Behind one of the best offensive outings in five seasons, including touchdowns by seven different players, the University of Minnesota Duluth football team handily defeated Southwest Minnesota State University 62-0 Saturday afternoon at James S. Malosky Stadium in Duluth, Minn.

The Bulldogs, who improved to 3-1 on the year and 2-1 in Northern Sun Intercollegiate Conference play, helped earn head coach Curt Wiese his 100th win as the Bulldog bench boss. Wiese, who earned his 100th career win last season, is now tied for the second most wins by a UMD head coach in program history. Wiese's squad Saturday was 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 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.

Enter Drew Hennessey, who 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.

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.

The Bulldog defense was  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 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 recorded 10 sacks, tying a UMD single-game record set on Sept. 10, 2007 against Bemidji State University.

UMD will travel to Sioux Falls, S.D. next weekend to face Augustana University – who lost Saturday to Minnesota Moorhead State University in league play. Kickoff is scheduled for 1:00 p.m.

BULLDOG NOTES: Head coach Curt Wiese becomes just the third head coach ever to reach the 100 UMD win mark at the helm of the Bulldogs … he ties 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 … Wiese's winning percentage at UMD ranks him third among all active head coaches at the NCAA DII level … Drew Hennessey's sack mark makes him the first Bulldog player since Nate Pearson (2017-21) to record 17 or more sacks in a career … 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) … DaShaun Ames' 138 receiving yards is a new collegiate high …it marks his second two-TD game of the season and sixth overall … Ames has five receiving touchdowns so far this season … UMD is now 30-7-1 all-time against the Mustangs and have won four straight games … the Bulldogs had four receiving touchdowns of 50 yards or more … UMD had its highest scoring quarter in the second period – 28 points … the Bulldogs converted 4-of -12 third downs while SMSU was successful on 3-of-19.