The No. 16 University of Minnesota Duluth football team overcame an early lead by the Minnesota State University Moorhead, in a 28-14 win to mark their first 5-0 start since the 2023 season and remain undefeated in James S. Malosky Stadium.

The Bulldogs now mark an impressive 43-18-4 record over the Dragons and a 23-5-1 record in Duluth since 1970. UMD is now 4-0 in the Northern Sun Intercollegiate Conference (NSIC).
Kyle Walljasper led the offense with a 70.4% completion rate with 188 passing yards, one passing touchdown, 99 yards on the ground, and one rushing touchdown.

The Dragons were the first on the board in their first possession after halting the Bulldogs' opening drive in three plays with no gain. Trailing 7-0, the maroon and gold would march down the field, including a big 34-yard pass to DeShaun Ames, but were halted at the Moorhead 16-yard line, where Drew Henson narrowly missed a field goal.

The Bulldogs would stop the Dragons on the next drive that ended the first quarter. After the next UMD drive, MSUM's Jack Strand got picked off by Brock Unger, who took it 82 yards to tie the game at 7-7. After a few failed drives on each side, the Bulldogs would get stopped at the Dragons' 35-yard line, where Henson made a 52-yard field goal in the final seconds before halftime to push a 10-7 lead.

Entering the third quarter, both offenses struggled up and down the field until seven minutes remained when Henson drilled another long field goal, this time for 40 yards to push a 13-7 lead for the Bulldogs. The Dragons retaliated on the following drive with a 20-yard completion to Gage Florence that broke through the final line of UMD defense to jump out ahead 14-13.

The Bulldogs did not sit idle, going on a six-play drive for 62 yards, culminating in a 31-yard reception by Ryder Patterson. The reception saw him break outside to dodge tackles to bring the lead back in UMD's favor, 20-14, to end the third quarter.

It took ten minutes into the fourth quarter before UMD broke through on a 7-play 42-yard drive with Walljasper barreling through the defense for a two-yard rushing touchdown. The offense wasn't done with Luke Dehnicke scoring a two-point conversion off a fake extra point attempt to force a 28-14 lead.

With the clock ticking down, the Bulldog defense locked down the MSUM offense to 11 yards in eight plays, including a clutch sack of Strand by Mojo Weerts and Ross Rivord to force a fourth down 46-yard touchdown attempt. With the incompletion and a turnover on downs, UMD ran down the clock for its fifth straight win of the season.

In total, the Bulldog offense put together 188 yards receiving and 130 yards rushing.
 
UMD's defense intercepted Strand three times (Unger, Alex Sylvester, and Preston McQueen), one of which was returned for an 82-yard touchdown by Unger. The Dragons were only allowed 21 yards rushing. Michael Bruggers earned a solo sack with Weerts and Rivord splitting a sack that helped halt the final drive of MSUM. McQueen led the team in total tackles with six solo, while Luke Humbert followed close behind with four solo and one assisted (one of which was a loss of 12 yards).

UMD's rushing game was led by Walljasper with 99 yards, with Derrick Johnson following behind with 34 yards. Ames led the receiving category with 72 yards (longest 34 yards), with Dehnicke following with 44 yards on three catches (longest 20 yards) and Patterson with 43 yards (longest 31 yards) and a touchdown.

Henson went two for three on field goals, with one measuring in at 52 yards (five yards short of the program record) and the other marking in at 40 yards, both of which exceeded his career high of 33 yards.

The Bulldogs continue the homestand next week against Southwest Minnesota State University inside James S. Malosky Stadium.

BULLDOG NOTES: First 5-0 start since the 2023 season… perfect 4-0 start to NSIC competition… Walljasper is 21 yards away from the ninth slot in the program's career rushing yards and 26 yards away from the fifth slot in career passing yards.