St. Viator's Warren answered the call in stunning defeat of Minnesota

Word of Dante Warren's spectacular second collegiate start spread like an inferno.

It was pretty clear when the former St. Viator all-area quarterback checked his phone after he led South Dakota to a stunning 41-38 road upset of Minnesota on Saturday.

There were 64 text messages waiting for Warren. A few voice messages as well.

Leading a Football Championship Subdivision school past a Big Ten opponent was definitely big news.

"After it happened I definitely sat around and thought about it and talked to my high school coaches," Warren said. "It was definitely a good feeling to prove myself in such a big atmosphere when you have doubters behind you."

Warren certainly made believers of the Golden Gophers and nearly 50,000 in attendance in Minneapolis.

He was 21-for-32 passing for 352 yards and 3 touchdowns and rushed for 81 yards and 2 touchdowns. Although the two schools have met 10 times, Saturday's game was the first between them since 1930 and the first South Dakota victory over the Gophers since 1912.

And there was nothing conservative in the approach of South Dakota and Warren after a season-opening 38-7 loss to Central Florida.

"We went straight for the heart of them early on," Warren said of Minnesota. "The coaches called big-time plays, plays that had the potential to be touchdowns on every play.

"As a coach, when you call plays like that, it breeds confidence in the players on the field and we believed every step of the way the coaches were going to lead us to victory."

Warren said his work with offensive coordinator Wesley Beschorner made a big difference after he finished 10-for-19 passing for 104 yards in his collegiate starting debut at Central Florida.

Warren said he saw a difference in his teammates as well.

"I felt like we were better prepared," Warren said. "Not from a coaching standpoint but just mentally. Most of us had never been in a big-time game like that.

"We took that first game as a learning tool and went to Minnesota and used everything we learned."

Warren also had two years of learning on the job after sitting out 2007 as a redshirt. He was the No. 2 quarterback the last two seasons and threw for 495 yards and 3 touchdowns, but said he wasn't just automatically handed the keys to run the offense.

"I had to work hard all summer but I prevailed out of the battle," Warren said of the competition to be the starter. "As a player you want someone there with the ability to continue to push you.

"That was the key to my mental state to keep going and keep working hard. For all three years I've been working hard and progressing."

Warren was the East Suburban Catholic Conference MVP as a senior in 2006 when St. Viator won a share of the conference title and reached the second round of the playoffs. He threw for 1,851 yards and 21 touchdowns and rushed for 645 yards and 12 touchdowns.

But the 6-foot athlete received limited Division I interest and a few Division II scholarship offers. Then South Dakota entered the recruiting picture in December of his senior year.

"A lot of coaches from bigger schools I talked to questioned my height as a concern," Warren said.

It wasn't an issue Saturday when Warren completed a third-down pass with less than two minutes left for a first down. It was the exclamation point on a poignant message.

"We talked about it all year that we wanted to beat them so bad," Warren said. "I'm just glad we could."