Bulldog Football ranked 4th nationally in rushing

DULUTH, MN. (Northern News Now) - Entering the 2023 football season, UMD’s young offense was expected to have some growing pains.

After three explosive games, that doesn’t seem to be the case.

Sophomore Quarterback Kyle Walljasper leads the country in rushing touchdowns. The Bulldogs are 4th in the country in rushing, 19th in total offense and 13th in scoring averaging just over 43 points a game.

The success isn’t just Walljasper. So far this season, the Bulldogs have been a team with a stout defense and an offense that can make a game 14-0 at the snap of a finger.

“I feel like it’s a big change from last year to this year,” said Bulldogs Running Back Chamere Thomas. “We’ve been stepping up a lot, we execute in practice, just a big momentum change. Defense has always dominated, but now the offense is dominating and the defense is dominating, so it just makes the game super easy. It takes a little weight off of the defense’s back and puts it on ours. We are handling it well with 40 points a game.”

“It has been fun, and credit needs to go to Chase Vogler,” said Bulldogs Head Coach Curt Weise. “Chase has done a very good job, along with the rest of our offensive staff, helping disperse the football to guys like Sam Pitz, Deshaun Ames, Jimmy Durocher and our entire backfield. Fortunately, we haven’t been a one-man band on the offensive side and the ball has been dispersed pretty well.”

The number 23 ranked Bulldogs kickoff against Southwest Minnesota State on Saturday at noon.

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