Football | 9.5.14
ST. PAUL, Minn. - Concordia-St. Paul football opens the 2014 season on Saturday with a 6 p.m. kickoff against #3 Minnesota Duluth at Malosky Stadium. For those not able to make the trip to Duluth, follow along live with a
video webcast,
audio webcast or
live stats.
Due to the four part season preview this week, the regular pregame notes release will debut for week two.
QUICK HITTER NOTES- Concordia was picked 12th in the NSIC overall and 8th in the NSIC South in the NSIC Preseason Coaches Poll
- UMD was picked 1st in the overall and in the north division polls
-  Concordia is…
- 2-1 in season openers under 4th year head coach Ryan Williams
- 5-6 against the NSIC North Division in Williams' career
- 3-7 against UMD all-time, dropping the last four meetings
- 1-4 against UMD on the road in Duluth
- 3-1 when scoring 30-plus points on the Bulldogs
- 0-1 against UMD under head coach Ryan Williams
- Concordia's last win against UMD was Sept 4, 2004 in St. Paul, 38-6 in non-conference play as UMD was an NCC member
- Concordia's only win at UMD was its first trip there on Oct 7, 2000 (37-27)
- In Concordia's last trip to UMD in 2009, Bulldogs prevailed 56-0 with its second straight shutout of Concordia, also blanking the Bears 40-0 in 2008 in St. Paul
- In the last meeting in 2012 in St. Paul, UMD prevailed 70-24. Concordia held a pair of first quarter leads, 3-0 and 10-7 and only trailed 28-24 late in the first half but UMD scored on its first 10 possessions
- Concordia names team captains: Cordell Smith (WR, Sr., Mequon, Wis.), Tre Spears (RB, Sr., Chicago, Ill.), Abdullah Asad (SS, Sr., Chicago, Ill.) and Jordan Halverson (LB, Jr., Fridley, Minn.)
- Senior kicker/punter Tom Obarski (K/P, Sr., Burnsville, Minn.) has been nominated to the National Football Foundation National Scholar-Athlete Award
- Concordia features three USA College Football Preseason All-Americans: 1st Team: Jermaine Clemon (TE, Sr., Racine, Wis.), Tom Obarski (K/P, Sr., Burnsville, Minn.); 2nd Team: Nick Jauch (LB, Sr., Middleton, Wis.)
- Concordia announces junior Corey Cole will make his first career start at quarterback
- He previously was a wide receiver and kick returner
UMD and CONCORDIA HAVE CLOSE TIES- Defensive Coordinator Todd Storp won a national championship as the Bulldogs defensive coordinator in 2010
- While at UMD, Strop coached Rob Huberty, a two-time All-NSIC linebacker and two-time NCAA Champion. Huberty is now a graduate assistant coaching linebackers with Strop
- While at UMD, one of Strop's defensive graduate assistants was Joe Lardinois. He is now a full time staff member coaching defensive line and coordinating special teams at Concordia. Lardinois was also an All-American at North Dakota State and has defensive coordinator experience with MSU Moorhead
- Strop's son, Tyler Smrcina, is a defensive back for the Bulldogs. He started five games in 2013 as a redshirt freshman at free safety while playing in all 13 contests with 32 tackles. Now a sophomore, Smrcina is listed as the team's starting strong safety on the original two-deep
