The No. 19 University of Minnesota Duluth football team will host Minnesota State University Moorhead Saturday on the program's annual Military Appreciation Day inside Malosky Stadium on Griggs Field. The Bulldogs, suiting up for their first Northern Sun Intercollegiate Conference game of the 2024 season, will kick off at 2:00 p.m. against the Dragons.


11th ANNUAL MILITARY APPRECIATION GAME SATURDAY: The Bulldogs will host their 11th annual military appreciation game Saturday. The game, which will feature a flag ceremony, a pregame tribute to first responders and a flyover from the 148th Fighter Wing, will also feature a coin toss with Michael M. Mitchell, James R, Morgan and Gail Guzman Morgan, who all served in Vietnam in either the Medical Detachment or the Evac Hospital.

UMD will again partner with Operation One Voice, a nonprofit organization dedicated to raising funds and awareness for the financial needs of the children and families of wounded and fallen Special Operations Forces. UMD has raised over $75,000 across the previous 10 years. All military members will receive free admission  with military ID (redeem at UMD Ticket Office).

AN HONORABLE EFFORT: Of note, UMD has lost just once on Military Appreciation Day (2017 against Minnesota State 23-38), and the Bulldogs have reeled off five-straight wins since on the honorable day. UMD biggest margin of victory?  a 60-7 win in 2018 against Minnesota State Moorhead University on Sept 8, 2018. Overall, the Bulldogs are averaging 38.6 points on the special day, while allowing opponents just 19.4.

UMD WILL RETIRE REED RYAN'S NUMBER:  The UMD football program will retire the number 99 of Reed Ryan pregame Saturday when it honors first responders. Ryan's jersey number will be displaced on the stadium side of the pressbox building over the stands. It is the first number to be retired in program history.

Ryan passed away on Tuesday, Nov. 28, 2023 at Essentia Health in Duluth, Minn. at the age of 22. An excellent student over the course of his academic career, Ryan was enrolled in the UMD Labovitz School of Business and Economics as a double major in Marketing and Professional Sales.

In his lone season with the Bulldogs, Ryan recorded seven tackles and assisted another for a total of eight tackles in nine games. With two of those tackles for a total loss of 10 yards, Ryan earned one sack against Northern State on Sept. 9, 2023 and posted a collegiate career-best three tackles at Minot State on Oct. 21, 2023. Ryan was part of a Bulldog defensive unit that allowed a Northern Sun Intercollegiate Conference (NSIC) low average of 293.9 yards per game.

Ryan was a native of Waunakee, Wis. and a 2019 graduate of Waunakee High School. The recipient of the 2018 Tim Krumrie Award, given annually to the most outstanding high school senior defensive lineman in Wisconsin, Ryan was also named the 2018 Wisconsin Football Coaches Association (WFCA) Large Schools Defensive Player of the Year. Over his high school career, Waunakee H.S. went 45-2 with a Division 2 State Championship in 2017. Ryan's career high school totals included 147 total tackles, 63 tackles for loss and 34 sacks. A four-year starter in wrestling with more than 100 career wins, Ryan earned a state runner-up finish as a senior after he placed fifth at the Division 1 state wrestling meet as a junior.

After high school, Ryan spent four seasons with the North Dakota State University football program, where he was a part of two NCAA Division I AA FCS National Championships (2019, 2021). A three-time Commissioner's Academic Excellence Award winner (2020, 2021, 2022), Ryan was also a four-time Missouri Valley Football Conference Honor Roll member (2019, 2020, 2021, 2022).

NATIONAL RANK AND FILE: The Bulldogs are ranked in both national polls, and have been seen preseason.

UMD sits 19th in the AFCA coaches poll after starting at 17 in the preseason poll. After beginning the season 25th in the D2Football.com preseason poll, the Bulldogs moved up to 20 this week

The Bulldogs 17th spot in the AFCA preseason poll marked its highest preseason ranking since the 2019 season when UMD entered the year sitting 14th.

ALL IN ON THE OPENER:  The Bulldogs have a history of strong season openers, and as a program, the Bulldogs are now an impressive 65-22-4 all-time in season opening games, and head coach Curt Wiese is 8-3 over his tenure in openers, including five-straight wins.

Notably, UMD's defense held a team to just 112 yards of offense for the first time in a season opener since it held Concordia St. Paul to 112 back on August 30, 2008. The Bulldogs offensive effort of 385 total yards was the most in a season opener since the 2021 season.

THE MATCHUP: Saturday's game will mark the 64th meeting ever between UMD and MSU Moorhead. The Bulldogs hold a commanding 42-17-4 lead in the all-time series, which began back in 1932 -- the second season of intercollegiate football at UMD.

In fact, the Bulldogs have not lost to the Dragons in 24 seasons, having gone 20-0 dating back to 1999. -- the year of MSUM's last win over UMD. Prior to that, the all-time series was much closer with the Bulldogs up 22-17-4 before rattling off those 20 consecutive victories.

The two sides last met back in 2022, a 36-28 Bulldog win in Duluth. 

MORE ON THE DRAGONS: MSUM suffered a season opening NSIC loss to Wayne State College last Saturday at home by a score of  44-17. Quarterback Jack Strand threw for 300 yards and two touchdowns, while WR Brady Perryman hauled in one of those TDs on a 58 yard effort. Jack Bungarden posted a team-high nine tackles, with four of them solo efforts.  

Steve Laqua is in his 14th season with the Dragons, and owns a 59-75 overall record and is 0-9 against UMD and head coach Curt Wiese.

Last season, the Dragons finished sixth in the NSIC after going 6-4 in league play and 7-4 overall. MSMU was picked to finish sixth again in the conference preseason coaches poll.

LAST TIME OUT: The Bulldogs dismantled Northern Michigan for a second-straight season to open the season on Aug. 29 by a score of 35-7 in Marquette, Mich.

Five different players reached the end zone, while redshirt junior quarterback Kyle Walljasper led the Bulldogs passing attack with 312 yards through the air, tossing four touchdowns while adding 45 yards on the ground in just three quarters under center. UMD's offense piled up a total of 562 yards to the Wildcats' 112, and the Bulldogs had a 385-56 advantage through the air.

UMD struck first with 5:51 remaining in the first quarter and never trailed the rest of the game after a 12-yd pass from Walljasper to redshirt freshman wide receiver Ryder Patterson -- the first of Patterson's career -- to give the Bulldogs a 6-0 lead. Walljasper and UMD struck again with just 1:43 left in the second quarter on a 40 yard pass to the end zone for redshirt junior DaShaun Ames, one of five catches the wide receiver had in the game for a game-high 126 yards.

After leading the Wildcats just 13-0 at halftime, the Bulldogs erupted for three more touchdowns including a 7-yd TD from Daniel Mitchell and a 10-yd touchdown from graduate tight end Sam Pitz in the third quarter.  

Redshirt sophomore QB Jacob Eggert picked right up where Walljasper left off in the fourth, throwing a game-long 56-yd touchdown pass to Chuck Gilbert III just 2:30 in quarter to put the Bulldogs up a commanding 35-0. The redshirt freshman WR made his presence known in the passing game Thursday, compiling 115 yards on three receptions in addition to his first career TD.

Defensively, UMD did an impressive job limiting the NMU offensive attack, and held the Wildcats to 112 total yards – the fewest yards allowed in a season opener since the 2008 season. The Bulldogs kept the Wildcats under 100 yards on both the ground and through the air, allowing only 56 passing and 56 rushing yards. Redshirt sophomore Jarrett Bennett paced the UMD defensive effort, recording five tackles, 0.5 TFL, and one interception. Junior DE Matt Weerts added three tackles, 1.5 TFL. In all, nine UMD tackles resulted in a loss that Thursday night.

NOTES ON THE NMU GAME: UMD is now 3-11 all-time against the Wildcats, picking up back-to-back wins against NMU for the first time in program history.

--In back-to-back wins, the Bulldogs have outscored NMU by double -- 82-41 points.

--UMD put up 562 yards of offense against the Wildcats, the most in a game since the 2022 season when the Bulldogs put up 594 yards of offense against Minot State University on Oct. 29, 2022.

--Kyle Walljasper, who played just three quarters against the Wildcats, literally averaged 104 yards a quarter. The redshirt  junior QB completed 70.4% of his passes on the night, going 19-for-27 and averaging 11.6 yards per attempt, while his 312 passing yards was not only a career-high, but the most by a Bulldog QB in seven years.

--Both DaShaun Ames (126) and Chuck Gilbert III (115) earned more than 100 yard receiving yards in the game and were the first players to grab 100 or more receiving yards in a game since Sam Pitz hauled in 133 early in the 2023 season on Sept. 16 against Sioux Falls.

--Graduate linebacker Andrew Klopp had a team-high six solor tackles against the Wildcats, while four players got on the board with five total tackles: Jarrett Bennett (4 solo, 1 assist), Luke Humbert (3, 2), Jacob Mogenson (4, 1), and Mac Strand (2, 3).

--Daniel Mitchell led all Bulldogs rushers with 55 yards in the contest, picking up 27.5 yards per carry … UMD converted on 50 percent of third-down attempts … UMD converted 6-of-12 third downs while NMU was 4-of-15 … the Bulldogs were 1-for-2 on fourth down, and won the time of possession battle 33:51 to 26:09.

WIESE EYES 100 UMD WINS: Bulldog head coach Curt Wiese, who reached 100 career coaching wins last season and sits at 107 overall wins, owns 97 wins at the helm of UMD. Wiese currently has a Bulldog record of 98-23.

Wiese is now also just two 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 three wins to become the Bulldogs second-winningest coach in history.

LEAGUE LEADERS: It's early, but the Bulldogs defense is picking right back up where it left off last season, leading the league with a  NSIC-low opposing team 7.0 points per game.

UMD also leads on total offense (562 yds per game), total defense (112 yds per game), passing offense (385 yds), and opponent first downs (7 per game).

QB1 Kyle Walljasper leads the NSIC in passing efficiency (216.3), and average yards per game (312), and passing TDs, while on the defensive side of the ball, Andrew Klopp leads the league with an average of 3.00 tackles for loss a game, and Jacob Mogenson sits second with a 2.00 average. 

TOP DOG EXPECTATIONS: For the first time in a decade, the NSIC 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. 

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.

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.
 

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.