesota State University-Mankato (1995-97), Wiese transferred to the University of Wisconsin-Stevens Point, where as a senior in 1998, he quarterbacked the Pointers to a share of the Wisconsin Intercollegiate Athletic Conference title.

THE RIVALRY: Saturday afternoon's game will mark the 57th meeting ever between UMD and MSU-Moorhead. The Bulldogs hold a commanding 35-17-4 lead in the all-time series, which began back in 1932 -- the second season of intercollegiate football at UMD -- and have reeled off 13 straight wins over their long-time rivals, including a 68-23 takedown one year ago (Oct. 4) at James S. Malosky Stadium.

LAST WEEK: Drew Bauer hooked up with junior linebacker-turned-tight end Ben McDonald on a one-yard touchdown pass with 3:39 to play in the fourth quarter to lift the Bulldogs to a 28-24 victory over previously unbeaten Upper Iowa University on a foggy Saturday evening in Duluth. UMD hadn't trailed the entire ball game until nine minutes into the fourth quarter when back-to-back touchdown from Derik Portis gave the Peacocks a 24-21 lead. Bauer, who engineered a six-play, 66-yard scoring drive on the ensuing series, accounted for nearly 85 percent of UMD's offensive production, rushing 24 times for 117 yards and one touchdown while throwing for another 272 yards and a pair of scores. He was 14-of-26 through the air with no picks and even caught one pass (his fifth with the Bulldogs). Senior placekicker Andrew Brees added a pair of field goals for the Bulldogs, who improved to 6-0 all-time versus Upper Iowa. Senior free safety David Boegel was credit with a UMD-high 10 total tackles and senior linebacker Brent Stiglich had nine stops for a defense that allowed 199 yards on the ground and another 202 yards via the right arm of quarterback Dimitri Morales.

MSU-Moorhead was knocked from the ranks of the unbeatens, dropping a 48-9 road decision to unbeaten Southwest Minnesota State University Saturday evening. The host Mustangs closed out the win with 34 unanswered points.and held a huge 553-227 advantage in total yards. Freshman running back Herman Gray paced the Dragons with 73 ground yards on 12 carries.

DRAGON SLAYERS: Not only have the Bulldogs won 13 games in a row at MSU-Moorhead's expense (since dropping a 20-14 decision on Oct. 2, 1999 in Duluth), but over the past seven games they've outscored the Dragons by a combined 415-127 while not once being held under 45 points. The 13-game victory streak is currently the Bulldogs' longest against and active NSIC club (it shares that distinction with Bemidji State,which like the Dragons, have not defeated UMD since the 1999 season).

THE PRIDE OF THE NORTH: Since the NSIC instituted divisional play in 2008, the Bulldogs are a sizzling 43-2 in NSIC North Division assignments (24-0 at home) with both of those two losses coming to St. Cloud State (51-49 in 2012 and 35-7 in 2011).

PRIDE OF THE NORTH II: UMD, the seven-time defending NSIC North Division champion, will bring a 20-game North Division winning streak into this Saturday's bout with MSU-Moorhead. The Bulldogs have also won nine straight NSIC North Division road outings since being upended 51-49 by St. Cloud State on Sept. 29, 2012

THE ROAD LESS TRAVELED: Since downing Ouachita Baptist University 48-45 in overtime in the second round of the NCAA II playoffs last November, the Bulldogs are 0-3 away from home. That three-game skid is UMD's since the 2007 when the Bulldogs dropped its first four road assignments of the season

BAUER POWER: The last time the Bulldogs and MSU-Moorhead collided (Oct. 4, 2014), current junior quarterback Drew Bauer became the first Bulldog ever to achieve the touchdown trifecta as he threw for one score, ran for another, and caught a third (an 11-yard toss from then-freshman wide out Nate Ricci). Bauer, the 2015 NSIC North Division Preseason Offensive Player and the holder of the school's single-season rushing record for a quarterback (983 yards in 2014), has already generated both the fourth most all-time total yards (6,769) and passing yards (4,763) in program history. He'll enter Saturday evening's bout with MSU-Moorhead sporing a 26-5 career record as a starter.

CATCHING ON FAST: Junior wideout/runningback Beau Bofferding has caught at least one pass in each of the last 17 games since being blanked in that department in the 2013 season opener.

CATCHING ON FAST II: Junior wide out Dominic Bonner, who transferred to UMD this fall from Cabrillo College (Calif.), hooked up with junior quarterback Drew Bauer for a 78-yard gain against Upper Iowa this past Saturday night. That was the longest pass play by the Bulldogs since the 2010 season. Three weeks earlier, Bonner parlayed his first UMD reception into a 51-yard pickup against Minnesota State-Mankato. He currently paces the Bulldogs in pass receptions with 14 and is averaging 20.6 yards per catch (second on the club to Bofferding's 21.4 figure).

WHAT A RUSH: Senior team captain Logan Lauters, who was sidelined with a lower body injury during UMD's second series of the night last Saturday, occupies the No. 2 on UMD's career rushing charts with 3,297 yards.That's 945 yards behind the No. 1 occupant, three-time All-American Isaac Odim (4,442 yards from 2008-10). Lauters's career 6.4 yards per run average takes a backseat only Odim's 7.2 clip (2008-10) among Bulldogs with 1,000 or more yards. He currently ranks eighth among all active NCAA II players in career yards per carry and ninth in rushing yards. One year ago, Lauters rolled up 1,531 yards on the ground -- a figure eclipsed by only one other Bulldog ever in a single-season (Isaac Odim in both 2009 and 2008).

CLOSE SHAVES: UMD's two losses this season have come on the road to a pair of nationally-ranked opponents by a combined seven points (20-17 to No. 1 Minnesota State-Mankato in the 2015 opener and 35-31 last Saturday to then-No. 12 Sioux Falls). This marks just the second time since 2007 the Bulldogs have lost two games during the regular season (2011 was the other).

JUST WIN, BABY: Head coach Curt Wiese has won 26 of 31 games since taking over the Bulldog program three seasons ago and only two other NCAA II coaches -- Northwest Missouri State University's Adam Dorrel (29) and Colorado State University-Pueblo's John Wristen (28) have generated more victories during that the time period.

BALL CONTROL: UMD currently ranks 10th among all NCAA II clubs in time of possession (34:07) and leads the entire NSIC in that department.

GETTING HIS KICKS: Senior Andrew Brees, who is perfect in both field goal attempts (five-for-five) and extra point attempts (12-for-12) this season, was one of 21 individuals nationwide to earn a Fred Mitchell Kicker of the Month citation for September. The two-time All-NSIC North Division first team pick (2014 and 2012) in his fourth season as UMD's primary placekicker this fall and is also handling the club's punting duties as well.

THERE'S NO PLACE LIKE HOME: This season marks the 50th year of Bulldog football at Malosky Stadium. Since moving to that on-campus facility on Oct. 29, 1966, the Bulldogs have won over 77 percent of their home games, going 191-54-4 (.775). In recent times, opponents have found victories even harder to come by at Malosky Stadium as UMD has amassed a sizzling 46-3 mark there since the 2008 opener. The Bulldogs have also gone 52-1 versus overall NSIC competition at Malosky Stadium since Oct. 21, 2000 with that lone loss being inflicted by Minnesota State-Mankato on Sept. 21, 2013 (21-17). In addition, UMD has yet to lose a home bout with a colleague from the NSIC's North Division (24-0). In addition, UMD has now reeled off 13 straight home victories, a run that began on Oct. 5, 2013 -- two weeks after a 21-17 loss to Minnesota State-Mankato.

WHERE THEY'RE FROM: Just over 92 percent of the current crop of Bulldogs are either Minnesota (55) or Wisconsin (41) natives. California (3), Illinois (2), Florida (1), Colorado (1), and Washington (1) are home to the remaining nine Bulldogs.

CLASS WARFARE: Of the 104 individuals who comprise the 2015 Bulldog roster, only 29 are seniors (11) or juniors (18). There are 18 sophomores, 26 redshirt freshmen and 31 first-year rookies.

BULLDOG BITS: Senior cornerback Darion Fletcher has thwarted more pass attempts (10) than all but three players in the entire nation thus far ... This Saturday marks the fifth time in as many weeks the Bulldogs will face an opponent with a .500 or above record and the first time all season it hasn't squared off with an unbeaten foe ... Senior Logan Lauters has rushed for 100 or more yards on a team-high 13 occasions as a Bulldog. Drew Bauer is next with six ... The Bulldogs have outscored the opposition 81-38 in the first half in 2015 but have been outscored 43-48 in the final 30 minutes of play ... The Bulldogs have appeared in every AFCA II poll since Aug. 12, 2008 ... Just 11 individuals make up the Bulldogs' 2015 senior class and of those 11, only eight -- David Boegel, Andrew Brees, Ty Fischer (who joined the Bulldogs this fall after a two-season absence), Darion Fletcher, Justin Fowlkes, Logan Lauters, Mark Nahorniak and Brent Stiglich -- began their collegiate careers at UMD ... Both junior quarterback Drew Bauer and junior offensive tackle Peter Bateman have made more career starts (31 in a row) than any other active Bulldog while the senior trio of free safety David Boegel, placekicker Andrew Brees and cornerback Darion Fletcher share the team lead for career appearances (42 of a possible 43). Boegel leads all current Bulldogs in career tackles with 167 while Fletcher is next at 145 .

ON TAP: The Bulldogs will return to Malosky Stadium on Oct. 10 to host St. Cloud State in their annual Homecoming game.