UMD Football Picked to Win NSIC

A couple days late on this, but the UMD football team -- to the surprise of no one -- was picked to win the Northern Sun Intercollegiate Conference.

The annual preseason poll was released Tuesday.

The Northern Sun Intercollegiate Conference football coaches have spoken and as far as a league's top dog for 2009 is concerned, they like what they see in the University of Minnesota Duluth. In their annual preseason poll, the league coaches picked the defending NCAA Division II Bulldogs to finish first in both the North Division and in the overall standings. The NSIC is a 14-team league and for football, is broken down into two, seven-school divisions.

UMD, which finished a perfect 15-0 one year and captured the NSIC title with a 10-0 record (the first club to ever produce that many wins in league play) picked up 165 total points and garnered nine first-place votes to edge out Minnesota State University-Mankato (159 points and the remaining five first-place votes), a member of the South Division. Rounding out the top five were Augustana College (145), St. Cloud State University (129) and Wayne State College (129). Minnesota State-Mankato and Wayne State also earned a NCAA II playoff berth one year ago.

In addition, Bulldog junior inside linebacker Robbie Aurich was chosen the North Division Preseason Defensive Player of the Year while junior running back Isaac Odim landed the North Division Preseason Offensive Player of the Year honor. Aurich, a native of Spring Lake Park, Mich., made the most of his first season of starting activity last fall by topping the Bulldogs in tackles with 101 stops, including a team-leading 57 solos. The 2008 All-NSIC second team pick averaged 10.0 tackles during the Bulldogs' four-game NCAA II playoff turn and was credited with 13 stops (a 2008 Bulldog single-game best) in the national championship clash with Northwest Missouri State. Odim made his Bulldog debut last fall after transferring from Rochester Community College and wound up setting club marks for rushing yards (1,638), rushing touchdowns (26), average yards per carry (7.3 yards), total touchdowns (30) and scoring (180) while equaling marks for 100-yard rushing games (nine) and consecutive 100-yard rushing games (seven). For his efforts, the Rochester, Minn. native earned a spot on both the d2football.com (honorable mention) and Don Hansen's Football Gazette (third team) All-American teams in addition to the All-NSIC first team.

The Bulldogs, who have been chosen as the NSIC preseason favorite during each of their last three years of league memberships (2009, 2008 and 2003), return some 49 letterwinners from a year ago, including six starters on offense and five on defense. They'll open their 77th season of intercollegiate football on Aug. 29 with a home NSIC matchup against Concordia University-St. Paul.

The overall vote totals might surprise some, but remember that UMD has to replace a four-year starting quarterback, along with some serious talent on defense. Here is the full poll from the Northern Sun release.

1. Minnesota Duluth (9) .................... 165
2. Minnesota State (5) .......................159
3. Augustana ......................................135
4. St. Cloud State ............................... 129
Wayne State ...................................129
6. Winona State ................................. 114
7. Southwest Minnesota State ............ 86
8. University of Mary ......................... 79
9. Bemidji State .................................. 77
10. Concordia-St. Paul........................71
11. Northern State............................... 43
12. MSU Moorhead ............................ 37
13. Upper Iowa ................................... 36
14. Minnesota, Crookston .................. 14
first place votes in ( )

Unfortunately, the bloated NSIC lineup means UMD and Minnesota State don't meet head-to-head this season.

Follow this link to get all 14 NSIC team schedules, and check back throughout the season for weekly updates.