The University of Minnesota Duluth football team will travel to Winona, Minn. to face Northern Sun Intercollegiate Conference member Winona State University Saturday. The Bulldogs and Warriors will kickoff at Altra Federal Credit Union Stadium 1:00 p.m. 


WILLIAMS BECOMES THIRD-EVER UMD SHRINE BOWL INVITEE: Sixth-year tackle Aiden Williams has been invited to the 2025 East-West Shrine Bowl that will take place at AT&T Stadium in Dallas, Texas on Thursday, Jan. 30 at 7:00 p.m.

Williams becomes the third-ever Bulldog to be invited to the heralded game (and second in three seasons), following in the footsteps of offensive lineman Brent Laing in 2023, and offensive guard Garth Heikkinen in 2012. Williams was named to the 2025 East-West Shrine Bowl 1000 in July, an early watchlist for the annual all-star game featuring the nation's best NFL Draft prospects. The Anchorage, Alaska native was also named to the 2025 Reese's Senior Bowl Watchlist and D2Football.com Elite 100 Watch List in August.

This season, Williams has helped lead the NSIC's second-best rushing offense to a 193.8 yards a game and has provided coverage for the league's highest scoring offense – UMD is currently averaging 33.8 points a game. Williams also scored his first-ever college touchdown on Sept. 28th against Southwest Minnesota State University – a 11-yard rushing score.

RUSH OF RILEY: Redshirt freshman Alex Riley had a breakout game last weekend against Minot State, running for a 103 yards and three touchdowns, all collegiate highs for the running back. Riley also averaged 8.6 yards  per carry -- 12 in all. Riley now has five TDs this season, including four over the past two games -- his first career touchdown came against the University of Mary on Sept. 21.

Riley leads all Bulldog RBs with those five TDs, while QB Kyle Walljasper has three rushing touchdowns so far this season.

As a team last Saturday, UMD had a season-most 49 rushing attempts to pair with its season-best 292 rushing yards. Derrick Johnson also added 77 yards on the ground against the Beavers on 17 carries for a 4.4 yards per carry average.

NO RUSH HERE: UMD continues to lead the NSIC with the fewest rushing yards given up a game with just 69.6 and are allowing just 2.1 yards per attempt, another league low. 

The Bulldogs also lead the league with an average of 33.8 points a game and an offensive efficiency of 165.5. 

UMD also leads the league with a league-best 28 sacks, and ranks second in yardage with 160.

THE MATCHUP: UMD is 37-10 all-time against Winona State and has won 10-straight games against the Warriors dating back to the 2008 season (when UMD rejoined the NSIC). In fact, since 2002 -- which covers 12 games between the league foes -- UMD has lost just once (Nov. 15, 2003), and has averaged 35.4. The Bulldogs are also 4-1 in Winona, Minn. over that span.

Last season, the Bulldogs defeated the Warriors 38-14 at Malosky Stadium on Sept. 23, 2023. 

In that game, UMD went to the air in the first half to score, and the first touchdown of the game came after a nine-play, 85 yard drive that ended with a 18-yard TD toss by redshirt sophomore quarterback Kyle Walljasper to senior running back Daniel Mitchell gave UMD a 7-0 lead at 7:39 of the first quarter.

The Bulldogs defense smothered the Warriors early, highlighted by back-to-back sacks from redshirt senior linebacker Drew Hennessey that forced WSU to punt with 11:18 left in the quarter. Just 1:14 later, UMD showcased some offensive trickery when Walljasper ran to his left, quickly pitched the ball back to redshirt sophomore wide receiver DaShaun Ames, who then rolled to his right on WSU's 25 yardl ine and hit a wide open Sam Pitz. Pitz walked in from 10 yards out for the touchdown to give the Bulldogs a 14-0 lead at 10:04 of the second.

After UMD's defense again kept WSU away from the end zone, Walljasper and Co. needed just 2:11 to take a 21-0 lead. Walljasper hit Pitz right up the middle for a 37 yard touchdown pass, and a Marcus Glodowski interception on UMD's 22-yd line secured the commanding 21-0 advantage at halftime.

Ames, who already had thrown for one TD on the day, opened up the third quarter with another. The wide receiver ran back the opening kick of the half 93 yards for UMD first kickoff return for a touchdown since 2016 to put the Bulldogs up 28-0.

The Warriors finally got on board – snapping the Bulldogs opponent scoreless streak at six quarters – at 10:19 of the third quarter, but UMD again stretched out its lead with a 11-play, 73 yard march down the field punctuated by the Walljasper to Pitz connection for a third time on the afternoon. Walljasper hit Pitz in the end zone for a 14-yd TD at 4:02 of the third, also giving the QB his third passing touchdown on the day.

Winona was credited for a second touchdown at 2:42 of the third quarter, though it appeared that the ball came out of Sylvere Campbell's hand before he crossed the goal line. Campbell's 49-yd TD reception made it a 35-14 score line, but UMD's defense denied the Warriors any further offensive points.

In fact, the only points of the final quarter came off the foot of placekicker Curtis Cox, who hit a 35 yd FG at 12:35 to make it a 38-14 contest. The Bulldogs defense did the rest, highlighted by consecutive sacks around the 10 minute mark courtesy of Ethan Beffert and Hennessey. At the nine minute mark, UMD added another sack by Zach Wallace and Landon Carter before Andrew Klopp picked off Stenstrom at 6:31, defusing the Warriors attempt to add to the scoreboard and keeping the Bulldogs unbeaten on the season.

In all, UMD recorded eight sacks behind 3.5 from Hennessey, and two picks from Klopp and Glodowski. The Bulldogs held the Warriors to -28 rushing yards – the second time in as many games UMD opponents have been held to negative rushing yards. Both Hennessey and Jacob Mogensen led the defense with six tackles on the day.

UMD rolled up 420 total yards of offense, the third time this season the Bulldogs have been at 420 or more in a game. Walljasper, who did not play the final 10 minutes of the fourth quarter, racked up 122 yards on the ground, while Jimmy Durocher had 93 yards and a team-best six receptions. All told, UMD had 198 yards on the ground and 222 in the air. Pitz paced the Bulldogs with three TDS – a career best effort, while Walljasper had three touchdown passes.

UMD held the Warriors to -28 rushing yards on the day, the lowest opponent output of the season.

LAST TIME OUT: The Bulldogs defeated Minot State University 35-21 last Saturday afternoon at James S. Malosky Stadium behind a career-high three touchdown performance from redshirt freshman Alex Riley out of the backfield. UMD tallied 448 total yards of offense throughout the matchup, doubling the efforts from the Beavers who tallied 212 total yards. 

UMD was quick to establish its dominant run game, and put the first points of the day up on the board at the end of the first quarter with a four-yard rushing touchdown from Riley. A quick three and out from Minot State to start the second quarter gave the Bulldogs the opportunity to add on to the lead, and UMD went  up 14-0 with a 12-yard passing touchdown from Kyle Walljasper to Cole Ewald at 9:23.

The Beavers finally got on the scoreboard with their next drive with a touchdown reception of their own to make it 14-7 at the 7:57 mark, but the Bulldogs matched that effort with another rushing touchdown from Riley, a 38-yard run for his second touchdown of the afternoon with 3:23 left before halftime.

UMD began the third quarter with a 21-7, but a MSU interception to open the second half led to a Beaver touchdown, and cut that advantage to 21-11. Riley ran for his third rushing touchdown of the day on a 1-yard run at 8:56 to push the Bulldogs lead back to two scores.  The two teams again traded touchdowns on each of their next drives, keeping a two score difference – Minot managed to score with 1:38 left in the third, but UMD responded with a 30-yard pass from Walljasper to Durocher at 12:43 of the fourth quarter in what ended up the final points of the game.

Riley led the 292 rushing yard outing with a total of 103 yards and three touchdowns in the game, picking up 8.6 yards per carry along the way. Derrick Johnson also tacked on 74 yards on the ground, picking up 4.4 yards per carry. Walljasper led the Bulldogs' passing attack with 156 yards through the air, tossing 15-22 (68.2%) with two touchdowns, and Durocher shined as Walljasper's favorite target of the afternoon, reeling in six catches for 51 yards and one score.

The Bulldog defense kept Minot State under 150-yards on both the ground and through the air, allowing 96 passing and 116 rushing yards all while totaling eight tackles for loss. Andrew Klopp helped pace the UMD defensive effort, recording seven total tackles and five tackles for loss in the contest.. 

NOTES ON THE MINOT STATE GAME: 

The Bulldog own a 12-game unbeaten streak against MSU, now having defeated the Beavers in all 12 of the games the two programs have ever played in against each other.

In those 12 matchups, UMD has been dominant over the MSU, offensively averaging  43.8 points a game. Defensively, the Bulldogs have allowed the Beavers more than a single touchdown only three times, and Saturday was just one of only two times the Beavers have scored 21 points on UMD.

--UMD was called for a season-low two penalties against the Beavers on just 15 yards -- also season low.

--The Bulldogs ran a season-high 71 plays against MSU, and had a season-best 292 rushing yards on a season-high 49 rushes.  Alex Riley also ran for a team-high three rushing TDs against the Beavers.