Saturday will be about as high stakes as it gets for the University of Minnesota Duluth and No. 5 Augustana University football teams, who both will tangle at Kirkeby-Over Stadium in Sioux Falls, SD in an important Northern Sun Intercollegiate Conference showdown. The two teams, meeting for the first time since 2022, will kickoff at 1:00 p.m.
WIESE GETS 100 UMD WINS: Bulldog head coach Curt Wiese became just the third head coach ever to reach the 100 UMD win mark last Saturday against Southwest Minnesota State University. With the win, Wiese tied former head coach Bob Nielson, who reached 100 wins in 10 seasons. Wiese, the eighth head coach in the program's 91 seasons, has a .806 winning percentage to pair with his 100-24 UMD record. In fact, Wiese's winning percentage at UMD ranks him third among all active head coaches at the NCAA DII level.
UMD TIES SINGLE-GAME SACK RECORD: The Bulldog defense tied a 16 year old record against the Mustangs last Saturday by recording 10 sacks in the game. Led by senior linebacker Mac Strand, who had five tackles, which included four solo efforts, four players recorded four tackles, including David Gauderman, Blake Gode, Allen Pearson Jr. and Drew Hennessey. Along with his career-high 2.5 sacks, Gode also had a game-tying best 2.5 tackles for loss for 10 yards. In all, UMD's defensive core knotted a record set that had stood alone since Sept. 10, 2007 against Bemidji State University.
HENNESSEY JOINS THE TOP-10 CAREER SACK CLUB: Drew Hennessey needed just .5 of a sack to crack UMD's all-time career top-10 sack club entering Saturday's contest. The graduate defensive end did just that and more, dropping SMSU's QB with 10:07 left in the quarter to run his career sack haul to 17.5 – good enough for the ninth-most career sacks in program history. His sack mark makes him the first Bulldog player since Nate Pearson (2017-21) to record 17 or more sacks in a career, and the second most in program history. Russ Rabe owns UMD's career sack record with 29, set 2001-04.
Hennessey is now just a single sack from tying the No. 7 spot currently held by Rob Huberty (2008-11) and Cody Ahmann (2004-07).
Hennessey turned in eight sacks in 2023 for a career-best, and was just one sack shy of reaching the 10th spot for the most sacks in a single season. UMD has had four players all-time record nine sacks -- in all, 11 players have turned in nine or more sacks in a single season.
TAKE AME(S): Redshirt junior wide receiver DaShaun Ames has been Kyle Walljasper's top target so far this season, and he leads the Bulldogs with five receiving TDs (second most in the NSIC) after adding two last weekend. Ames has recorded 411 receiving yards for a 27.4 yards per catch average -- the second most of an WR in the NSIC. Ames is averaging 102.8 yards a game through the four games of the season, also good enough for second in the NSIC.
Averaging just under four receptions a game, Ames has already bested his career season-high for receiving TDs (three in 2023), and tied his total single-season career high for touchdowns set last season (5). Ames has 1065 yards so far over his career, which has included just 24 games for a 44.4 yards per game average. Ames also ranks fourth in yards per reception in the NCAA.
THERE'S NO RUSH: The Bulldogs lead the NSIC in a plethora of categories, and one of those is their top rushing defense, which has given up just 47 rushing yards total in four games for a eye-popping 11.8 a game. The next best rushing offense in the NSIC? Augustana, which has given up five times the yardage (271 yards) and is allowing just 67.8 yards on the ground a game.
THE MATCHUP: UMD will face No. 25 Augustana for the 14th time in program history on Saturday. The Bulldogs lead the all-time series 12-2, and most recently defeated the Vikings 34-24 in Sioux Falls, SD on Nov. 5, 2022. UMD has an 11-game winning streak against AU that started on Oct. 6, 2007 and is 4-1 against the Vikings in Sioux Falls.
The Bulldogs are averaging 31.8 points a game against the Augustana -- their first encounter was on Oct. 23, 2004, a 47-16 UMD win.
In their last meeting two seasons ago in Sioux Falls on Nov. 5, 2022, the Bulldogs defeated AU 34-24. UMD had a touchdown in each of the first three quarters while holding the Vikings to a field goal in each of those frames.
With a 31-9 lead after three quarters, Kyle Walljasper hit Kutis Weigand on 6-yd pass fo make it a 27-9 game with 10:57 left. The Vikings scored a few minutes later, but UMD again responded, this time with a 6-yd run from Wade Sullivan pushed the Bulldogs ahead 34-16 with just 2:45 left in regulation. Augustana added a TD just 20 seconds later, but would come no closer than the 34-24 final score.
Walljasper threw four touchdowns (he has now done so three times over his career and once a season) on 207 yards, but also added 99 yards with his legs. Zach Ojile added two touchdowns in the air for UMD -- in all three players caught TDs in the game.
Marcus Glodowski had a team-high eight tackles, including a game-best six solo efforts. Brady Herbst had two sacks for UMD, who had a total of six in the game.
MORE ON THE VIKINGS: Augustana's head coach Jerry Olszewski is in his 12th season at the helm of the Vikings. He has an overall record of 76-43. Before Augustana, he was a head coach for St. Olaf for five years, posting a record of 32-18.
AU lost to Colorado School of Mines in the Division II Playoffs last year 56-10, ending one of the best season's in program history.
Sophomore quarterback Gunnar Hensley has thrown 10 touchdowns, along with five interceptions and a 183.9 rating. Senior WR Jack Fisher has a team-high four receiving TDs, while four different players have scored a rushing touchdown.
Senior DL Will Davis leads the league with four solo sack, while the Vikings trail only UMD in team sacks with 15.
LAST TIME OUT: Behind one of the best offensive outings in five seasons, including touchdowns by seven different players, the UMD handily defeated Southwest Minnesota State University 62-0 Saturday afternoon at James S. Malosky Stadium.
The Bulldogs were led by a pair of first half touchdowns from redshirt junior wide receiver DaShaun Ames and a smothering defense that held the Mustangs to just 77 total yards of offense all day, which included just 36 rushing yards.
That defense affected the game immediately when senior defensive back Jacob Mogensen intercepted SMSU quarterback Kendon Krogman a mere 1:25 into the first quarter. Mogen's first Bulldog touchdown and a Curtis Cox kick made it a 7-0 game. But UMD – who allowed just 3-of-19 third down conversions all day by the Mustangs, ended up on offense 3:07 later, and cashed in with a 66 yard passing touchdown from redshirt junior quarterback Kyle Walljasper to Ames for the 14-0 lead.
Cox hit back-to-back 37 yard and 28 yard field goals to close out the first quarter and build the Bulldogs lead to 20-0.
UMD tacked on another seven points 44 seconds into the second frame when Walljasper hit sixth-year offensive lineman AIden Williams, and Williams rushed in from 11 yards – the first touchdown of his career – for the 27-0 edge. 2:24 later, Walljasper and Ames connected again – this time for a 64-yard touchdown and 34-0 score in favor of UMD. Ames, who ranks 13th in the country with an average 22.75 yards per reception, scored his sixth touchdown of the season – the second most in the NSIC.
Unquestionably, UMD had so much success in the opening 25 minutes of the game that Walljasper was subbed off around the 10 minutes mark of the second, only to have redshirt sophomore QB Jacob Eggert pick up exactly where Walljasper left off. Eggert ran his own touchdown in from five yards out with 9:25 left before halftime, and then capped that off with a 53-yard touchdown to redshirt freshman WR Chuck Gilbert III, who ran into the end zone with 2:39 remaining until halftime to increase UMD's point total to 48-0.
The Bulldogs halftime lead was its biggest of the season, and its biggest advantage after two quarters of play since it put up 48 first half points against Northern State University at the end of the 2019 season – Nov. 26, 2019 to be exact.
But the maroon clad team was far from done, and at the 12:48 mark of the third quarter, redshirt freshman running back Ben Vallafskey had a 61 yard touchdown run – both his first collegiate TD and the longest run of his UMD career all at once.
Less than 50 seconds later, and after redshirt sophomore OLB Blake Gode's second sack of the game, the Bulldogs again scored off their run game, this time courtesy of freshman Ben Lindley, who cut away from a pile to run 44 yards and extend UMD's whipping of the Mustangs to 62-0.
UMD's 62 points was the most put up on an opponent since it rang the University of Mary up for 59 last November. In all, the Bulldogs put up 484 total yards of offense, including 266 yards on the ground and 218 in the air. The Mustangs were held to just four rushing yards – despite having the most attempts of any team against UMD this season with 36 – and 73 in the air for the entire game.
BULLDOG NOTES: UMD is now 30-7-1 all-time against the Mustangs and have won four straight games vs SMSU.
--DaShaun Ames' 138 receiving yards is a new collegiate high -- it marks his second two-TD game of the season and sixth overall
--UMD had its highest scoring quarter in the second period – 28 point -- the Bulldogs converted 4-of -12 third downs while SMSU was successful on 3-of-19.
LEADING THE PACK: UMD owns the NSIC's best offense and defense, putting up 42.3 points a game while allowing just 11.0.
The Bulldogs have put up a NSIC-high 473.0 yards a game, while again leading the league by allowing their opponents just 173.5 yards a game. UMD's already noted rushing defense leads the NSIC, but the Bulldogs also lead with an impressive 23 team sacks -- eight more then second AU with 15.
UMD is also leading in fewest opponent first downs (12.5 a game) and opponent third down conversions (21.9 a game).
UMD has league-leaders in tackles for loss (Matt Weerts, 1.50 a game) and passes defended -- Preston McQueen 1.50 a game, while Auggie's WIll Davis leads the lead in sacks 1.13 a game), with Drew Hennessey right behind him at .88 a game.
The Bulldogs scoring offense also ranks eighth in the NCAA, while DaShaun Ames sits fourth with yards per reception and 10th in receiving TDs.
