Premium ContentClick on Premium Content on the Featured navigation bar for information.
DULUTH, Minn. — Minnesota-Duluth started the defense of its NCAA Division II football championship with a 42-7 rout of the University of Nebraska at Kearney on Saturday.
“We played our best football game of the year,” Minnesota-Duluth coach Bob Nielson said. “We knew we were going to have to play our best game, and I’m really pleased with the way we executed both offensively and defensively. We beat a good football team today.”
Minnesota-Duluth (11-1), riding a 10-game winning streak, will play Grand Valley State in the Super Region 3 final.
For UNK (11-2), the loss snapped an 11-game winning streak, the longest single-season streak in school history.
The Bulldogs won on both sides of the ball. Running backs Isaac Odim and Brad Foss eclipsed the 100-yard mark, and the defense controlled the Lopers’ offense.
In the first half, UNK ran 19 plays, had negative yards passing and threw two interceptions.
“Obviously, we’re disappointed with the loss. We didn’t play very well, we don’t think,” UNK coach Darrell Morris said. “We came here to win a ball game, and we weren’t successful in doing that.”
A fumbled pitch stalled UNK’s first possession. Brandon Wood set up Odim’s 3-yard touchdown run by intercepting a Jake Spitzlberger pass and returning it to the Kearney 13-yard line. Odim, a Harlon Hill Award finalist, also scored on runs of 6 and 20 yards.
“Turnovers like that and plays like that early in the football game are extremely important, and we talked about that in pregame that we needed to make some big defensive plays,” Nielson said.
While UNK struggled early, the Bulldogs found their game immediately. And it wasn’t what everyone expected. A run-oriented team, Duluth passed on its first five plays, with freshman quarterback Chase Vogler completing all five attempts.
The tosses were quick out patterns, swing passes or wide-receiver screens. “We used our passing game to set up the run,” Nielson said.
Referring to Vogler, Nielson said: “A lot of those plays, he checked us into because we had a guy uncovered … and because they had a lot of people in the box.”
The passes opened up the running lanes, Nielson said.
Odim, who gained 102 yards on 17 carries, scored on a 6-yard run to cap the first drive and added a 20-yard touchdown run to open the third quarter. Foss, who gained 103 yards on 18 carries, scored on a 9-yard run at the end of the third quarter.
“Every little mistake we made, they made us pay for it,” said UNK safety Pat Ackerman, who finished with 10 tackles.
One big mistake came when the Lopers threw an incomplete pass on a fake punt in the second quarter that gave UMD the ball at the Loper 32. Morris said the fake punt was the result of miscommunication between the coaches and punter Brennan Johnson.
“It wasn’t supposed to be a fake punt,’’ Morris said.
Vogler scored on a 9-yard run to take advantage of that mistake. Then before halftime, he threw a 32-yard touchdown pass to D.J. Winfield on fourth-and-10.
The Bulldogs were 2 of 3 on fourth-down conversions.
“We wanted to be aggressive and we wanted to keep the ball away from them,” Nielsen said.
Consider that mission accomplished.
The Bulldogs finished with more than 40 minutes in time of possession. Duluth ran 72 plays to Kearney’s 42 and finished with 428 total yards to the Lopers’ 158.
UNK avoided the shutout when Rustin Dring scored on a 36-yard run. Dring ran for 89 yards on 16 carries.
UNK (11-2)................0 0 0 7—7
At UMD (11-1)...................14 14 14 0—42
UMD: Isaac Odim 6 run (Dave Nadeau kick)
UMD: Odim 3 run (Nadeau kick)
UMD: Chase Vogler 9 run (Nadeau kick)
UMD: D.J. Winfield 32 pass from Vogler (Nadeau kick)
UMD: Odim 20 run (Nadeau kick)
UMD: Brad Foss 9 run (Nadeau kick)
UNK: Rustin Dring 36 run (Jordan Alegria kick)
Copyright ©2012 Omaha World-Herald®. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, displayed or redistributed for any purpose without permission from the Omaha World-Herald.
