After the initial region rankings came out Monday, talk centered around whether Minnesota Duluth’s football team might possibly lose its No. 1 position atop Super Region Three no matter what it did against Minnesota-Crookston on Saturday.
With Minnesota State-Mankato and Sioux Falls engaged in a battle of unbeatens Saturday, common sense dictated the winner of that game might move up to the top spot.
The Bulldogs may have silenced that argument.
Minnesota Duluth set a school record for points scored in a 77-3 NSIC North Division rout at Crookston, reaching the end zone on each of its seven first-half possessions and extending its regular-season win streak to 17.
Sophomore quarterback Drew Bauer and senior receiver Aaron Roth teamed for four touchdown passes, while junior Logan Lauters and freshman Nate Beaulieu each ran for a pair of scores at Ed Widseth Field.
The Bulldogs (9-0), who are ranked second in the American Football Coaches Association poll behind Mankato, won their 17th consecutive North Division game and beat Crookston (0-9) for the ninth straight time.
Roth’s four TD receptions were one shy of both UMD and NSIC records.
Beaulieu, a Duluth Denfeld alumnus who joined the UMD program last spring, came off the bench to rush for a game-high 101 yards on just 13 carries.
Zach Bassuener capped off the scoring by recovering a blocked punt (fellow redshirt freshman Karl Finkel did the honors) in the end zone with 6:27 to go in regulation. The 77 points were one more than the previous UMD mark set against Minnesota State-Moorhead on Oct. 3, 2009 and against Crookston on Nov. 1, 2002. Junior placekicker Andrew Brees also set a single-game school record for successful extra points (11).
Bauer was 11-for-13 passes for 140 yards before calling it a day in the third quarter. Even hiis replacement, junior Eric Kline, got into the scoring act by throwing a 24-yard touchdown pass to freshman Nate Ricci.
The Bulldogs outgained the Golden Eagles in total offense (560-138), rushing yards (396-90), passing yards (164-48), first downs (33-7) and time of possession (36:43-23:17).
Minnesota Duluth 21-28-14-14-77
Minnesota-Crookston 3-0-0-0-3
First Quarter
UMD - Beau Bofferding 37 run Andrew Brees kick), 12:39
UMC - Mike Maw 21 field goal, 8:21
UMD - Logan Lauters 3 run (Brees kick), 2:03
UMD - Lauters 25 run (Brees kick), 0:39
Second Quarter
UMD - Aaron Roth 7 pass from Drew Bauer (Brees kick), 12:24
UMD - Roth 38 pass from Bauer (Brees kick), 7:21
UMD - Roth 20 pass from Bauer (Brees kick), 1:16
UMD - Roth 12 pass from Bauer (Brees kick), 0:01
Third Quarter
UMD - Nate Ricci 24 pass from Eric Kline (Brees kick), 9:18
UMD - Nate Beaulieu 15 run (Brees kick), 4:00
Fourth Quarter
UMD - Beaulieu 27 run (Brees kick), 8:48
UMD - Zach Bassuener recovered blocked punt in end zone (Brees kick), 6:27
A - 593
UMD UMC
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First downs 33 7
Rushes-yards 63-396 30-90
Passing 164 48
Comp-Att-Int 12-16-0 6-17-0
Kick returns-yards 3-72 3-10
Punts-yards 3-126 10-180
Fumbles-lost 1-1 2-2
Penalties-yards 2-35 6-36
Time of possession 36:43 23:17
INDIVIDUAL STATISTICS
RUSHING - UMD, Nate Beaulieu 13-104, Drew Bauer 10-71, Beau Bofferding 7-62, Caleb Belknap 11-62, Logan Lauters 10-50, Eric Kline 5-26, Aaron Roth 3-19, James Conner 1-5, Justin Laureys 2-1; UMC, Travon Hearns 6-53; Dre Person 11-27, Timothy Mack 8-11, Tommy Smith 2-6, Ben Bucholz 3-(-7).
PASSING - UMD, Bauer 11-13-0-140, Kline 1-3-0-24; UMC, Travon Hearns 5-15-0-48, Ben Bucholz 1-2-0-0.
RECEIVING - UMD, Roth 4-77, Nate Ricci 2-33, Bofferding 2-17, Taylor Grant 1-15, Lauters 2-11, Zach Zweifel 1-11; UMC, Adam Connette 4-36, Dante Jones 1-12, Marcus Cheatham 1-0.
