North Dakota State BISON FootbalL 36 Conference Championships | 16 National Championships 2019 Missouri Valley Football Conference & NCAA FCS National Champions 2020-21 Schedule North Dakota State at Northern Iowa Saturday in (5-1 overall, 4-1 MVFC) Date Opponent Time 10/3 #11 CENTRAL ARKANSAS W, 39-28 Valley Football Game of the Week 2/21 *YOUNGSTOWN STATE W, 25-7 2/27 *at Southern Illinois L, 14-38 THIS WEEK: No. 2-ranked North Dakota 3/6 *at Missouri State W, 25-0 State (5-1, 4-1 MVFC) is on the road this week 3/13 *#22 ILLINOIS STATE W, 21-13 to face Northern Iowa (3-3, 3-3 MVFC) in the 3/20 *#2/2 NORTH DAKOTA W, 34-13 Missouri Valley Football Conference Game of the NORTH DAKOTA STATE NORTHERN IOWA 3/27 *at South Dakota Canceled Week. Game time is 4 p.m. Saturday, April 10, at 4/10 *at #24/21 Northern Iowa 4 p.m. the UNI-Dome in Cedar Falls, Iowa. BISON PANTHERS 4/17 *SOUTH DAKOTA STATE 2:30 p.m. (5-1, 4-1 MVFC) (3-3, 3-3 MVFC) #STATS/AFCA rankings *MVFC games ^FCS playoffs TELEVISION: ESPN+ will have exclusive Rank: 2/3 (STATS/AFCA) Rank: 24/21 (STATS/AFCA) Quick Facts television coverage of the MVFC TV Game of the Last Game: March 20 def. Last Game: March 27 def. Location: Fargo, ND 58102 (pop. 124,662) North Dakota 34-13 Western Illinois 34-20 Week. Coverage begins at 4 p.m. with Brad Wells Streak: Won 3 Streak: Won 1 Founded: 1890 (play-by-play), Danan Hughes (analyst) and Kelly At Home: 4-0 (Won 32) At Home: 1-2 (Lost 1) Enrollment: 12,846 (fall 2020) Burke (reporter). ESPN+ is available by subscrip- Coach: Matt Entz Coach: Mark Farley Nickname: Bison Record: 21-1 (2nd) Record: 162-86 (20th) Colors: Yellow and Green (PMS 123, 343) tion on ESPN.com and the ESPN app. Stadium: Gate City Bank Field at the Fargodome (18,700) Surface: AstroTurf GameDay Grass RADIO: Coverage begins at 3:30 p.m. on the Peterson Farms Seed Bison Radio Network includ- Affiliation: NCAA Division I FCS ing 107.9 The Fox in Fargo with Jeff Culhane (play-by-play), Phil Hansen (analyst) and Cole Jirik Conference: Missouri Valley Football (MVFC) (sideline). Extended coverage locally on Bison 1660 and 92.7 FM includes “Bison Tailgate” from Last Year’s Record: 16-0, 8-0 MVFC (1st) 12:30-1:30, “Bison Game Day” from 1:30-3:30 and the “Bison Hotline” call-in show following the Starters Returning/Lost: 14/8 network broadcast. Offense: 9/2 Defense: 5/6 Basic Offense: Pro Style Basic Defense: 4-3 President: Dr. Dean L. Bresciani (Humboldt State, 1984) ONLINE: NDSU All Access offers free audio streaming of all NDSU football games as well as Director of Athletics: Matt Larsen (Stony Brook, 1996) live video of Bison home games to subscribers on GoBison.com/allaccess and the NDSU Athletics Athletic Department Phone: (701) 231-8981 mobile app. Links to live streams and live in-game stats are available at GoBison.com/coverage. Ticket Office Phone: (888) 231-6378 Follow along with in-game updates on Twitter @NDSUfootball. Football Staff THE SERIES: This is the 54th meeting between North Dakota State and Northern Iowa dating Head Coach: Matt Entz (Wartburg College, 1995) Record at NDSU: 21-1 (2nd season) back to 1938. NDSU has won six straight to take a 27-26 lead in the series. The Bison are 9-4 against Career Record: same UNI since joining the Missouri Valley Football Conference in 2008 including a 3-3 mark at the UNI- Assistant Coaches/Staff: Dome, where the Bison have won two in a row. The teams have one postseason matchup in their *Randy Hedberg (Minot St., 1977) ............... Assoc. Head Coach history with NDSU winning 23-13 in 2015 NCAA FCS quarterfinals in Fargo. Passing Game Coord./QBs *Tyler Roehl (NDSU, 2009) ...Off. Coord./Tight Ends/Fullbacks David Braun (Winona St., 2008) ...............Def. Coord./Safeties LAST YEAR’S MEETING: North Dakota State scored four unanswered touchdowns in the sec- Nick Goeser (UW-Eau Claire, 2003) .... Spec.Teams Coord./DTs ond half of a 46-14 victory over Northern Iowa at the Fargodome in 2019. Adam Cofield rushed 15 Joe Beschorner (Simpson, 2000) ..................... Running Backs times for 104 yards and two touchdowns while Trey Lance was 10 of 18 passing for 145 yards and Dan Larson (UW-Eau Claire, 2003) ....................Offensive Line *Kody Morgan (UW-Stevens Point, 2012) ............ Cornerbacks three TDs in the win. Josh Hayes led the Bison defense with six tackles, three pass breakups and Grant Olson (NDSU, 2014) ................................... Linebackers a forced fumble, Michael Tutsie had six tackles and James Kaczor made a team-high seven stops. Noah Pauley (Minn.-Duluth, 2012) ...................Wide Receivers UNI quarterback Will McElvain finished 15 of 29 passing for 233 yards and one TD while Tyler Hoos- *Buddha Williams (U. of Charleston, 2009) ..... Defensive Ends man rushed 12 times for 54 yards. *Connor Senger (UW-Oshkosh, 2017) .........Off. Quality Control *Lee Pronschinske (Winona State, 2019) .. Def. Quality Control Nathan Bjoralt (NDSU, 2013) .......Dir. of Football Ops. & Equip. FLIPPING THE FIELD: North Dakota State is ranked second in the FCS in net punting and first Josh Kittell (Jamestown, 2008) ....... Dir. of Football Recruiting in punt returns this year. The Bison are averaging 43.6 net yards punting and 26.2 yards per return. John Riley (Arkansas State, 2008) .. Dir. of Football Video Ops. Jim Kramer (UW-La Crosse, 1989) ...Asst. AD/Ath. Performance Senior punter Garret Wegner leads the FCS with a 47.2 punting average with 11 of his 31 punts *press box on game day going for more than 50 yards and 14 punts downed inside the 20. Jayden Price’s 85-yard punt return Athletic Communications touchdown against Illinois State tied the third longest return in school history. Contact: Ryan Perreault BISON LEAD IN RUSHING: North Dakota State leads the Missouri Valley Football Conference in Office: (701) 231-8331 Mobile: (701) 793-0521 Email: [email protected] rushing with 218.8 yards per game and will go against the No. 2 rushing defense in the conference Website: GoBison.com this week in Northern Iowa, which is allowing 102.2 yards per game. NDSU’s Jalen Bussey is seventh Facebook: @NDSUathletics among league rushing leaders with 61.2 yards per game, and the Bison have four active players Twitter: @NDSUathletics @NDSUfootball averaging at least 40 yards per game. Instagram: @NDSUathletics @NDSUfootball YouTube: @NDSUathletics BISON FOOTBALL 2020-21 PAGE 2 TEAM COMPARISONS NORTH DAKOTA ST. (5-1, 4-1 MVFC) NORTHERN IOWA (3-3, 3-3 MVFC) NCAA RANKINGS BISON OPP PANTHERS OPP NDSU UNI Points/Game 26.3 16.5 Points/Game 19.5 14.0 Scoring Off. 33rd 66th First Downs 107 92 First Downs 99 88 Rushing Off. 5th 73rd Rushing/Game 228.3 108.2 Rushing/Game 104.3 102.2 Passing Off. 79th 50th Passing/Game 131.7 174.0 Passing/Game 196.3 180.0 Total Offense 36th 68th Total Offense/Game 360.0 282.2 Total Offense/Game 300.7 282.2 Passing Eff. 66th 61st VALLEY OVERALL Had Intercepted 7 4 Had Intercepted 3 3 Scoring Def. 18th 10th W-L Pct. W-L Pct. Fumbles-Lost 10-5 4-1 Fumbles-Lost 5-2 7-4 Rushing Def. 18th 14th North Dakota State 4-1 .800 5-1 .833 Penalties-Avg. Yards 15-24.5 21-30.2 Penalties-Avg. Yards 35-39.5 41-56.8 Passing Def. 29th 33rd North Dakota 4-1 .800 4-1 .800 Net Punt Avg. 43.6 39.3 Net Punt Avg. 36.9 36.7 Total Defense 19th 16th South Dakota State 4-1 .800 4-1 .800 Time of Poss./Game 30:15 29:45 Time of Poss./Game 28:28 31:32 Pass Eff. Def. 35th 51st Missouri State 4-1 .800 4-4 .500 3rd Down Conversions 39% 30% 3rd Down Conversions 29% 35% Net Punting 2nd 30th Southern Illinois 3-3 .500 4-3 .571 4th Down Conversions 2/5 5/10 4th Down Conversions 2/2 5/9 Punt Returns 1st 50th Northern Iowa 3-3 .500 3-3 .500 Kick Returns 81st 13th South Dakota 1-3 .250 1-3 .250 INDIVIDUAL LEADERS INDIVIDUAL LEADERS Turnover Mar. 82nd 36th Illinois State 1-3 .250 1-3 .250 RUSHING Att Net Avg TD YPG RUSHING Att Net Avg TD YPG Pen Yds/Gm 2nd 23rd Western Illinois 1-5 .167 1-5 .167 Kobe Johnson 61 271 4.4 2 45.2 Tyler Hoosman 66 303 4.6 4 60.6 Time of Poss. 47th 72nd Youngstown State 1-5 .167 1-5 .167 D. Gonnella 47 248 5.3 0 49.6 Dom Williams 69 245 3.6 2 40.8 3rd Dn Conv. 47th 87th PASSING C-A-I Pct. TD YPG PASSING C-A-I Pct. TD YPG 3rd Dn Def. 16th 31st Indiana State 0-0 .000 0-0 .000 Zeb Noland 43-83-6 51.8 4 113.4 Will McElvain 58-114-2 50.9 1 186.2 4th Dn Conv. 55th 1st RECEIVING Rec Yds Avg TD YPG RECEIVING Rec Yds Avg TD YPG 4th Dn Def. 49th 61st C. Watson 11 214 19.5 1 35.7 Quan Hampton 31 351 11.3 0 58.5 Schedule & Scores Josh Babicz 11 119 10.8 1 19.8 Deion McShane 16 235 14.7 0 39.2 All Times Central DEFENSE U-A-TT TFL Int.