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The University of Minnesota Duluth will put its 11-game regular season road winning streak on the line this Thursday night (Sept. 13) when the Bulldogs travel to St. Cloud, Minn.,to take on Northern Sun Intercollegiate Conference North Division rival St. Cloud State University. Opening kickoff is set for 6 p.m. at Husky Stadium (4,198/artificial turf) on the St. Cloud State campus.

THE RECORDS: UMD, which went 9-3 last season and tied for third place (with the University of Sioux Falls) in the final NSIC standings at 9-2, and St. Cloud State (6-5 overall and in the NSIC one year ago) are both off to a 2-0 starts in 2018.

HOW THEY RANK: Here is how the Bulldogs and Huskies stacked up in this week's American Football Coaches Association Division II and the D2Football.com polls:
 

	AFCA	D2Football
UMD	No. 16	No. 20
SCSU	NR	NR

  
THE BROADCAST: The Bulldog-Husky clash will be carried live locally on 102.5 DUKE FM with Jeff Papas on the call. The broadcast can also be heard at: dukefmduluth.com.

In addition, the Midco Sports Network, as part of its "NSIC Thursday Night Game of the Week" package, will air the proceedings at Husky Stadium with David Brown handling the play-by-play responsibilities and Greg Enkers providing color commentary. The Midco Sport Network channel finder is located at: midcosn.com/schedule/channel-finder.

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

THE RIVALRY: The Bulldogs and Huskies have collided 50 times previously in a rivalry which began back in 1933 -- the third year of intercollegiate football at UMD. The Bulldogs hold a razor-thin 26-24 series lead and are 12-2 in their last 13 meetings with St. Cloud State. One year ago (Sept. 28) in what UMD head coach Curt Wiese called his team's "first complete game of the season", the Bulldogs rolled past the visiting Huskies 34-21 in a Thursday night, battle. The Bulldogs reeled off five straight wins at their long-time intstate rivals expense, a run that started in 2013.

LAST WEEK: UMD parlayed each of its first four possession into touchdowns and went on to topple Minnesota State University-Moorhead 60-7 Saturday night in the Bulldogs' 2018 home debut. Sophomore quarterback John Larson had a hand in six of UMD's eight touchdowns, passing for five scores and running for another. Three of his touchdown strikes went to senior wide out Jason Balts (including a 73-yarder) and another two to redshirted freshman wide out Johnny McCormmick. The Bulldogs outgained the Dragons in total yards (580-194), rushing yards (222-58) and passing yards (358-136) and forced two turnovers while giving up none. They also registered six quarterbacks sacks en route to slaying the Dragons for a 17th consecutive time.

In its first road test of the young 2018 season, St. Cloud State delivered a convincing 44-14 NSIC North Division triumph over the University of Minnesota Crookston on Saturday afternoon.

GIVE THIS DOG A BONE: On the line this Thursday night will be "The Bone", a newly-introduced traveling trophy awarded to the winner of the annual UMD-St. Cloud State matchup.

WELL DONE: For his monster performance in the Bulldogs' 2018 home opener last Saturday, sophomore quarterback John Larson was named the NSIC Offensive Player of the Week The Braham Minn., native threw a career-high five touchdowns passes while going 15-of-19 for 281 yards with no interceptions. He also added another touchdown on the ground (a 10-yard run which opened the scoring for UMD in the first quarter) and paced both teams with 90 rushing yards on nine carries.

This marks the first time a Bulldog has received a weekly citation of any kind from the NSIC since Sept. 19, 2016 (Beau Boefferding -Special Team Player of the Week). Quarterback Drew Bauer (Oct. 15, 2015) was the last Bulldog to be bestowed with a NSIC Offensive Player of the Week honor.

WELL DONE II: John Larson, a 2017 All-NSIC second team selection, currently ranks second among all NCAA II quarterbacks in passing efficiency with a 215.5 mark.

NORTHERN EXPOSURE: Since the NSIC instituted divisional play in 2008, the Bulldogs are a sizzling 64-3 in North Division assignments. Two of those losses came at the hands of St. Cloud -- on consecutive years (35-7 in 2011 and 51-49 in 2012) at Husky Stadium. UMD is the 10-time defending NSIC North Division champion and is a perfect 35-0 all-time at home against North Division foes.

POINT TAKEN: UMD has outscored the opposition 109-10 thus far in 2018 and those 109 points are the most ever compiled by a Bulldog club through the opening two games of a season.

POINT TAKEN II: Through two games, the Bulldogs have scored the second most points and given up the second fewest of any NCAA II team.

QUITE THE CATCH: Senior wide outs Jason Balts (119 receptions) and Nate Ricci (112) hold down the No. 8 and No. 9 spots, respectively, on UMD's all-time catch charts. This year marks just the second time in program history the Bulldogs commenced a season with two members of the 100-reception club on their roster (2014 -- with Aaron Roth and Zach Zweifel -- was the other).

GREAT BALTS OF FIRE: Jason Balts, the 2018 NSIC North Division Preseason Offensive Player of the Year who rolled up a NSIC-leading (and a personal-best) 1,003 receiving yards one year ago, has now caught at least one pass in 20 consecutive games and in each of his last 25 appearances (he missed the 2016 trip to Minot State while nursing an injury). In 32 lifetime outings with the Bulldogs, Balts has been credited with 2,135 pass reception yards -- the sixth highest total in program history.

THERE'S NO PLACE LIKE ROAD: UMD has now reeled off 11 straight regular season road wins going back to a 42-38 setback to Southwest Minnesota State University in the 2016 opener.

START ME UP: Senior offensive tackle Matt Juneau, a three-time All-NSIC North Division honoree, has started 34 consecutive games -- the longest ironman streak of any 2018 Bulldog. Senior wide receiver Jason Balts is next at 20

WE'LL SECOND THAT: The Bulldogs have outscored the opposition 152-34 in the second quarter since the 2017 season opener and haven't given up a second-quarter touchdown in any of their last 10 games.

OH, WHAT A DIFFERENCE A YEAR MAKES: Junior Cameron Hausman, whose 65 punts last fall were four shy of the program record and the most by a Bulldog since 1998, has been called upon only once (at Minot State University two weeks ago) in 2018.

WHAT A RUSH: UMD has outgained the opposition on the ground in 32 of the past 35 games with the 2017 opener against Sioux Falls (when UMD managed negative-16 yards of rushing offense), the ensuing weekend (59 yards versus Minnesota State-Mankato)and the 2017 finale (79 yards vs. the University of Central Missouri) being the exception.

WHAT A RUSH II: Sophomore quarterback John Larson leads all current Bulldogs in career ground yards (505 on 108 attempts). He also ranks first in lifetime rushing touchdowns with five -- which is two more than senior nose tackle and part-time fullback Dre Greer. Greer has found the end zone three of the four times he's carried the football as a Bulldog with the latest of those touchdowns coming in the 2018 opener at Minot State).

WHAT A RUSH III: UMD 75.0 percent efficiency (15 of 20) on third-down conversions is tops among all NCAA II schools at the moment.

QUITE THE RUN: Since taking over the Bulldog program five years ago, Curt Wiese has won 54 of 65 games. Only one other NCAA II head coach -- Colorado State University-Pueblo's John Wristen (56) -- has accumulated more victories during that the time period. Of Wiese's 11 lifetime losses, seven have come against NSIC South Division members (including four at the hands of Minnesota State-Mankato) and one against a NSIC North Division foe (at Northern State on Oct. 31, 2015). The other three setbacks have occurred in postseason play (besides Minnesota State-Mankato).

IT TAKES A THIEF: Five current Bulldogs have an interception to their UMD credit and three of those have multiple thefts -- senior strong safety Sam Lynch (five) sophomore strong safety Bill Atkins (three) and sophomore cornerback Justic'e King (two). Senior cornerback Mitchell Johnson-Martin, senior outside linebacker Alex Helmer and senior defensive back Tareq Abulebbeh have the other three picks. Abulebbeh,a transfer from the Southern Illinois University, has UMD's only interception this season (at Minot State).

IN GOOD HANDS: The Bulldogs have held the upper hand in time of possession in 28 of the past 29 games. Last fall, UMD ranked third among all NCAA II school in average possession time (34:57) after pacing the country in that department the previous season.

UP NEXT: UMD will return of James S. Malosky Stadium on Sept. 22 for a NSIC North Division showdown with Bemidji State.