The University of Minnesota Duluth's 2016 season – and its 10-game winning steak – came to an end Saturday afternoon in the form of a 59-26 road setback to Emporia State University in the opening round of the NCAA Division II playoffs.
 
The  No. 13 Bulldogs finished their 84th year of intercollegiate football with a 10-2 overall record.
 
"Obviously this was a tough loss for our team and program," said UMD head coach Curt Wiese, who owns a 3-3 NCAA II playoff record.  "Emporia State played a good game and you have to hand it to them. It came down to making stops on defense and not turning the ball over on offense and they did a better job doing that today."
 
The Bulldogs, who trailed the entire afternoon, went into halftime down by just a touchdown (28-20) before being outscored 31-6 in the final two quarters of regulation. Sophomore wide out Jason Balts accounted for two of UMD's three first-half scores, hauling in a 38-yard strike from senior quarterback Drew Bauer six minutes into the first quarter and then taking a kickoff 90 yards to the house midway through the second quarter. He wound up making seven receptions for 137 yards.
 
Hornet quarterback Braxton Marstall threw for 481 yards and five touchdowns – including four of 46 yards or more. No. 9 Emporia State (11-1), which was hosting its first NCAA II playoff event, also returned a fumble 35 yards for the final touchdown of the afternoon.
 
Bauer, in the 48th and final appearance of his brilliant Bulldog career, completed 24 of a personal-high 46 passes for 340 yards and two touchdowns, but was picked off twice (for the first time all season) and sacked eight times. Bauer did break the UMD single-season passing yardage record during the course of the afternoon (he finished with 3,461 yards to eclipse the previous mark of 3,335 set by Ted Schlafke in 2005). For the second straight week, he also topped the Bulldogs in rushing with 56 yards on 23 carries while senior running back Darren Walker ran 15 times for 50 yards.
 
The Hornets rolled up 601 yards of total offense, including 488 yards through air – both the largest outputs generated by a Bulldog opponent this fall. Senior inside linebacker Beau Bates equaled a career high with 12 total tackles to lead both teams and had two of UMD's six sacks. That pushed his season sack total to a Northern Sun Intercollegiate Conference-leading 13.0 while giving him 19.0 for his career – the fourth most ever registered by a Bulldog.  UMD as a team closed out 2016 with 52 sacks –two more than the previous program record set eight years ago.

The loss marked the end of line for the Bulldogs' 14 seniors --  Bates, Bauer, offensive tackle  Peter Bateman (who was sidelined with a lower body injury), cornerback Tony Beasley, cornerback Tavaugh Blair, wide out/running back/return specialist Beau Bofferding, center Matt Catton, offensive tackle Cameron Hehn, inside linebacker Ben McDonald, placekicker Tyler McLaughlin, offensive guard Connor Randall, nose guard Isaac Vesel, running back Darren Walker, and center Willy Westerman. Over the last four seasons, that group went 43-8, won four of a possible four NSIC North Division titles and made three NCAA II playoff appearances.

"I'm still trying to digest that his senior class is gone," added Wiese. "I have not been around a group like this during my entire career. They are as high quality of human beings I've ever seen and they're going to be missed."