THE MATCHUP UMD football will pack their bags and head to Concordia St. Paul for a 12 p.m. kick off this Saturday, Oct. 15. This will be week three of divisional play for UMD. As of now, UMD is 2-0 in divisional play and 4-2 overall. Minnesota Duluth leads the all-time series against the Bears, 11-3. In recent years, the Bulldogs have had great success against CSP and have not lost a game since 2004. The teams last played on Oct. 16, 2021 where the Bulldogs won 33-13. The Bulldogs finished the third quarter up 12-0 after
Curtis Cox kicked four field goals. Cox kicked a total of 143 yards with his four field goals including a 51-yards make. Late in the fourth quarter
Sam Pitz recorded a touchdown on a deep 26 yard pass.
Brad Dati led the defense in that game with eight tackles and a sack.
LAST TIME OUT Minnesota Duluth is coming off another win at home where they defeated UMary in a 49-14 game. The Bulldogs clicked in all three phases of the game, and ultimately led to their highest scoring game of the season. The defense came off strong against the Marauders, as they made a sack on the first play, then made an interception on UMA's second drive. The Bulldogs followed their interception up with a touchdown on a 42 yard drive. In the second quarter of the game, UMD put up two more touchdowns to lead 21-7 at the half. Minnesota Duluth entered the second half the game just as strong as the first as they put up four more touchdowns. Tallying one of the touchdowns was red-shirt freshman
Nate Elmes. Elmes completed his first career pass of 22 yards for a touchdown. In the third quarter,
Dayvia Gbor recorded his fourth interception of the season.
WALLJASPER FOR THE WIN Quarterback
Kyle Walljasper had a stellar game against the Marauders. Walljasper scored four rushing touchdowns. The quarterback led the Bulldogs in rushing yards with 123. Walljasper recorded his fourth touchdown on a 51 yard rush. In his game against UMary, he broke season highs for rushing yards (123), longest rush (51), rushing touchdowns (4), passing yards (29), and longest pass (29).
TOP 'DOGS The Bulldogs still hold their spots at the top of conference and national rankings. UMD's defense is ranked first in the NSIC conference and 12th nationally for total defense. Additionally, they are ranked second in the conference and 20th nationally for red-zone defense. On the offensive side of the game, they are ranked third in the NSIC and 14th nationally for rushing offense. The Bulldogs' special teams for kickoff return defense are ranked first in the NSIC and second in the nation.
Dayvia Gbor, with four, still leads the NSIC in interceptions and ranks fifth in the country.
SCOUTING THE OPPONENTS Concordia St. Paul enters the weekend with an overall record of 0-6. The Bears last kicked off against Bemidji State where they were shutout 44-0. Concordia's defense notched five sacks, including one from Javon Jones, who sacked the Beaver's quarterback 20 yards. The Bears were led in tackles by Andrew Egnarski with a total of 19. Defensive tackle Koffi Gbekle recorded a blocked PAT against BSU. For the game, CSP had just 13 first downs, and a total of 236 total offensive yards. Quarterback Connor Cordts had 134 passing yards with his longest at 37. On the season Cordts has recorded 1071 passing yards to average 178 yards per game. Although the Bears record is 0-6, the Bulldogs will have to stay locked in and bring their best game Saturday.
