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The Game: Southwest Minnesota State University looks to break a four-game losing streak when they host Minnesota State University Moorhead at 1:30 p.m. on Saturday, October 9 at SMSUs Mattke Field.
Both teams will be looking for their first victories in the conference while MSU Moorhead is in search of their first win of the 2004 season after a 0-6 start. SMSU is coming off a 30-7 home loss to Bemidji State while MSU Moorhead suffered a 38-27 setback to touring Wayne State last Saturday.

SMSU ROSTER, TWO-DEEP AND MORE TIDBITS: The 2004 SMSU football roster and this weeks two-deep is located on pages 8-9 of this release. Also, on pages 4-7, statistical information including scoring drives, red-zone stats, longest plays, SMSU players of the week, starting line-ups and more is all available. For complete statistics, please go to www.SMSUMustangs.com.

MUSTANG QUICK HITS: A Southwest Minnesota State victory on Saturday versus MSU Moorhead would...
break their current four-game losing streak.
be their sixth win over MSU Moorhead in the last seven games.
move their all-time record against MSU Moorhead to 12-24.
move their all-time home record against MSU Moorhead to 9-9.
move SMSUs NSIC record to 78-138-5 all-time in 35 years.
move SMSUs record to 135-229-5 all-time in 37 years.
--SMSU is 0-3 all-time on games played on Oct. 9, losing to Winona State 10-6 in 1971, Minnesota-Morris 62-10 in 1976 and Bemidji State 13-10 in 1999.

The Coaches: Eric Eidsness is 2-4 in his first season as SMSU head coach. Eidsness, who was named head coach on January 21, 2004, spent the previous five seasons as offensive coordinator at South Dakota State University. During his five seasons as offensive coordinator, he led an offense that broke 36 SDSU offensive records and had 20 North Central Conference Offensive Players of the Week.
In 2003, SDSU finished with a 7-4 record and ranked first in the NCC in passing offense with 284.0 yards per game, finished 13th in NCAA II in passing offense and ranked 29th in total offense. Under his guidance at SDSU, Eidsness had the top ranked passing quarterback in the NCC in 2002 and 2003 and his offense ranked in the top four in the NCC his last four seasons, including ranking first in 2001. For his efforts last season, Eidsness was one of three finalists for the NCAA II American Football Coaches Association (AFCA) assistant coach of the year.
A Sioux Falls, SD, native, Eidsness played college football at both St. Cloud State and the University of Sioux Falls. He also spent time as an assistant coach at Morningside (1994-95), South Dakota State (1996-97) and Ferris State (1998) before becoming offensive coordinator at SDSU in 1998.
Ralph Micheli is 56-62-2 in his 12th season as head coach at MSU Moorhead. The longest tenured head coach in the NSIC, he ranks third on the Dragon lifetime coaching chart in victories. Micheli was named the 1994 NSIC Coach of the Year when he led the Dragons to an NAIA playoff appearance while in 1995 he led MSU Moorhead to a 5-0-1 league record and their last conference championship.
He spent one season as an assistant at MSU Moorhead in 1992 before being named head coach. Hes was also a head coach at Tarkio College (Mo.) for three seasons and Sul Ross State (Texas) where he spend seven seasons.

SERIES TIDBITS: SMSU and MSU Moorhead meet for the 36th time on Saturday with the Dragons leading 24-11. MSU Moorhead dominated the series in the 1970s and early 1980s winning the first 17 meetings. Since SMSUs first win over MSUM in 1986, the Mustangs are is 11-8 against MSU Moorhead and has won five of the last six meetings. SMSU has won four straight and seven of the last eight games against MSU Moorhead in Marshall including last year 28-20.

LAST WEEK: The Southwest Minnesota State University defense held the high-powered Bemidji State offense to just 17 points through three quarters, but the Beaver offense connected for a pair of four quarter scores to put the game away and seal a 30-7 victory over SMSU in the annual homecoming game in Marshall. Bemidji State had their streak of 40 or more points scored in a game snapped at seven straight and was held to 325 yards of total offense. BSU came into the game averaging 509 yards of offense per game and was scoring an average of 47.8 points per contest. The Mustang defense did their part to keep SMSU in the game, but a solid Bemidji State defense forced key turnovers to set-up their offense.
The Mustang offense committed three costly turnovers deep in their own end that the Beaver offense turned into 17 points. BSU had scoring drives of 22, 33 and 25 yards after SMSU turnovers.
After trailing 7-0, SMSU took advantage of BSUs lone turnover of the game on their second possession as Andy Schlichtings punt hit a BSU player in the back of the leg and SMSUs Mike Wierson recovered giving SMSU the ball as the Beaver 22-yard line. Just four plays later, Thomas Durham scored from six yards out to tie the game at 7-7 with 6:37 left in the first quarter.
The difference in the game may have been the second quarter as BSU scored ten points off of SMSU turnovers and the BSU defense came up big on SMSUs best drive of the day.
With the score tied 7-7, BSU drove to the SMSU 13-yard line and faced a 4th and 2. The Mustang defense came up big and held on fourth down give SMSU the ball at their own 13-yard line. After SMSU picked up a first down moving the ball to the 25-yard line, two plays later Alex Woolbright fumbled the ball and BSU recovered at SMSUs 22-yard line. BSU took seven plays to score as QB Nathan Sannes dove in on fourth and goal from the 1-yard line to give BSU a 14-7 lead with 6:59 left in the half.
On the next SMSU drive, the Mustangs fumbled again and the Beavers recovered at the SMSU 39-yard line and six plays later settled on a Michael McDonald 23-yard field goal to take a 17-7 lead with 4:44 remaining.
SMSU then put together their best drive of the game moving from their own 20-yard line all the way down to the BSU 1-yard line, but on fourth down and goal from the 1-yard line, BSU deflected Adrian Headens pass away and took a 17-7 halftime lead. BSU had just 193 yards of offense in the first half while SMSU was held to just 167 yards.
It was all defense in the third quarter as both teams were forced to punt four times in the quarter. The high-powered BSU offense was held to -1 yards of offense in the quarter but SMSU was held to just 37 yards.
In the fourth quarter though, BSU drove 80 yards in nine plays capped by a Mike Nordyke 38-yard reverse run to give the Beavers a 24-7 lead. BSU once again then recovered an SMSU fumble and recovered at the SMSU 25-yard line. It took just two plays and BSU scored their final points with Sannes 21-yard TD pass to Adam Noble.
SMSU could muster only 90 yards passing in the game as Headen completed 6 of 20 passes and was sacked eight times. Ray Denson, who missed most of the last two games at wide receiver for SMSU, finished with three receptions for 54 yards. Thomas Durham led the SMSU rushing attack with 95 yards on just seven carries and one touchdown. He left the game though in the second quarter with an injury.
Joel Wipperfurth had eight tackles to lead the SMSU defense while Jon Kubat had seven stops including three for loss. Brendan Osuocha had 1.5 sacks for SMSU as well.

SCHLICHTING DOES IT AGAIN: Sophomore punter Andy Schlichting has had a solid two-year career at SMSU. Last season, he averaged 37.8 per punt and had 12 punts inside the opponents 20-yard line. This year, he is averaging 36.7 per punt and already has eight inside the 20-yard line. He currently leads the NSIC in punting with a 40.2 average.

THE RUSHING GAME IS BACK: Southwest Minnesota State is averaging 156.7 yards per game rushing this season which would be the highest since the 1974 team averaged 163.3 yards per game. SMSU has averaged 150 yards rushing or more just twice (1998 & 1988) since the 1974 season.

DEFENSE CONTINUES SOLID PLAY: The Mustang defense continues to play solid defense through six games. Last week, SMSU held Bemidji State to 325 yards of offense, this after BSU was averaging over 500 yards per game.
The SMSU defense is giving up 281.2 yards per game game which would be the second best by an SMSU defense since the 1995 season. The 1998 defense gave up an average of 257.4 per game.

DENSON REACHES MILESTONE: Ray Denson reached the 100 career reception plateau in the loss to Bemidji State. In his career, the junior from Ft. Myers, Fla., has 101 receptions for 1,278 yards and 16 touchdowns. He also needs just four more touchdowns to move into fifth all-time in the SMSU record book for career receiving touchdowns with 20.

WIERSON SETS NEW HIGH: SMSU wideout Mike Wierson set a career-high on Sept. 25 with seven receptions in the loss to Winona State. He finished the game with 83 yards receiving and one touchdown.

DENSON MISSES MOST OF TWO GAMES: Junior wide receiver Ray Denson, who leads the team in receptions and yards, missed the Sept. 25 game against Winona State and played just a handful of plays against Upper Iowa on Sept. 18, both SMSU losses. He did start last week against Bemidji State, leading the team with three receptions.

DEFENSE SCORES TWO IN WEEK THREE: Junior Joel Wipperfurth became the first SMSU player since 1995 to score a defensive two-point conversion. Wipperfurth intercepted an Augustana pass on Sept. 11 and returned it 104 yards for two points. Melvin German on Oct. 21, 1995 vs. Moorhead State was the last Mustang player to score a defensive two-point conversion.

RUNNIN WILD: SMSU rushed for over 200 yards in each of their first two games, which was the first time an SMSU team has done that since game three and four of the 2002 season.

DENSON RECORDS THREE STRAIGHT 100-YARD GAMES: Junior wide receiver opened the season with three straight 100-yard receiving the games. Its the first time in his career hes reached 100 yards or more in three straight games. He played just a handful of plays last Saturday ending his streak.

SMSU RECORDS BACK-TO-BACK SHUTOUTS: The Mustang defense recorded back-to-back shutouts to open the season on Aug. 28 and Sept. 4 in victories over Peru State and Waldorf. It was the first time an SMSU defense has shutout opponents in back-to-back games since Oct. 31 and Nov. 7, 1981.

non-conference foes: SMSU, which went 2-2 in non-conference game this season, is 9-25 in their last 34 non-conference games dating back to the start of the 1995 season.

DURHAM TIES SCHOOL RECORD: Redshirt freshman Thomas Durham tied a 30-year old record on Sept. 4 in the victory over Waldorf with four rushing touchdowns. He tied the mark set by Rich Froemling on Oct. 26, 1974 versus Michigan Tech.

NSIC HONORS FOR THE MUSTANGS: Junior wide receiver Ray Denson (Aug. 30) and freshman running back Thomas Durham (Sept. 6) have been named NSIC Co-Offensive Players of the Week this season while, junior placekicker Eric Oldenkamp (Sept. 20) has been named NSIC Special Teams Player of the Week.

southwest on the road: Winning on the road has been difficult for Southwest Minnesota State over the years. In fact, SMSU hasnt had a winning road record since finishing 3-2 (not including neutral site games) in 1997. Since the program started in 1968, SMSU has had just one winning season road (1991).
This season SMSU is 2-1 away from Mattke Field while last season SMSU finished 0-5 away from Mattke Field.

NSIC preseason poll: Southwest Minnesota State was picked to finish tied for fifth in the annual NSIC preseason poll selected by the leagues head coaches. (see poll on page 3)

MUSTANGS LOOK FOR THOSE WINNING WAYS: The 2004 version of SMSU football will be looking to do something that only seven other teams in school history have done: record a winning season. SMSU has had just seven winning seasons in 36 years of the program. The Mustangs last winning campaign came in 1999 when they finished 6-5.

TEAM CAPTAINS: Southwest Minnesota State players selected four players to serve as team captains in 2004. On offense, senior offensive lineman Nick Bogenrief and senior tight end Andy Brown were named captains while on defense junior linebacker Joel Wipperfurth and sophomore linebacker Jon Kubat were named.

SCOUTING THE DRAGONS: MSU Moorhead will be looking for their first victor of the season on Saturday as they enter the game 0-6 overall, 0-2 NSIC. MSUM has been struggling on offense, averaging just 11.5 points in the six contests. The Dragons scored a season-high 27 points in last weeks loss to Wayne State but prior to that game MSUM hadnt scored over 12 points in a single game.
Known as a rushing team in previous years, MSU Moorhead is averaging just 99.8 yards per game on the ground and has scored just three touchdowns. MSUMs top running back, Tim Zupke, leads the team with 165 yards on a team-high 44 carries.
Sean Belmont is the Dragons starting quarterback completing 32 of 76 passes for 356 yards and four touchdowns, but he left Saturdays game against Wayne State in the first half with an injury and is questionable for this weeks game. Back-up quarterback Kelly Meslow has appeared in all six games and has connected on 24 of 62 passes for 388 yards and two touchdowns. Derek Blackburn is the Dragons top receiver with 32 receptions for 474 yards and three touchdowns while Roland Sessions has 16 receptions for 210 yards and a pair of touchdowns.
Matt Asuma leads the MSU Moorhead defense with 54 tackles and a team-high 4.5 tackles for loss. Desmond Daniels has 39 tackles while Rich Johnson has 36 stops. Micah Tysver leads the club with two interceptions.
MSU Moorhead is averaging 225.7 yards of offense while opponents are averaging 416.3 yards per game. The Dragons have struggled on rush defense giving up an average of 254.7 yards per game while opponents are scoring 41.2 points per game.

UP NEXT: Southwest Minnesota State will travel to Wayne State College in Wayne, Neb. on October 16.