MARSHALL, Minn. – Minnesota Duluth, ranked No. 23 nationally, remained undefeated on the season forcing four Southwest Minnesota State turnovers to earn a 33-0 victory on Saturday afternoon at The Schwan Regional Event Center.
 
UMD improves to 4-0 overall, including 3-0 in Northern Sun Intercollegiate Conference play, while SMSU dropped its third straight game and is now 1-3 overall, 1-3 NSIC.
 
Turnovers haunted SMSU once again on Saturday with UMD recording a pair of interceptions and recovering two fumbles. It's the second straight week the Mustangs have committed four turnovers and are now 'minus-10' in turnover margin this season.
 
UMD closed the game with 349 yards of offense and 20 first downs, while SMSU was limited to a season-low 158 yards and 11 first downs. The Bulldogs amassed 187 yards on the ground and 162 through the air.
 
Curt Cox booted four fields and made both PATs to help the UMD offense.
 
SMSU's Marcus Martin finished the game completing 12 of 25 passes for 159 yards and two interceptions, while being sacked five times.
 
Donald Austin led the Mustangs with 45 yards rushing on 16 attempts. Colin Maher caught three passes for 46 yards for the Mustangs, while Eric Lira finished with three receptions for 25 yards.
 
Kyle Walljasper passed for 162 yards and one touchdown, while completing 11 of 22 passes for the Bulldogs.  DaShaun Ames was his top target with four receptions for 66 yards.
 
Daniel Mitchell led the UMD rushing attack with 65 yards on 12 carries.
 
Josiah Hedensten paced the SMSU defense with a game-high 10 tackles with one sack and one pass break-up. Thomas Mergen added nine tackles with two for loss.
 
UMD opened the scoring on the first possession of the game with Cox booting a 38-yard field goal at the 12:36 mark of the first quarter.
 
UMD kept the momentum, recovering an on-side kick moments later, to maintain possession. However, the SMSU defense held strong and stopped the UMD possession at the 16-yard line and forced Cox to settle for a 33-yard field goal with 9:06 remaining.  
 
SMSU committed its first turnover of the game on its first series with UMD recovering a fumble at the SMSU 40-yard line. The Mustang defense continued its strong play however and turned the Bulldogs over on downs at the SMSU 34-yard line.
 
Martin was stripped-sack on SMSU's second drive with UMD taking over at the SMSU 40-yard line. UMD was able to convert three third-down conversions on the ensuing with Walljasper capping the drive with a 1-yard touchdown run to make the score 13-0 with 12:54 left in the second quarter.
 
SMSU would move the ball to the UMD 39-yard line on its next drive, but an eight-yard loss on a rushing attempt and a false start penalty doomed the drive and SMSU was forced to punt.
 
UMD held the 13-0 lead late in the half and it looked like that would be the score at the break, but a big 36-yard punt return by Tayvion McCoy set up the UMD offense at the SMSU 25-yard line with 1:23 remaining. On the ensuing drive, Mitchell broke free for a 28-yard touchdown run to extend the UMD lead to 20-0 at halftime.
 
UMD would add a third quarter field goal and an early fourth quarter field goal by Cox to build the lead to 26-0, before completing the scoring with a Walljasper 3-yard touchdown pass to Cameron Miller with 3:36 left in the game.
 
SMSU will now step out of conference play during the regular season for the first time since the 2011 season next Saturday, Sept. 30, with a match-up at FCS foe Valparaiso (0-3) with kickoff set for 1 p.m. in Valparaiso, Ind. The game will be SMSU's first versus an FCS opponent since taking on Northern Iowa in 1999. SMSU's last non-conference game overall occurred in 2013 versus Pittsburg State at the Mineral Water Bowl.