The No. 20 Bulldog (5-2) men’s football team won their 23rd consecutive Northern Sun Intercollegiate North Division game Saturday in a 45-0 rout of the University of Mary (0-7).
It’s a streak that doesn’t look to be challenged anytime soon—even with four North Division games still to be played this season.
This Saturday’s opponent, Minnesota-Crookston (0-7), has only beaten the Bulldogs once in 12 total meetings. This season, they are allowing an NSIC-worst 52.7 points per game.
UMD’s final four regular season opponents, all NSIC North teams, have a combined record of 4-24. If the Bulldogs don’t make the playoffs this year, the weakness of the North Division certainly didn’t help their strength of schedule. This comes under consideration when ranking the teams for potential playoff spots.
The level of competition through this stretch of the Bulldog schedule is a sharp decline from facing two ranked opponents in the first three games of the season. But the Bulldogs are treating each game like it could mean their end.
“We’re 5-2 right now, our backs are against the wall. (As) we continue to build a resume here for a potential spot in the NCAA playoffs, there’s no opportunity for error,” head coach Curt Wiese said.
Coming off of a 55-21 loss to Minnesota-State Moorhead last week, the Golden Eagles will need to force some turnovers and convert on some big plays against a Bulldog defense that is coming off a season-best 217 total yards allowed against Mary.
“Crookston has done some good things offensively. I think on the offensive side they have three explosive players that have done a good job,” Wiese said.
After last week having 570 yards of offense, a number of Bulldog backs proved their own explosiveness. This week’s game will again be an opportunity for head coach Curt Wiese to continue to develop his backup running backs in the absence of starter Logan Lauters.
“We had an opportunity to get Jamiah Newell and Darren Walker the football a little bit more in the first half of that game (against Mary),” Wiese said. “Saturday against Mary was the first time I thought both of those guys played with 100% confidence. They’re two guys that need to take the workload a little bit more now.”
Minnesota-Crookston has struggled mightily this season against the run. With UMD’s handful of capable running backs, the Bulldogs could rack up a lot of yardage against the Golden Eagles.
Despite the significant mismatch in the running game, the program record for rushing yards (556, set in 1976) isn’t likely to be broken without the likes of Lauters, the second all-time rusher in program history.
What they could break, however, is the program record for points scored in a game, which was set in their 77-3 win over Minnesota-Crookston last season.
On paper, the Bulldogs have the advantage over Minnesota-Crookston in just about every category. That being said, the matchup is an important game for the Bulldog football program, even if it may not end up being a particularly close one.
The NSIC North: four facts that prove it’s the ‘Dogs’ Division.
- The Bulldogs have won 23 consecutive games against NSIC North Division opponents, with their last loss coming in 2012 at the hands of St. Cloud State.
- UMD has one or fewer losses in their head-to-head record against three North Division teams: the University of Mary (8-0), Minnesota-Crookston (11-1) and Minot State (3-0).
- No team currently in the NSIC North has a winning record against UMD. St. Cloud State comes closest at 24-24.
- The Bulldogs have won the NSIC North in each of the past six seasons. Overall, they have seven titles.