The University of Minnesota Duluth football team hits the road for its first Northern Sun Intercollegiate Conference game as a visitor on Saturday. The Bulldogs will face the University of Mary inside MDU Resources Community Bowl in Bismarck, ND, with kickoff set for 2:00 p.m.
EYES ON THE DOGS: UMD had the 13th highest attendance last weekend in program history. 5,221 fans entered Malosky Stadium -- the highest attendance since the 2016 season.
In fact, the total gate doubled as the second-highest Military Appreciate Day ever, behind only UMD's Sept. 10, 2016 honor game, that brought the second-most fans ever to a Bulldog football game -- 6,357 fans to be exact.
ANOTHER STREAK ON THE LINE: While the Bulldogs second-longest winning streak fell last Saturday against Minnesota State University Moorhead in the final seconds of the game, UMD will put yet another streak of success on the line this Saturday in Bismarck.
The Bulldogs will enter the game with a 16-game winning streak against UMary, dating back to their first head-to-head on Sept. 9, 2006. The streak is the fourth-longest unbeaten streak in program in history, and the third longest winning streak.
Top-4 UMD Football Winning/Unbeaten Streaks All-Time:
University of Wisconsin-Superior - 27 games
Minnesota State Moorhead - 20 games
Bemidji State - 19* games
UMary - 16 games
*Unbeaten streak 8 wins, followed by one tie, followed by 11 wins
HENNESSEY EYES TOP-10 SACK LIST: Graduate defensive end Drew Hennessey enters the weekend with 16.5 career sacks -- just .5 sack away from tying the ninth spot for all-time sack leaders at UMD, and one solo sack away from taking over the ninth spot exclusively. Currently, Hennessey's 16.5 sacks ranks him 12th all-time.
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 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.
Russ Rabe owns the single season record of 15, set in 2003.
THE MATCHUP: Saturday's game will be the 17th showdown between UMD and UMary, a one-sided Bulldog dominance in Northern Sun Intercollegiate Conference play that began in 2006.
In those previous 16 games, UMD is averaging 46.1 points against the Marauders, and has gone a perfect 6-0 in Bismarck over that span. Four of their contests have been shutout wins by the Bulldogs, including last season's 46-0 stomping at Malosky Stadium on Oct. 14, 2023.
UMD torched the Marauders in the air with a season-best five receiving touchdowns. The Bulldogs were a perfect 6-of-6 in redzone, scoring six TDs.
Not to be overlooked, UMD's defense earned its second shutout of the season en route to holding UMary's offense to just 88 rushing yards and 88 passing yards for a season-low 176 total yards for a Bulldog opponent.
UMD, which has been aggressively scored points in the first half most of last season, did it again that day, and it started with one of two Kyle Walljasper to Jimmy Durocher TDs in the half. The first came at 11:46 of the first quarter, a 17-yard toss and the second was from 10 yards out, a scoring connection that has now happened between them four times this season. In between the Walljasper to Durocher TD passes, Walljasper found Sam Pitz on a six-yarder at the 4:44 mark of the first, and Walljasper ran in his own TD from 17 yards, his 11th touchdown on the ground this year at 14:10 of the second frame.
After scoring four touchdowns, UMD's Curtis Cox hit a season-long 43 yard field goal to close out the first half, and the Bulldogs took a whopping 32-0 lead into halftime.
UMD added to its lead when then sophomore quarterback Jacob Eggert found then redshirt tight end Nick Ojile at 4:05 of the third quarter for a 2-yard touchdown to make it a 39-0 spread against UMary. The Bulldogs rounded out the scoring with a four-yard TD pass from Eggert to freshman TE Nate Branch, the final points in the 46-0 offensive outing.
While Walljasper threw for three total touchdowns and ran for one in the first half, Eggert tossed for two UMD TDs in the second half. Ben Vallafskey had a team-high 15 carries on the ground for a game-best 117 yards, while Jaylen McKnight averaged a game-high 12.3 per carry overall. In the air, three players caught three receptions – Durocher, Pitz and Ryder Ptterson, who had a game-high 52 yards receiving, including one reception for 33 yards.
On the other side of the ball, Alex Sylvester turned in a team-best four tackles, while Tim Pokornowski picked off his third interception of the season. Five players recorded three tackles, including Ty'Rese Gibson, Ty'Rhae Gibson, Jacob Morgensen, Mac Strand and Ethan Beffert.
MORE ON THE MARAUDERS: UMary enters the weekend 1-2 overall and 1-1 in NSIC play. after falling last week in Sioux Fall, SD to the University of Sioux Falls.
At the helm of UMary is second-year head coach Shann Schillinger, who is 3-11 so far in 14 games.
Junior quarterback Sofian Massoud has thrown a passing TD in each of his three games this season, and ran for an additional touchdown. Senior wide receiver Mujeeb Rufai two touchdowns so far this season, including one against the Cougars last weekend when the University of Idaho transfer also had 12 receptions for 124 yards.
Sophomore linebacker Christopher Fedrico leads the team on defense with a whopping 24 tackles, including an NSIC-high 18 solo tackles.
LAST TIME OUT: UMD outscored the Dragons in the first three quarters combined and owned a 19-14 lead ahead of the fourth quarter last Saturday, but were stunned by the MSUM on a touchdown as time expired and a successful two-point conversion, suffering a 30-20 loss as a result. MSUM threw two touchdown passes and outscored the Bulldogs 16-10 in the final frame to end UMD's second-longest winning streak in program history (20 games), a streak that had extended all the way back to 1999.
Graduate kicker Curtis Cox put the Bulldogs on the board first with a 47-yard field goal 11:37 into the opening quarter. The Dragons responded with their first touchdown of the game with 3:35 left, but it took UMD just 2:23 later on five plays and 80 yards to punch in its first TD of the day. It came in the form of redshirt junior quarterback Kyle Walljasper finding junior DaShaun Ames on a nine yard pass, and after Cox drilled a 25-yard kick at the 11:40 mark of the second quarter – the lone offense for either team in the second quarter – UMD owned a 13-7 lead at half.
Midway through the third quarter, MSUM quarterback Jack Strand threw a TD pass to Brady Perryman, but again the Bulldogs responded at the 3:34 mark, a march of 52 yards on 14 plays that took just 1:57 and ended with redshirt sophomore RB Derrick Johnson's three-yard TD catch from Wallpaper to retake the 19-14 lead. Then, after UMD's Jarret Bennett blocked a punt that was recovered by Jacob Mogensen on the Dragon's nine yardline, Cox was able to hit a 40-yd FG to stretch the Bulldog lead to 22-14.
Walljasper found Ames for a second TD on the day – and third in two games – at the 6:13 mark of the fourth, a 14-yd connection to make it a 29-14 contest. But the MSUM combination of Strand to Perryman pulled the Dragons within a single score (29-22) with 3:01 remaining
Ames ran a 27-yd reverse into the endzone at 1:51, but the TD was erased by a holding penalty. A missed UMD 40-yd field goal with 1:33 left gave the ball back to the Dragons on their 23, and Strand found Luke Imdieke as the fourth quarter expired to draw MSUM within a single point at 29-28. Instead of kicking a field goal and forcing the game into extra time, the Dragons were successful on the two-point conversion for the 30-29 upset – MSUM first win over the Bulldogs in two and half decades.
UMD had 485 total yards of offense, while the Dragons recorded 412. The Bulldogs outrushed MSUM 152 to -6, but the Dragons outgunned UMD in the air, putting up 418 yards of offense compared to the 333 yard effort of Walljasper and company.
Walljasper's most prolific target in the ballgame was Ames, who caught six passes for 98 yards and two scores. Senior WR Jimmy Durocher hauled in five balls for 80 yards, while the Bulldogs also got 76 receiving yards from redshirt freshman wide receiver Ryder Patterson in the contest. On the ground, UMD's Johnson totaled 51 yards to lead the ground attack in addition to his TD – the first of his collegiate career.
On the other side of the ball, redshirt junior DB Zach Wallace recorded his first career interception, and Drew Hennessey added three tackles, 2.5 TFL, and 2.5 sacks in the game. Bulldogs had two players with more than eight tackles in the contest, led by senior Mogensen, who had nine. Redshirt junior DB Alex Sylvester had a team-high six solo tackles and eight overall in the game.
NOTES ON THE MSUM GAME: UMD is now 42-18-4 all-time against the Dragons, including 22-5-1 at home since 1970.
--Quarterback Kyle Walljasper threw for a career-high 333 yards in the game, the most passing yards dialed up by a quarterback since John Larson threw for 447 in 2021 against Upper Iowa.
--MSUM's 418 passing yards were the most against a UMD defense since Emporia State put up 481 against the Bulldogs in the NCAA playoffs on Nov. 11, 2016.
--With two TDs against the Dragons (and almost a third), DeShaun Ames now has three touchdowns on the season and ranks fourth in the NSIC in scoring with a 9.0 point average a game.
--Saturday's loss on Military Appreciation Day was just the second since UMD started the now annual game and first since it lost during the 2017 season. The Dragon's comeback snapped a five-game winning streak on the Bulldogs most honorable game of the year.
LEADING THE PACK: UMD as a team currently leads the NSIC in multiple categories, including offensive yards per game (521.5) and defensive yards allowed (262.0). The Bulldogs also lead the conference in defensive rushing yards allowed (25.0).
LEAGUE LEADERS: UMD also has a number of individual NSIC stat leaders, with the defensive side all over the top of the carts.including Drew Hennessey's league-best 1.25 sacks per game average. Preston McQueen owns the most pass break-ups with six -- which leads the NSIC in both average and amount of break-ups. Andrew Klopp and Hennessey are 1-2 in tackles for loss, with both averaging 1.50 TFL a game. Hennessey also has a league-high 21 yards recorded on his three TFL so far this season.
Quarterback Kyle Walljasper is tied for the conference's lead in passing touchdowns with seven, as well as the most offensive yards per game (361.5). DaShaun Ames own's the NSIC's most all-purpose yards (153.0), second with 112.0 receiving yards a game and third in scoring with 10.0 points a game.
Curtis Cox also leads the league with 1.5 field goals made a game, and has gone 3-of-5 in UMD's opening two games with a long FG made of 47 -- the farthest in the NSIC so far this season.
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.
