SMSU falls to Duluth in homecoming matchup
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MARSHALL -- Interim football coach Levi Bullerman says he has seen progress out of the Southwest Minnesota State team. On Saturday, that progress just wasn't enough against the 19th ranked University of Minnesota Duluth in a homecoming matchup at the Schwan Regional Event Center.
The Mustangs struggled offensively at times, but did put together some potential scoring drives that ended up falling short. SMSU finally scored a touchdown when quarterback Tommy Hoffman completed a 12-yard pass to David Ola-Kazeem in the Duluth end zone with 3:29 left in the third quarter. Before leaving the game, Crowton completed four passes on 11 attempts for 33 yards.
Hoffman replaced starting quarterback Macloud Crowton late in the first half. He finished the game completing 13 of 20 passes for 138 yards and rushing for 38.
"I think it’s just another step in our in our progression. I think we took a step last week, and we took another step this week," Bullerman said after the game. "Not the outcome that we wanted, obviously, but we’re really close. And there’s a handful of plays in both the last two ball games that you know we had chances at at making plays, and they did, and we didn’t, and we need to learn how to make those plays moving forward. So I’m proud of our effort. I’m proud of our energy. The kids are doing a great job. They’re buying in, and they’re trying to you know compete to the best of their ability. And I can’t thank them enough for the effort they’ve been putting in."
Besides the lone touchdown on offense, SMSU also recorded some solid defensive plays. After the Bulldogs drove the ball from their own 16 yard line to the SMSU 26 yard line. But SMSU’s Connor Shelton intercepted a pass thrown by Duluth quarterback Austin Randall in the SMSU end zone that resulted in a touchback.
However, the Bulldogs returned the favor when Tyrone McCoy intercepted a pass at the SMSU 29 thrown by Crowton. McCoy returned the ball 23 yards to the SMSU 6
"I mean, that’s a good team over there, right? They’re nationally ranked for a reason. We’re, you know, battling through some things on offense with injuries and guys doing different things," Bullerman said.
"We’ve just got to continue to work through. And we’ve seen progress there. We’re close to a breakthrough."
Two minutes later, Randall rushed into the end zone for the game's first score with 8:51 left in the first quarter. The extra point kick was good.
Duluth would score again with 4:43 left in the second quarter when Derrick Johnson rushed the ball into the end zone from the 1-yard line. The Bulldogs completed a successful two-point conversation when Ryder Patterson rushed into the end zone.
SMSU followed with a long drive that started on the its 31-yard line and ended on the Duluth eight-yard line. The highlight of the drive was a 26-yard run by Emmanuel Diers. But the drive stalled on two incomplete passes by Hoffmann. SMSU kicker Landon Hubbard's field goal attempt was blocked by Duluth’s Jayce Walrath. The ball was returned to the Duluth 26 yard line.
Duluth took a 15-0 lead into halftime.
Duluth kicked two field goals in the third quarter. The Bulldogs finished their scoring with 6:20 left in the game. Johnson took the ball in shotgun formation and rushed up the middle for a 40-yard touchdown.
Hoffman led the Mustangs in rushing with 73 yards with Diers finishing with 6`1 yards on six carries and a 10.2 yards per carry average.
Tryg Auten led SMSU in receptions with four.