Glenn Caruso arrived as the St. Thomas football coach for the 2008 season. The Tommies were 5-3 in the MIAC and not in contention for a place in the 32-team NCAA Division III playoffs.

The Tommies reached the playoffs in 2009, won twice and lost in the quarterfinals. The same thing happened in 2010, with the quarterfinal loss coming 12-7 to conference rival Bethel.

St. Thomas won three playoff games in 2011 and lost to Wisconsin-Whitewater in the national semifinals. The Tommies won four playoff games in 2012 and lost to the Mount Union in the national championship game.

There was only one more progression for Caruso’s program to make: winning five playoff games and claiming the national title.

Surprise.

The Tommies lost narrowly to St. John’s and Bethel and missed the playoff field in 2013. They were awarded a playoff berth in 2014 despite losing again to St. John’s and Bethel, then lost a first-round game at Wartburg.

“The last two years were very frustrating, because we knew how well we could play when at our best,” senior tight end Charlie Dowdle. “We had a great offseason getting ready for this fall, and it has been good so far.”

It has been beyond that.

The Tommies are back — 7-0 with an average margin of victory of 46.4 points.

A month ago, St. Thomas went to Collegeville as a slight underdog to St. John’s and manhandled the Johnnies in the second half for a 35-14 victory.

On Saturday, the opponent was Bethel, the Tommies’ other obstacle in waylaying their MIAC dominance over the previous two seasons.

This was a more-severe beating than St. Thomas gave the Johnnies. The final was 45-14, and again it was the Tommies delivering a second-half whipping to a proud opponent.

St. Thomas outscored Bethel 24-0 and outgained the Royals 229-17 in yards in the second half. For the game, Bethel completed 1 of 5 passes, and for 1 yard.

One.

Bethel coach Steve Johnson expressed concern before the game over the Tommies’ aptitude for wearing down opponents in the second half. He could not have imagined this.

The Tommies beat opponents to a pulp with an enormous, experienced offensive line, and with a running back brought here by a Higher Power.

Really. Jordan Roberts received his calling while at South Dakota U. last fall and enrolled in the St. John Vianney Seminary at St. Thomas in January.

– 39 carries for 194 yards and two touchdowns.

Roberts has Division I talent, and he’s also running behind an offensive line with four seniors (David Simmet, Zach Brennan, Stefan Sauer, Richie Donovan) and a junior (Will Hilbert). They average 306 pounds, a number boosted by 6-9 right tackle Simmet weighing 350.

“A key to all of our good football teams has been the offensive line,” Caruso said. “If you go by pure athletic ability, this isn’t our best group. If you go by cohesiveness, we’ve never been better.

“When I say ‘offensive line,’ I also include the two tight ends, Charlie Dowdle and Matt Christenson, and what they do blocking the edges.”

Dowdle caught three passes total for 51 yards, one for a 14-yard score. The touchdown was Dowdle’s 18th in his past 14 games. “He’s as good as there is in the country as a [D-III] tight end,” Caruso said.

For sure, there isn’t a Division III football player who could compare with Dowdle in a wicked game of water polo. He was a high school All-America at Loyola Academy in Wilmette, Ill.

“There are 100-some high schools in Illinois that have water polo,” Dowdle said. “My older sister played, so I took it up in high school. I looked into a couple of schools for water polo. Once I got interested in St. Thomas and found about this football program, it was an easy decision.”

Dowdle is a favorite target for John Gould, a 5-9 quarterback who took over at halftime of last year’s loss to Bethel and kept the job.

Gould seemed to run around haphazardly last season, but he was very good against St. John’s and sensational against Bethel — completing 18 of 21 passes for 186 yards and two TDs.

If this was an example of the accuracy Gould has to offer, to go with Roberts’ running and a thumping defense … hey, bring on Mount Union.