GAME TWO || Saturday, September 10 || 1 PM
Duluth, Minnesota || James S. Malosky Stadium
Game Notes: Upper Iowa || Minnesota Duluth (not available yet)
Upper Iowa vs. Texas A&M-Commerce Live Options
Radio: AM 950 KOEL - "The Voice" of UIU Football, Joe Stasi, will bring you all the action live on northeast Iowa's largest AM radio station. Howie Thompson, UIU's Director of Sports Communication and host of Peacock Chalk Talk, will join Joe on the air this Saturday to add color commentary.
Live Webcast (provided by New Media Television) || Live Stats || Online Audio Only (provided by Stretch Internet)
This Week in Peacock Football...
The Upper Iowa Football team will look to measure themselves this week against the top team in the country when they visit the #1 Bulldogs of Minnesota Duluth on Saturday afternoon. The Bulldogs have won the last three NSIC Championships and two of the last three NCAA Championships. Kickoff is set for 1 p.m. this Saturday. The Peacocks will look to build on their defensive effort that propelled them to an opening day win at home last Saturday. UIU defeated Texas A&M-Commerce 15-14.
The Peacocks' Last Outing…
The Peacock football team christened the new turf field in Fayette with a non-conference win over the Lions of Texas A&M-Commerce this afternoon. Upper Iowa used strong defense all afternoon and took advantage of a fumble on a Lion punt to edge out their guests by a 15-14 count.
The teams were very close in total offense as A&M-Commerce held a slight 239 to 219 yard advantage, but the teams accounted for those yards very differently. The home team ran for 86 yards while throwing for 133, while the visitors ran for 19 yards on 22 carries and were forced to throw for 220 yards.
The UIU defense played a large role in the win this afternoon and they started from the opening possession. After the Peacock defense forced a punt attempt, the Lion kicker dropped the snap and was forced to throw the ball out of the endzone for a safety.
Upper Iowa added a 43-yard field goal midway through the first quarter and led 5-0 heading into the second.
The Lions took a slim 6-5 lead on a 14-yard touchdown pass, but the extra point went wide right.
Prior to the halftime break, Jordan Otdoerfer capped off an 11-play, 80-yard drive with a touchdown run from three yards out to give the home team a 12-6 lead.
Neither team scored in the third, but the biggest play for the UIU defense came with eight minutes to play in the quarter when they stuffed a 4th and 1 play in the redzone. Lions quarterback Yogi Gallegos tried to sneak up the middle to reach past the 11-yard line, but a swell of defenders up the middle denied the attempt and UIU took over on downs.
The score remained until Steven Sandoval hit his second field goal of the day, this one a 19-yarder, to push the UIU lead to 15-6 with just over five minutes to play in the game.
A late touchdown with twenty seconds to play gave the Lions a glimmer of hope, but Keaton Martin fell on the onside kick and one snap later the Peacocks were 1-0.
Leading the way for the defense was Tom Nesvik with 10 tackles. Tony Leggett added 9 tackles including one for loss and a fumble recovery, while Casey Popenfoose recorded 7 tackles including one for loss. Jordan Andera made an interception and returned it 23 yards to set up the winning field goal for UIU.
On offense, redshirt freshman Cole Jaeschke completed 9 of 17 passes for 133 yards and rushed six times for 10 yards. Otdoerfer led the rushing attack with 41 yards on 19 carries, while freshman Chris Smith added 24 yards on 15 carries in his first collegiate start. Jessie Hubbard caught 4 passes for 52 yards, while Derek Giesking pulled in two passes for 42 yards.
Scouting the #1 Bulldogs…
On the heels of a key 20-12 season-opening victory at then-No. 8 Augustana College Saturday, the University of Minnesota Duluth continued to maintain the top spot in both the American Football Coaches Association Division II and D2Football.com polls.
UMD was a near unanimous AFCA poll pick, receiving 28 of 29 first-place votes. St. Cloud State University (No. 10) and Augustana (No. 16) were the two other Northern Sun Intercollegiate Conference clubs to crack the top 25.
In their annual preseason poll, the NSIC coaches again picked the three-time defending NSIC champion Bulldogs to finish first in both the North Division and overall standings this fall
UMD was a near-unanimous favorite, garnering 11 of a possible 13 votes (coaches could not vote for their own team) and 167 points. St. Cloud State University, a member of the North Division, was next (155 points and the remaining three, first-place votes), followed by Augustana College, which captured the South Division title one year ago (145), Winona State University (125) and Minnesota State University-Mankato (115).
In addition, Bulldog senior outside linebacker Rob Huberty was tabbed the North Division Preseason Defensive Player of the Year and junior quarterback Chase Vogler landed the North Division Preseason Offensive Player of the Year honor.
The Bulldogs have been chosen as the NSIC preseason favorite during each of their last five years of league membership (2011, 2010, 2009, 2008 and 2003).
The Bulldogs Last Outing…
Top-ranked UMD, bolstered by a stellar debut from rookie running back Brian Lucas and sophomore cornerback Kenny’s Chowa’s fourth-quarter interception return for a touchdown, was up to the challenge and walked out of Kirkeby-Over Stadium with a 20-12 non- conference triumph over No. 8 Augustana College. The victory, which came before a crowd of 5,718 in a rematch of last year’s NCAA II quarterfinal playoff clash, was the Bulldogs’ 40th straight over an Northern Sun Intercollegiate Conference member. It also pushed their road winning streak to a school-record 23 games and made UMD a perfect 12-0 in its last 12 season openers.
Lucas, who joined the UMD program this past spring from West Point Prep (N.J.), parlayed his second carry as a collegian into a 67-yard touchdown jaunt which gave the Bulldogs a 7-0 lead a little less than five minutes into the game. He went on to rush for 116 yards on 19 attempts and is believed to be the first individual in the 79-year history of UMD football to ever eclipse the 100-yard barrier in his inaugural outing.
Augustana, which came into the day sporting a 12-1 lifetime record at their three-year old on-campus facility, answered with a pair of scoring strikes from quarterback Josh Johnson to go up 12-10 at the half. From then, it was all UMD in the points department as two-time All-NSIC North Division placekicker David Nedeau nailed a 41-yard field goal with 26 seconds to go in the third quarter before putting the Bulldogs ahead for good with another boot from 44 yards out at the 6:37 mark of the fourth.
Chowa, who was making just his second collegiate start, iced the victory with 7:30 to go in regulation when he hijacked a Hanson pass and brought it back 39 yards into the end zone. The Menomonie, Wis., native figured in on seven tackles while sophomore inside linebacker Colby Ring and senior strong safety Cody Eich both were credited with a team-leading nine stops. The Bulldog defense not only blanked Augustana for the final 34:16 of play, but limited the Vikings to just nine yards on 30 rushing attempts (thanks to a pair of bad snaps which resulted in huge losses.)
On the other side of the football, Bulldog junior quarterback Chase Vogler completed 12 of 18 passes for 114 yards and ran for another 30 in improving his career record as a starter to 26-1. True freshman wide out Zach Zweifel paced UMD with four receptions (for 29 yards) while sophomore Joe Reichet equaled his entire 2010 receiving harvest with three catches.
What Happened Last Year…
The #2 Bulldogs of Minnesota Duluth took only twenty seconds to put the first touchdown on the scoreboard in Fayette last year.Two plays foreshadowed what was to come in UMD’s 62-13 domination of Upper Iowa; D.J. Winfield returned the opening kick 76 yards to set up Isaac Odim’s 4-yard touchdown run at the 14:40 mark in the first quarter.
On the day, Odim rushed for 163 yards and 5 touchdowns, while Winfield caught 3 passes for 126 yards and a touchdown and returned 3 kicks for 163 yards and a touchdown. The pair of Bulldogs accounted for 498 all-purpose yards and seven of the Bulldogs nine touchdowns.
The Peacocks scored their first points of the day with 2:43 remaining in the first quarter to pull within 14-3 when freshman Tyler Parmenter knocked in a 32-yard field goal. After Odim’s third touchdown, Parmenter was true again from 26 yards and the home team trailed 21-6. Following the second field goal, Winfield returned the kick for 85 yards for another Bulldog touchdown and a 28-6 lead.
Upper Iowa’s offense answered with an 11-play, 73-yard drive that was capped off by a Ben Curran to La’Mont Williams 6-yard touchdown pass. A Parmenter extra point made the score 28-13 with 7:12 to play in the first half, but the Peacocks would not find the scoring column again. UMD scored the remainder of their 34 points prior to the fourth quarter en route to a 62-13 win.
Curran threw for 105 yards and a touchdown and backup Drew Kaluzny added 68 yards through the air. Dominique Jackson caught 5 passes for 47 yards, while Jessie Hubbard pulled in four balls for 56 yards. On the ground, Jordan Otdoerfer led UIU with 35 yards on 7 carries. Defensively, Nate Curran had a game-high 10 tackles including one for loss, while Jordan Andera, Aaron Miller, Branden Owen, and Craig Henry all tallied 6 tackles.
