The wait is over for the No. 17 University of Minnesota Duluth football team Thursday night when the Bulldogs open the 2024 season in Marquette, Mich. against Northern Michigan University inside the Superior Dome. The non-conference showdown, UMD's lone non-conference game of the regular season, is slated to get underway at 5:00 p.m. CST.


TOP DOG EXPECTATIONS: For the first time in a decade, the Northern Sun Intercollegiate Conference football coaches selected the UMD  as the preseason favorite to reign in 2024.

In the NSIC's annual preseason poll released, the Bulldogs received eight first place votes (coaches cannot vote for their own team) and amassed 134 points, 10 points ahead of the defending champions of Augustana University, which was second with 124 points and three first place votes. Minnesota  State University, Mankato was third with 120 points. Until this poll came out, the Bulldogs had not been chosen as the overall NSIC preseason favorite since the 2014 season. 

NATIONAL RANK AND FILE: The Bulldogs are ranked in both national preseason polls to start the season. UMD sits 17th in the AFCA coaches preseason poll, and ranks 25th in the D2Football.com preseason poll. The Bulldogs 17th spot in the AFCA preseason poll marks its highest preseason ranking since the 2019 season when UMD entered the year sitting 14th.

EARLY HONORS FOR PITZ AND WILLIAMS: Graduate tight end Sam Pitz and sixth-year offensive lineman Aiden Williams have picked up almost every elite preseason honor available. 

Named last week to the 2025 Reese's Senior Bowl Watchlist.the duo -- both Bulldog team captains -- joined a list of NFL Draft hopefuls which includes 720 prospects from 148 schools across FBS, FCS, DII, and DII. 

In July, both Pitz and Williams were named to the 2025 East-West Shrine Bowl 1000, an early watchlist for the annual all-star game featuring the nation's best NFL Draft prospects, and just last week, both players were also named to the D2Football.com Elite 100 Watch List.

Pitz, a three-time NSIC All Conference selection -- including two First Team nods -- posted the most offensive season of his career in 2023, earning Don Hansen NCAA Division II All-American Honorable Mention honors for his work. The native of Appleton, Wis. caught nine touchdowns passes, dwarfing his TD output of his first three seasons combined.  A 2023 CCA All-Super Region 4 First Team Selection, Pitz was one of two Bulldogs named to the 2023 D2Fotball.com Elite 100. 

Williams, a product of Anchorage, Alaska, is a two-time all NSIC Second Team honoree after earning the accolade again in 2023. Part of a crew of lineman that were pivotal in UMD's rushing offense that led the NSIC and ranked seventh in the nation over the regular season – averaging 243.8 yards a game. Williams and co. blocked for the NSIC's top rushing TD player, Kyle Walljasper, helping him put up 16 rushing touchdowns in 11 games.

ALL IN ON THE OPENER:  The Bulldogs have a history of strong season openers. As a program, the Bulldogs are an impressive 64-22-4 all-time in season opening games, and head coach Curt Wiese is 7-3 over his tenure in openers, including four-straight wins.

UMD's 47 points against NMU in 2023 ranked as its ninth-most points in a season-opener ever, and marked the most points by a Bulldog squad in an opener since UMD put up 52 in 2019. 

THE MATCHUP: UMD and NMU met for the first time in 25 years in 2023 back on August 31 in a game that jumped started the season for the Bulldogs with a 47-10 triumph at home in Malosky Stadium.

The win marked only the second by a UMD squad over the Wildcats in program history, and turned the all-time record, which  largely happened in the 1980's, to 2-11 all-time.

Prior to that reintroduction, the two programs had not meant since 1998, a 24-14 win in Marquette for the Wildcats that had sealed a 10-game winning-streak in place from 1976-1998 against UMD. On Thursday, the Bulldogs will have a chance to do something the program has never done before -- defeat the Wildcats in back-to-back games. 

Notably, last season's win over NMU also marked the first time the Bulldogs faced a non-conference opponent in a non-conference regular season game since Aug 28, 2010 -- a 35-10 win over Central Washington.

LAST HEAD-TO-HEAD: The Bulldogs offensively overwhelmed the Wildcats 47-10 behind the superb play of then redshirt sophomore quarterback Kyle Walljasper, who both threw and passed for a career-high five touchdowns while rushing for a career-best 129 yards. 

UMD made its own history, scoring the most points against a NMU side in 13 all-time meetings, and it turned in the ninth-most points in a season-opener ever. It also marked the most points by a Bulldog squad in an opener since UMD put up 52 in 2019.

The Bulldogs first touchdown of the season came just minutes into its opening quarter, a 24-yard QB sneak by Walljasper at 11:37. The Bulldogs went to the air for their next touchdown at 2:40, a 32-yard toss to redshirt senior Sam Pitz to stretch UMD's lead to 13-0 after a two-point conversion was stopped.

NMU finally got on the board with a field goal at 12:16 of the second quarter, and Wildcat quarterback Mariana Valneti threw a 17 yard pass to Sam Peiffer to cut the Bulldog lead to 10 at 7:57. 

But it was all UMD from there, and it started with an interception by senior DB Ty'Rhae Gibson, who reeled in a overthrown Wildcat throw on NMU's seven yard line. The pick set up another quarterback keeper from Walljasper – this time for 15-yards.

Walljasper (who had 129 rushing yards and 64 passing yards at halftime) went to the air for his second passing touchdown just six seconds before the second quarter expired, a one-yard dart to the back corner of the end zone to redshirt sophomore DaShaun Ames – his first as a Bulldog. 

UMD's defense picked up its own touchdown early in the third quarter when Ty'Rhae Gibson's twin brother, Ty'Rese Gibson, pulled in his own pick-six, a 62-yard touchdown to bolster the Bulldogs into a 40-10 lead. 

Redshirt freshman Nick Ojile notched his first career TD at the 6:14 mark of the third, pulling in a pass up the middle in traffic from Walljasper for 10 yards. Ojile's reception, along with Cox's extra point, pushed UMD ahead of the Wildcats 47-10, the same score that would stand for the final.

In all, three UMD players earned their first collegiate touchdowns, including two current Bulldogs --  Ames and Ojile, while UMD went a perfect 3-of-3 in the red-zone. UMD compiled a total of 492 yards on offense, including 354 on the ground, and Walljasper rushed for two touchdown passes and threw for three for a total of five.

QUICK LOOK AT THE WILDCATS: NMU is led by second-year head coach Shane Richardson, who went winless with the Wildcats in 2023 with a record of 0-11 after taking the program the previous winter. NMU will not resemble its 2023 team, however, with almost half of its team first-year players (42). 

On the defensive side of the ball, junior linebacker Mitch Larkin will guide the defense after leading the conference last season in total tackles with 118. Larkin finished tied for third in Division II in total tackles (118) and fifth in tackles/game (10.7). Sophomore linebacker Jax Hertel will look to take a leap in his second year after recording 65 tackles and a pair of interceptions as a true freshman. Both Larkin and Hertel earned All-GLIAC Honorable Mention last season. 

Sophomore quarterback Aidan Hoard appeared in eight games last season, throwing for 1,059 yards and five TD's. The 6'4" Frankenmuth native completed 101 of 196 (51.5%) of his passing attempts. Wideouts Michael Love and Sam Peiffer will look to play roles as top targets through the air, as they combined for 680 receiving yards and 5 TD's last season. Kaleb Isom will also look to make an impact at receiver as a freshman.

BULLDOG SEASON PREVIEW: UMD returns 14 starters from a team that went 9-2 overall and 8-2 in the NSIC one year ago. The Bulldogs high-flying offense scored the most points in a season (415) since 2018, and averaged an NSIC-high 37.7 points a game and league-high 54 touchdowns, while holding their opponents to an NSIC-low 293.9 yards a game. 

UMD has 19 seniors, including eight players who graduated last spring. 11 of those seniors have been rostered five seasons -- or more (Aiden Williams is a sixth-year).

Offensively, the Bulldogs return a lot of the talent that made them so hard to contain in 2023. Redshirt junior quarterback Kyle Walljasper returns under center as a starter in a season-opener for a second-straight year. A product of Fond du Lac, Wis., Walljasper had 39 total touchdowns, ran for 1,073 yards and 16 touchdowns, and passed for 1,580 yards and 22 TDs, all while adding one touchdown reception last season. While he led the NSIC with 16 rushing TDs across all positions, Walljasper also posted a league-best 9.3 points per game average over the entire season, and turned in eight games where he scored three or more touchdowns, including five contests where he accounted for four or more TDs.

Walljasper's three favorite targets in the air return in 2024, including graduate TE Sam Pitz, who has been on every possible watchlist ahead of the season. Pitz led the Bulldogs with nine TD receptions a year ago and 356 yards, averaging 14.2 yards a catch. Senior wide receiver Jimmy Durocher tallied a UMD-high 548 receiving yards with five touchdowns last season, while redshirt junior WR DaShaun Ames, who not only scored three touchdowns and posted 446 receiving yards also doubled as the Bulldogs most dangerous kick returner, averaging 28.3 yards per return last fall. 

UMD ran by committee last season, and while Walljasper was the Bulldogs leading rusher (1,078 yards and 16 TDs), senior Daniel Mitchell returns after carving out 353 yards and two TDs in nine games played. South Dakota State transfer and redshirt sophomore running back  Derrick Johnson will also look to make an impact for UMD on the ground.

Defensively, graduate DE Drew Hennessey leads a crew  that led the NSIC by holding opposing teams to 239.9 yards a game and just 18.6 points per game. Hennessey, out of Highland, Wis. was third in the NSIC in sacks per game, and posted nine on the season in 2023. A 2023 NSIC All-Conference First Team Defense selection, he ranked fourth in the NSIC for 1.23 tackles per loss a game. 

Senior linebacker Mac Strand ranked second in tackles last season (50) among all Bulldogs, while graduate LB Andrew Klopp and NSIC First Team Defense selection turned in 43 to rank third. In all, UMD returns five of its top-10 tacklers from 2023, and eight of its top-15. That group includes senior DB Jacob Mogensen (35) and redshirt junior defensive back Alex Sylvester (32).

UMD also had arguably the best 1-2 kick in the NSIC in 2023 -- both its NSIC First Team  kicker and punter. Graduate kicker Curtis Cox, from  Dodgeville, Wis., ranked third in the NSIC for total points scored a game (7.5) and led the NSIC with a 80. FG percentage. Cox also went 46-of-47 on PA and went 10-straight games without missing a PA attempt. Green Bay, Wis., native senior punter Logan Kobus averaged 39. 8 yards a punt this season and hit the second-longest punt in the conference, a 73 yard effort against Wayne State on Oct. 7, 2023.

THESE ARE YOUR CAPTAINS SPEAKING: UMD has six captains for 2024, including four graduate students, one senior and one redshirt junior. The Bulldog captains are graduate student linebacker Drew Hennessey, graduate linebacker Andrew Klopp, senior defensive back Jacob Mogensen, graduate tight end Sam Pitz, redshirt junior Kyle Walljasper and sixth-year offensive lineman Aiden Williams.

WIESE EYES 100 UMD WINS: Bulldog head coach Curt Wiese, who reached 100 career coaching wins last season and sits at 106 overall wins, will begin the season with 97 wins at the helm of UMD. Wiese begins the season with a Bulldog record of 97-23.

Wiese is now also just three wins away from tying former head coach Bob Nielson (1999-2003 and 2008-12), who earned 100 wins in his nine seasons at UMD. Wiese, who currently has the third most wins by a head coach in program history, needs just four wins to become the Bulldogs second-winningest coach in history.

BULLDOG NOTES: 

HENNESSEY EYES TOP-10 SACK LIST: Graduate defensive end Drew Hennessey enters the season with 14 career sacks -- just three shy of the ninth spot for all-time sack leaders at UMD. The last Bulldog player to record 17 or more sacks in a career was Nate Pearson (2017-21), who ran up 27 -- the second most in program history. Russ Rabe owns UMD's career sack record with 29, set  2001-04.

Hennessey turned in eight sacks in 2023 for a career-best, and 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. Russ Rabe owns the single season record of 15, set in 2003.

A GRAND RUSH: Last season Kyle Walljasper finished with1,078 rushing yard, the first Bulldog to hit 1k rushing yards since Cazz Martin ran for 1077 in 2021 and the first quarterback to run for it since Drew Bauer did it in 2014.

Walljasper accumulated the 10th most yards in a game on Sept. 16, 2023 against Sioux Falls when he ran for 270 on the ground and 136 yards in the air for a whopping 406.

POINT TAKEN: The 2023 Bulldogs put up the most points per game (37.7) since 2018 (40.8).

A RECORD BECOMING: UMD enters the 2024 season have played 15 straight seasons with eight or more wins in a season. The Bulldogs have recorded nine seasons over the past 15 with double digit triumphs. UMD has earned nine wins in two of its last three seasons.