OT: Minnesota-Duluth in D-II National Championship!

[GopherInWI]

Hey all, just a reminder that Minnesota's own University of Minnesota Duluth plays in the D-II national championship today at noon on ESPN2. The Bulldogs are led by quarterback Ted Schalfke and running back Isaac Odim. The Bulldogs match up well with their opponent, Northwest Missouri State. So if you're craving football action, flip on the deuce and cheer on a Minnesota school to win the state's first D-II football title!

[UpnorthGo4]

Go Bulldogs!!!

[Gopher4life15]

Dog's D playing tough!! Fun watching D-2 Football in HD!

[MRJ]

Seems like this is a pretty even matchup so far.

Hopefully, the Bulldogs can take advantage of the fumble they just forced!!!

Either way, this one looks it will be tight from start to finish.

[Gopher4life15]

Nice Int! How come d-3 football seems to get more pub then D-2?

[Schnoodler]

How many D2 teams do we have in the Twin Cities?

[Gopher4life15]

Yeah that what I was thinking but it seems to me nationally that d-3 gets more pub.

[Ski U Mah Gopher]

How many D2 teams do we have in the Twin Cities?

There is one D2 team in the Twin Cities (Concordia), but there are eight others in the state.

UMD
UM-Crookston
MSU-Moorhead
MSU-Mankato
Bemidji St.
Winona St.
St. Cloud St.
Southwest St.

[Shores Esq]

7-0 Dogs at the half! They play great defense.

[gopherluv]

How many D2 teams do we have in the Twin Cities?

Concordia is the only one. There are lots of DIII schools in the TC.

[Gopher4life15]

Touchdown Dogs! Great play by the QB!

[Shores Esq]

Schlafke throws another TD. 14-0 Dogs.

[Shores Esq]

Another TD for Odim. 21-0 dogs.

[bigtenchamps1899]

congrats UMD 15-0. DII national champs.

[Schlic Daddy]

21-14 final...awesome game

[BlueBandit24]

Congrats to UMD on a great season. Nice to see the state represented on a national stage. :D

[GophersInIowa]

Yeah that what I was thinking but it seems to me nationally that d-3 gets more pub.

The national media talks about DII and DIII? It's pretty rare to hear about the lower levels in the national media. As others have said, it just may seem that way because there are so many more DIII schools in the TC area.

As a former player in the Northern Sun and someone who played UMD, congrats the Bulldogs! This is huge for the conference and small-school football in MN.

[walleyedude]

Nice, I only got to watch for a bit but Props to the Bulldogs

[RodentRampage]

National coverage of D-II and D-III athletics is virtually non-existent until playoffs, and then it only gets slight coverage. I have to agree that it appears that D-III gets more coverage because of all the D-III schools in the Metro area. If these schools were D-II, then it would appear that D-II got mroe coverage.

The NSIC is doing well with UMD's championship, CSP's volleyball championship and Winona winning it in basketball recently.

[sonnygarcia]

They typically show a few more playoff games for DII, whereas they only show the championship game for DIII. The Minnesota and Dakota regions have always been DII powerhouses (especially when NDSU, ND, SDSU, and SD were in DII), and the athletics are pretty good. Historically the NCC has put guys in the NFL on a fairly frequent basis, and the baseball teams have always had guys get drafted (especially at Mankato State). There really aren't any DII schools in the metro area (CSP), which is why most of you wouldn't have gotten much coverage, but as someone who has gone to a former NCC school, the quality of football in DII is far and beyond DIII football. It was too bad those 4 schools decided to change to DI, the NCC rivalries were a heck of a time when it existed.