Coming off their 33-0 win against Southwest Minnesota State, UMD Football’s undefeated record lives to see another day. The team is now focused on their upcoming Homecoming game against Winona State.

Defensive Lineman Jakob Aarsvold spoke of the soon-approaching match-up — how the team plans to prepare and what they can best do to secure another win. “Winona is very good, our best competition so far. They’re a hardworking team with good talent. We have good talent but we’ll have to be physical, ” Aarsvold said. “When we played SMSU last week we shut them out defensively and scored a lot of points offensively, but to beat Winona we’ll need to ‘out-physical’ them.”

Aarsvold says that the most important part of their pregame is looking over practice footage and running through things with your positions, what you saw in film and what you’ll see on the field so that “when you’re on the field, it’s just an instinct.”

But the field isn’t the only place the team preps before kickoff. The locker room allows space for the players to focus and get prepared individually. “[In the locker room] people aren’t uptight but they are still locked in and ready to go,” Aarsvold said. When speaking of the team’s dynamic this season, Aarsvold says how ‘more than ever’ they have such a good community together. “Everyone seems to be friends with everyone,” Aarsvold said. “Everyone just vibes together.”

Aarsvold joined the team as a Freshman and has been a part ever since. His favorite part of being on the team is the community connection between the guys and being able to see them in the locker room, the hallways and even outside of campus. “It’s just a hundred friends you immediately have,” Aarvolt said. “The brotherhood, for sure, is the best part.”

Aarsvold also touched base on the stereotype surrounding football players. “Many people think we’re a bunch of dumb jock football players, but there’s a lot of really smart, really good guys,” Aarsvold said. People shouldn't be afraid to talk to the team because they are “just a group of guys who want to help out others.”

The Homecoming game is at 12 p.m. on Saturday, Sept. 30 at Malosky Stadium. “Just come watch the game. If you don’t know football, come learn,” Aarsvold said.