The No. 25 University of Minnesota Duluth football team will host No. 16 Bemidji State University Saturday at James S. Malosky Stadium in a Northern Sun Intercollegiate Conference game with massive postseason implications. The conference showdown will get underway at 12:00 p.m.


STATISTICALLY SUPERIOR: As a team, the Bulldogs are leading the NSIC in a number of categories.

UMD, along with BSU, own the league's stingiest defense, allowing a league-low 14.2 points a game, which also doubles as the 11th best scoring defense in all of the NCAA.

The offensive side of the ball is ranked just as high -- the Bulldogs own a NSIC-best 38.4 points per game average, which ranks it 16th in the NCAA for scoring offense.

Other stat lines UMD is tops in the NSIC in currently --

1st (5th NCAA) -- Rushing Offense (265.1)

1st (11th NCAA) -- Rushing Defense (78.4)

1st (7th NCAA)  -- Team Tackles for Loss (8.8)

1st (26th NCAA) --Defensive TDs (2)

1st (4th NCAA) -- Net Punting (39.50)

TO RUSH OR NOT TO RUSH: The Bulldogs sit atop of the NSIC and high in the NCAA with both their rushing offense and rushing defense.

On offense, UMD sits first in the conference and fifth in the NCAA with an average of 265.1 yards a game on the ground and a total of 2,121 with 20  touchdowns. In 319 attempts UMD is averaging 6.6 yards per carry.

Defensively, the Bulldogs are allowing just 78.4 yards game and just 2.7 yards in 229 attempts.  That puts UMD 11th in the NCAA and first in the NSIC.

SECOND HALF STALEMATE: UMD's defense has allowed second half points in only three of the eight games they've played this season.

The Bulldogs are giving up an average of  just 5.8 points a game in the second half. In the third quarter alone, UMD has allowed just 2.1 points a game, while in the fourth, just 5.0.

POINT TAKEN (EARLY): The Bulldogs continue to score early through eight games, averaging  24.8 points before halftime. UMD is averaging 12.3 points in the first quarter, and 11.8 in the seocnd quarter.

Overall, the Bulldogs have the highest scoring offense in the NSIC, averaging 38.4 points per game.

A RUSH TO THE TOP: Kyle Walljasper has run for 13  touchdowns through the first eight games -- surpassing his total  output for last season (11).

Walljasper ranks third in the nation with a 7.59 yards per carry and fourth in rushing TDs (11).

Other categories where Walljasper currently ranks in the top-15 in the NCAA:

3rd - Rush Yards per Carry (7.59) 

5th -Total Points Responsible For (170)

5th - Points Responsible for per Game (21.2)

5th - Total Points Scored (78) 

8th - Scoring per game (9.8)

15th - Rushing Yards (805)

SACK ATTACK: The Bulldogs rank10th in the NCAA in sacks, averaging 3.25 sacks a game. UMD also sits 7th for tackles for loss, with 8.8 yard a game. In all, UMD has had 26 sacks in seven games so far this season.

Twice this season the Bulldogs have turned in  eight sacks in a game -- both game-highs for the NSIC this season.

HENNESSEY TRACKS SINGLE-SEASON SACK TOP-10 LIST: Drew Hennessey, who had 3.5 sacks for a league-high against WSU on Sept. 30, ranks 15th in the country with a 0.88 sack per game average -- which also leads the NSIC. Hennessey has eight sacks so far on the season, which already surpasses his 2022 career-high mark of six. Hennessey's 3.5 sacks against the Warriors was also a single-game best by the redshirt senior.

Hennessey is now just one sack shy of cracking into the single-season sacks top-10 list. The last Bulldog to crack into that top-10 list? Former linebacker Nate Pearson, who registered nine sacks in both 2021 and 2019.

TURN IN THE TACKLES: eight players have record 20 or more tackles so far this season, including five that have registered 26 or more.

Redshirt linebacker Andrew Klopp leads UMD with 33 tackes (23 solo), while fifth-year defensive back Marcus Glodowski has 29 (21 solo). Junior linebacker Mac Strand has 25 total to pair with a team-best 25 solo efforts, while graduate defensive back Tim Pokornowski has 28 tackles (24 solo). 

WITNESSING WALLJASPER: Redshirt sophomore quarterback Kyle Walljasper ran for two touchdowns in the third quarter. Walljasper ran  his season total through eight games to 28.  Those 28 TDs now rank Walljasper 7th all-time for total touchdowns in a season. Walljapser has thrown for 15 TDs and run for 13 so far this season and has racked up 170 total points so far this season.

Walljasper also cracked another top-10 list earlier this season -- he accumulated 406 yards against Sioux Falls on Sept. 16, including 270 on the ground and 136 in the air, the 10th most total yards amassed by a Bulldog in a single game ever.

With 1,029 passing yards and 807 rushing yds, Walljasper sits at 1,836 total yards of offense through seven games in 2023.

HAVE LEGS, WILL RUN: UMD's offense is averaging 265.1 rushing yards a game -- the fifth most yards a game in the NCAA and most in the NSIC.

THE MATCHUP: The Bulldogs and Beavers have met 60 times in their history, one that overwhelmingly has favored UMD since they first met for a 14-0 win in 1931 in Duluth. Over the past decaded, which doubles as head coach Curt WIese's tenure, UMD owns a 7-2 record in nine head-t

All-time, UMD is 48-12-1 against BSU, but the Beavers have made it into a rivalry in the past two seasons, with back-to-back wins over the Bulldogs in 2021 (in Bemidji, 42-25) and 2022 (in Duluth, 41-16).

Last season, the Beavers knocked off UMD at home, a 41-16 setback on Oct. 22, 2022. The Bulldogs never really got their offense rolling that day, despite putting up the lone points of the first quarter, a 26-yard field goal at 6:54 by Curtis Cox. 

From there, BSU rattled off 20 points before halftime, and stretched its lead to 27-3 early in the third quarter until then redshirt freshman QB Kyle Walljasper ran in a 31-yd touchdown  at 9:51 of the third to make it a 27-10 game. But the Beavers struck for TDs again in the third and another in the fourth, and despite a touchdown from Armani Carmickle midway through the fourth, it wasn't enough for UMD on the day. 

UMD posted 323 yards of offense in the loss (163 passing, 160 rushing), while BSU turned in 464, including 287 on the ground. The Bulldogs were a perfect 2-of-2 in the red-zone, while the Beavers were 3-of-4, but BSU's defense had three interceptions in the game to UMD's one -- that proved to stifle the Bulldog offense's ability to generate points in the game. Brady Herbst led UMD with 12 tackles, including four that were solo.

LAST TIME OUT: Led by the dual rushing threat of a three-touchdown effort from running back Jaylen McKnight and a two TD showing from quarterback Kyle Walljasper, UMD notched three touchdowns from the ground before half and had hammered out all five before the end of the third quarter. UMD's defense did the rest, holding the Beavers to just 93 total yards on offense, including just 38 on the rush.. In fact, MSU's lone touchdown wasn't generated from its offense – and UMD never allowed the Beavers in the red zone all game.

McKnight ran in both of UMD's touchdowns in the first quarter, the first a 1-yd run to the left with 8:05 remaining, coupled with a Curtis Cox point after attempt, to give the Bulldogs an 7-0 lead.

After Knylen Miller-Levi returned the ensuing kick 100 yards to draw MSU even, McKnight struck again less than four minutes later. The redshirt freshman RB ran his second TD of the afternoon from nine yards out at 4:20 to retake the lead for UMD.

McKnight wasn't done – and he ran for the lone points by either team in the second quarter, a monster 21-yd rip that put the Bulldogs up on the Beavers 21-7 with 2:18 left in the half.

Waljasper – who has rushed for at least a TD in 7-of-8 games he's been under center this season, ran another touchdown in for the Bulldogs at 10:38 of the third quarter, a 2-yard effort  to give UMD a 28-7 lead. The redshirt sophomore quarterback did it again in the same frame less than four minutes later, a 45-yd run that registered as his third longest TD of the season, to extend UMD's choke-hold on the scoreboard to 35-7.

The Bulldog defense, which made the day almost insufferable for the Beavers, put the perfect wrap on UMD's scoring spree with a touchdown of their own. After Drew Hennessy forced a fumble, redshirt senior DL Brian Konz returned it 57 yards to the end zone to make it a 42-7 game with 10:53 left in the game – the first fumble recovery for a TD for UMD since the 2018 season.

In all, UMD recorded 398 total yards of offense – 291 yards of which came from the Bulldogs ground game. UMD was 3-of-4 on its own efforts in the red zone, while Cox was a perfect 6-of-6 on extra points in the game. 

NOTES FROM THE MINOT STATE GAME: 

UMD is 11-0 all-time against the Beavers  since their first meeting in 2012. The Bulldogs have now scored 491 total points against the Beavers  in those 11 games -- a 44.6 ppg average.

--Jaylen McKnight and Kyle Walljasper both went over 100 rushing yards on the day, the first UMD duo to do that in a single game in five years. McKnight ran for a season and career-best 109 yards and now has four TDs on the season, while Walljasper had a game-high 113. It marks the sixth time this season the QB has run for over 100 yards in a game.  The last pair of UMD players to run for over 100 yards in a game prior to Saturday? Wade Sullivan(180) and Cazz Martin (179), who did so against the University of.Minnesota Crookston back on Nov. 2, 2019.

--The Bulldog defense recorded two sacks on the afternoon – one by Drew Hennessy and one by Brady Herbst. Overall, Brad Dati led UMD with five tackles, including three solo efforts, while four other players had four tackles in the game – Andrew Klopp, Alex Sylvester, Herbst and Beffert. Ty'Rese Gibson also picked his second interception of the season off, and coupled it with a 25 yard return.

-- Last Saturday marked the fifth time this season UMD has scored 40 or more points in a game. The last season UMD scored put up 42 or more points in game was in 2019 when the Bulldogs hit the mark a whopping seven times .

--UMD's last fumble recovery for a touchdown was on Oct. 20, 2018, a seven yard return by Mitchell Johnson-Martin against Winona State University. The Beavers lone TD return was the first a UMD team has allowed since 2019 – also against Minot State.

SHUT IT DOWN: The Bulldogs shut out UMary   two weeks ago 46-0, the second time this season that UMD has held an opponent scoreless.

It also marks the first time since the 2017 season that the Bulldogs have posted two or more cleansheets in a season. In 2017, UMD  held three-straight teams without a point -- Northern State (41-0), Minot State (37-0) and Bemidji State (17-0).

In fact, over the past 20 years, UMD has posted two shutouts or more in season just four times -- in addtion to this season and 2017, in 2009 (2) and 2003 (2).

NSIC SEASON NOTABLES: 

--Kyle Walljasper  has scored more rushing TDs than anyone else in the NSIC (13), 2nd yards per game (100.6), tied for first in scoring (9.8 ppg). Walljasper's 24 points again Sioux Falls on Sept. 16 is tied for the most points in a game so far this season, as well as his four TDs, (and rushing TDs) in the same game ranks is tied for the most touchdowns in a single game. 

--DaShaun Ames' ranks second in the NSIC with a  29.4 yards per return average on nine returns. His  93-yd return against WSU is tied for the longest in the league this season.

--Drew Hennessey, 1st Sacks (1.00, 8 total). 2nd tackles for loss (1.86)

--Ethan Beffer, 5th, tackles for loss (1.25)

--Tim Pokornowski, tied for first in interceptions (3). 

--Curtis Cox leads in the NSIC in scoring by a kicker with an average of 7.0 pts per game.Cox tied a program record for fields goals in a game on Sept. 23 against Southwest Minnesota State by making four field goals, the first UMD kicker to hit four in a game since David Nadeau did it against Bemidji State on Sept. 24, 2011.

--The Bulldogs 550 offensive yards against Sioux Falls on Sept. 16 ranks as the biggest haul by any team so far in the NSIC. The Bulldogs averaged 10.0 yds per carry.

REPORTING FOR DUTY: The Bulldogs have five captains for the 2023 season -- graduate seniors Brad Dati, Treyvon Cahalan, Marcus Glodowski, Nathan Bursch and redshirt sophomore Kyle Walljasper.

WIESE HITS 100: Curt Wiese picked up his 100th career victory last in UMD's 42-34 win over Sioux Falls on Sept. 16. All-time, Wiese is 102-32, with a 93-21 record at the helm of the Bulldogs.

Wiese is currently the third all-time winningest coach in UMD program history, and is closing in on the second winningest coach Bob Nielson, who had 100 wins in 10 total seasons.

NOTES ON BEMIDJI STATE: The Beavers are 6-1 overall and on a two game winning streak, with its lone loss to Minnesota State back on Sept. 30 in Bemidji (27-240. BSU was listed in the first NCAA regional rankings this week, and is ranked 16th in the AFCA weekly national poll and 12th by D2Football.com.

The Beavers sit with UMD at the top of the NSIC defensive stats, allowing just 14.3 points a game (the two sides are tied). BSU ranks third in scoring, averaging 36.4 points a contest.

BEAVER PLAYER TO WATCH: Quarterback Brandon Alt remains under center for the Beavers, and has thrown for 17 TDs so far this season with four interceptions.  A Harlon Hill finalist the past two seasons, the senior -- who has never rushed for a touchdown at BSU -- has piled up 111 TDs over five seasons as a Beaver.

HEAD COACH BOLTE: BSU head coach Brent Bolte is 2-4 all-time against UMD, but has no question turned the Beaver football program into a regional contender. A historic 2021 season set a new program standard after BSU qualified for its first-ever NCAA Tournament and brought home a 28-24 road win in the opening round. Bolte continued to push the program to new heights in 2022 as the Beavers again reached 10 victories for the second straight season and reached the second round of the NCAA Playoffs. In his six seasons guiding the program, Bemidji State has won at least eight games in five seasons.