THIS WEEK: The Southwest Minnesota State University (0-0, 0-0 NSIC South) football team opens the 2013 season on Saturday, Sept. 7, hosting St. Cloud State University (0-0, 0-0 NSIC North) for the annual Ag Bowl game. Kickoff is slated for 6 p.m. at Mattke Field at the Schwan Regional Event Center (3,000) in Marshall. SMSU and St. Cloud State - which received votes in the AFCA preseason Top 25 - will be meeting for the first time since Oct. 15, 2011, while SMSU will be looking to snap a four-game losing streak to the Huskies and earn just the second victory overall in 17 games in the series.

GAME QUICK FACTS:
•SMSU is opening the season at home for the 21st time in 46 seasons.
•SMSU has lost its last two season-opening games.
•SMSU finished the 2012 season with a record of 4-7 and tied for 10th place in the 16-team NSIC. SMSU finished 3-4 in the NSIC South, tying for fourth place in the eight-team division.

FOR OPENERS: Southwest Minnesota State is 20-25 all-time in season openers following last season's loss to Minnesota Duluth. SMSU has lost its last two season-opening games.  SMSU is 24-21 all-time in home openers after last season's loss to UMD.  The loss to UMD snapped a four-game home-opener winning streak. 

A VICTORY FOR SMSU WOULD...:
•Be its first over St. Cloud State since Oct. 24, 1981 - breaking a four-game losing streak.
•Be its first season-opening victory since 2011.
•Give SMSU a 14-16 record at the Schwan Regional Event Center.
•Give Cory Sauter a 2-2 record in season openers.

ON THIS DATE: SMSU is 2-2 all-time when playing on Sept. 7.  Listed below are the results from previous games played on this date.
•1974 - at South Dakota State, L 45-10
•1991 - at Augustana, W 28-10
•1996 - Minot State, L 36-12
•2002 - Buena Vista, W 41-24

THE HEAD COACH: Southwest Minnesota State head coach Cory Sauter is in his fourth season in 2013 and has an overall record of 11-22, including 10-21 in conference games.  Sauter was named head coach on March 29, 2010, after serving two seasons as an assistant coach at SMSU.  In 2009, Sauter served as the team's offensive coordinator, while in 2008 he served as quarterbacks coach.  A complete bio on coach Sauter can be found on page 17.

SAUTER MOVING UP THE LIST: Cory Sauter begins the season with 11 victories and is just one win shy of tying Brent Jeffers for fifth on the SMSU all-time coaching list.  He is three victories behind both Ron Flowers and Curt Strasheim for third all-time with 14 victories.

THE 2013 ROSTER: The 2013 SMSU roster features 105 players (as of Sept. 3) with 15 seniors, 18 juniors, 14 sophomore, 23 redshirt freshmen and 35 freshmen.  The roster includes players from 12 different states with Minnesota leading the way with 39, followed by Wisconsin (17), Iowa (12), South Dakota (10), Illinois (9), Florida (6), California (4), Colorado (2), Texas (2), Alaska, Georgia (1), Nebraska (1) and Arizona (1).