The No. 13 and No. 9 University of Minnesota Duluth football team advanced to their sixth straight win for the first time since the 2018 season after a Saturday afternoon win at James S. Malosky Stadium in 63-28 fashion over Southwestern Minnesota State University.

The offense combined for the team's best scoring effort since 2019 for an identical 63 points. In another great outing for the redshirt senior quarterback Kyle Walljasper, he improved to the fifth slot in the program's career passing yards with 5,560 yards to beat John Larson's 5,308 yards. He threw four touchdowns with his longest at 75 yards for a total of 278 yards. He earned an 85.7% completion rate with 18 completions and 21 attempts. Peyton Menzel had a breakout performance, leading the receiving effort with two touchdowns and a total of 106 yards, while Luke Dehnicke followed with two touchdowns and 92 yards.

The defense earned three interceptions throughout the day between Joey Krouse (39-yard interception return), Alex Sylvester, and Jayce Walrath. They also got to the Mustang's quarterback four times with Gus Taylor earning two for a loss of nine yards, Brysen McLeod earning one for eight yards, and Ross Rivord downing one for three yards. Jonathan Shrum led tackles with four total (three solo and one assisted).

SMSU got on the board first with a 75-yard touchdown in the first drive of the game. The Bulldogs didn't wait long to tie it up as Walljasper and the offense drove down the field on six plays for 57 yards, culminating in a 16-yard pass to Nick Ojile for their first touchdown.

The UMD defense locked down the Mustangs to 18 yards on the next drive to allow Walljasper to connect with Peyton Menzel for a 75-yard touchdown pass to get over the top 14-7.

Both offenses sputtered on the next two drives until a fumble recovery by Joey Krouse gave the offense perfect positioning on the SMSU 17-yard line. It took six plays, but O'Malley powered a fourth-down one-yard rush over the goal line to help force a 21-7 lead with a kick from Jadon Apgar.

Continuing the trend, SMSU would fail on its next drive after an intercepted pass by Walrath to end the drive in the second quarter and start the offense at the UMD 41-yard line. The next drive went the distance with a steady drive in 12 plays, ending in Walljasper passing to Dehnicke for a five-yard touchdown.

With the lead firmly in UMD's favor at 28-7, the defense continued to lock down SMSU, forcing another failed drive, including a sack of eight yards by McLeod. Ojile would make an error to end the next drive with a lost fumble. The defense again dominated with an interception by Sylvester to help hold off the Mustangs at the UMD 25-yard line.

With four minutes remaining in the second quarter, the Bulldog offense scored once more on a 49-yard pass to Dehnicke in stride for his second touchdown of the day to mark a 34-7 halftime lead over SMSU.

Jacob Eggert relieved Walljasper at the start of the third quarter, proceeding to pick up where he left off, driving for a touchdown on the first drive. Eggert handed it off to Allen Pearson Jr. to force in a one-yard rushing touchdown for a 41-7 lead.

On the first pass of the Mustang drive, Crowton was picked off by Krouse for a 39-yard touchdown return. The UMD defense let up on the next drive, allowing SMSU to cut the lead to 35 points.

The next Bulldog drive went into the fourth quarter with Menzel grabbing his second touchdown of the day on a five-yard pass from Eggert. With the score in UMD's favor, the Mustangs found room for a 35-yard touchdown to cut the game to 56-21. SMSU would score one more time after Austin Randall subbed in for Eggert to lead the way on a 50-yard rushing touchdown for his first in his career to seal the game at 63-28.

After the opening score, the UMD defense held SMSU scoreless until after halftime. The offense combined for 514 yards of total offense, including 342 yards passing.

UMD football heads back on the road to face Northern State University in a 6:00 p.m. Saturday showdown at Dacotah Bank Stadium in Aberdeen, South Dakota.

BULLDOG NOTES: First 6-0 start since 2018, which ended in an NCAA Playoff appearance… first time scoring 63 points since 2019 against Minnesota Crookston… Menzel earned his first 100+ yard receiving game in his career.