Defense Puts UMD Football in Driver’s Seat for NCAA Tournament Berth

Saturday's win over Augustana puts the Bulldogs in 7th place in the super regional rankings as they are now in full control of their playoff destiny.

DULUTH, Minn. – Going into their game against Augustana, the UMD football team knew they had to get a win if they wanted any shot at an NCAA tournament berth. Not only did they beat the Vikings, but it wasn’t even close.

The Bulldogs got off to a monster start and never looked back as they picked up a home win over the 17th-ranked team in the country. Defense was key for UMD as the Bulldogs came up with five interceptions with two of them returned for touchdowns.

“Going into the week, Coach put a big emphasis on communication. We knew they were one of the best offenses in the league. But on defense, we knew we had to come out here and really play our best ball of the year. We’re big tone-setters on defense I feel like and we knew we had to come out the gate and do that to get a big win over them,” said linebacker Joe Kordus.

“The gameplan was really to stay who we were going back to that 2018 defense, getting back to what we normally were in the secondary. We created a lot of turnovers because of our front line. Of course, our front seven is amazing,” cornerback Michael Kirkendoll said.

“Augustana was a team that hadn’t had a lot of pressure on their quarterback. We knew that that was going to be important early. We haven’t played a defensive game like that in a long time, especially against an offense like Augustana. When you play confident, you can play fast and it showed up on Saturday,” said head coach Curt Wiese.

The win puts UMD in 7th place in the super regional rankings as they are now in full control of their playoff destiny. The Bulldogs will close out the regular season Saturday at home against Northern State.