Top-10 battle highlights opening week

Sept. 1 at 7 p.m. ET: No. 13 St. Cloud State Huskies at No. 12 California (Pa.) Vulcans   

Sept. 1 at 8 p.m. ET: No. 24 Henderson State Reddies at Central Arkansas Bears

Sept. 2 at 3 p.m. ET: No. 6 Texas A&M-Kingsville Javelinas at No. 22 Central Washington Wildcats

Sept. 3 at 1 p.m. ET: No. 1 Minnesota-Duluth Bulldogs at No. 9 Augustana (S.D.) Vikings

Sept. 3 at 5 p.m. ET: No. 10 Albany State Golden Rams at Savannah State Tigers

Vogler

UMD

Chase Vogler
Minnesota-Duluth
Junior
Quarterback

Key Notes: Vogler returns to lead the defending national champion Bulldogs for a third year. Last season he passed for 1,913 yards and ran for another 905 yards. The leader in passing efficiency in the Northern Sun Intercollegiate Conference, Vogler completed 62.0 percent of his pass attempts and tossed just three interceptions against 17 TDs. He will look to improve on his start last season, when he had 103 consecutive pass attempts without an interception to open the season.  

Other Players to Watch this Week:  Bo Cordell, Tusculum (Jr., QB), Richard Daniel, Wayne State (Neb.) (Jr., DE), Cameron Harper, Minnesota-Duluth (Jr., DB), Lee Meisner, CSU-Pueblo (Sr., LB), Franklyn Quiteh, Bloomsburg (So., RB).

• Top-ranked Minnesota-Duluth opens against Northern Sun Intercollegiate Conference foe Augustana (S.D.) this weekend, one of the top matchups in the nation. The Bulldogs will be aiming for a third national title in four years, and would become only the third team to win back-to-back titles since 1998, joining Grand Valley State (twice) and Northwest Missouri State.

• Bloomsburg is in the top 10 to start the season thanks in large part to sophomore running back Franklyn Quiteh. Last season, Quiteh led the nation in rushing with 2,015 yards, becoming only the third freshman in NCAA history to top the 2,000-yard plateau. This season, he will battle six other returning underclassmen from last year’s top 10 for the Division II rushing title. 

• No. 2 Delta State continues to hold its spot ahead of the pack as the only ranked team already playing its second game of the season when the Statesmen head to Northwestern State on Sept. 1. In its opener, DSU needed a strong defensive effort to come back from a 21-7 deficit and force overtime, where it won 28-21. This week it will face a Demons squad that was just 77th in total offense last season in FCS.

• Among the top matchups outside the top 10 this week are No. 13 St. Cloud State at No. 12 California (Pa.) and No. 24 Henderson State at FCS foe Central Arkansas. No. 9 Albany State also is playing up a level as it hits the road to take on Savannah State.