Football - News

NO. 10 BULLDOGS SLAY DRAGONS 52-10 TO STAY PERFECT

Saturday, October 4, 2008

And the beat goes on.

For at least the opening series of Saturday afternoon's Northern Sun Intercollegiate Conference matchup with Minnesota State University-Moorhead, it looked like the University of Minnesota Duluth may be in for its first real challenge of the 2008 season. The unbeaten and No. 10 ranked Bulldogs were, after all, forced to punt on the opening drive (marking only the second time they failed to find the end zone in that situation this fall), but was the last time freshman punter Alex Miller would set foot on the field again. UMD went on to score on each of its next eight possessions and wallop the host Dragons 52-10.

Sophomore running back Isaac Odim rushed for three touchdowns (79 yards on 12 carries) while Ted Schlafke had a hand in four scores (three pass and one run) in leading the Bulldogs to the victory, its seventh straight over MSU-Moorhead. Schalfke, who has 16 scoring strikes this season (to go with just three interceptions), connected on 12 of 16 passes for 274 yards to become just the 16th player in NCAA Division II history to reach the 10,000-yard mark for a career. Freshman wide reciever and 2008 team reception leader D.J. Winfield caught a game-high five passes for 168 yards and a pair of touchdowns. UMD, which came into the afternoon sporting the second best rush defense in the NCAA II, rolled up season-best 553 yards of total offense while giving up a mere 145 yards to the Dragons (1-5 overall and 1-4 in the NSIC). That included only 54 yards on the ground on 30 carries. Bulldog opponents are averaging a microscopic 1.7 yards per attempt and 49.7 yards an outing thus far in 2008.

UMD, which has now scored 40 or more points in six straight games for the first time in school history, moved to 6-0 overall and 5-0 in the NSIC. Next up is a Homecoming clash with NSIC rival Northern State University on Saturday (Oct. 11) at Malosky Stadium.

Game Stats

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