THIS WEEK
•After dropping a hard-fought 38-23 home loss to No. 3 Minnesota State last Saturday, the Southwest Minnesota State football team hits the road for the first time in 2019 with a battle on Saturday night versus Wayne State College in Wayne, Neb.
•Kickoff at Bob Cunningham Field inside Memorial Stadium is slated for 6 p.m.
•Wayne State lost its season opener, 37-20, at Winona State last Saturday afternoon.
•A preview on WSC is located on page 4.

SMSU vs. WSC Series Notes
(all-time results listed on page 5)
Southwest Minnesota State and Wayne State meet for the 31st time on Saturday with WSC leading 22-8 in a series that started on Nov. 1, 1969 ... WSC is 10-4 all-time in games played in Wayne ... WSC has won the last three meetings and four of the last five including 23-14 last season in Marshall ... WSC has won 12 of the last 17 meetings since 2002 ... WSC had a seven-game winning streak in the series from 2005-11 ... SMSU has scored 39 or more points in five of the last seven games including 55 in 2013 and 61 in 2015 with both games coming in Wayne ... WSC earned a 20-6 victory in the last game played in Wayne on Oct. 7, 2017.   

The Last Time - SMSU vs. WSC
Wayne State recorded eight sacks including five by Jacob Protzman, while limiting Southwest Minnesota State to 142 yards of offense, in earning a 23-14 victory in Marshall on Sept. 8, 2018. WSC won despite committing five turnovers. The Wildcat defense forced the Mustangs into 12 punts while holding SMSU to just 3 of 18 on third-down conversions. Marlon Warren rushed for a game-high 147 yards on 34 carries to pace WSC while Aaron Bleil completed 25 of 39 pass attempts for 291 yards and three touchdowns. WSC's Nate Rogers caught a game-high seven receptions for 93 yards and one touchdown. WSC finished the game with 417 yards of offense with 26 first downs. SMSU was held to eight first downs—its lowest total since finishing with nine versus Winona State on Nov. 4, 2006. SMSU quarterback Blake Gimbel completed 19 of 35 passes for 137 yards and one touchdown. Daniel Davis led the Mustang offense with six catches for 63 yards, while Trey Sachs rushed for a team-high 33 yards and one touchdown on 11 carries.
   
SMSU vs. WSC Series Information
Overall:    WSC leads 22-8
In Marshall:    WSC leads 12-4
In Wayne:    WSC leads 10-4
Neutral Record:    0-0
Last SMSU win:    Oct. 10, 2015 (61-3)
Last WSC win:    Sept. 8, 2018 (23-14)
Largest win for SMSU:    58 (61-3, 2015)
Largest win for WSC:    49 (49-0, 1969)
Longest win streak for SMSU:    2 (1990-91, 2012-13)
Longest win streak for WSC:    7 (2005-11)
Current win streak:    WSC, 3
Sauter vs. WSC:    3-6
McLaughlin vs. SMSU:    11-3

BROADCAST INFO
•Saturday's game will be broadcast on 105.1 FM KARL with seventh-year SMSU play-by-play voice Ryan Rohlik.
•Live stats and video can be found at SMSUmustangs. com.

OPENING DRIVE TIDBITS
•SMSU has lost 10 straight NSIC South Division road games over the last three seasons.  
•SMSU's last divisional road victory came on Nov. 7, 2015, versus Concordia-St. Paul.
•SMSU has opened a season 1-1 or 2-0 in 10 of the last 11 seasons. Last season was the program's only 0-2 start since 2007.
•Saturday is the second of three night games SMSU will play in the opening four weeks. SMSU will have afternoon games in each of the final seven weeks.
•SMSU will be looking to snap a three-game losing streak to Wayne State.
•Sophomore tight end Carter Damlo caught his first career touchdown pass in Saturday's loss to MSU.
•Senior running back Max Simmons needs 48 rushing yards to move into sole possession of seventh place in the program career record book with 1,947 yards.
•Senior left tackle Zach Stratmoen has started 23 straight games the past three seasons. It's the longest streak by any current Mustang.  
•Senior wide receiver Daniel Davis registered his seventh career 100-yard receiving game in last week's loss to MSU ranking 10th in team history.
•All nine of Davis' receptions on Saturday versus MSU resulted in a first down.
•SMSU has not rushed for 100 yards in four straight games dating back to last season. SMSU's last time reaching 100 yards was on Oct. 20, 2018, versus Northern State.

MUSTANGS DROP OPENER TO MSU
•No. 3 ranked and defending NSIC champion Minnesota State scored the game's final 10 points in the fourth quarter to hold off a late Southwest Minnesota State comeback attempt to earn a 38-23 victory last Saturday night at Mattke Field at the Schwan Regional Event Center.
•MSU built a 25-3 first half lead, but SMSU rallied to pull within 28-23 after three quarters of play.
•SMSU, which trailed 31-23 early in the fourth quarter, drove inside the MSU 15-yard line for a chance to tie the game, but an interception ended the drive and the Mavericks countered with a key touchdown to seal the win.
•SMSU closed the game racking up 350 yards of offense, but was held to four yards rushing which was aided by six sacks by the MSU defense.
•SMSU quarterback Steven Nava, who took over for an injured Boyer Bouman after halftime, completed 15 of 21 pass attempts for 184 yards and two touchdowns. •Daniel Davis caught a game-high nine passes for 146 yards and one touchdown while teammates Luke Narveson and Gabe Galamue each caught four passes.
•Garrett Chapman led the Mustang defense with 15 tackles including 11 solo stops while Lucas Fisher added eight tackles including one for loss.

NAVA IMPRESSIVE IN RELIEF
•Junior college transfer quarterback Steven Nava was pressed into duty in the second half of Saturday's loss to Minnesota State replacing an injured Boyer Bouman.
•Nava completed 15 of 21 pass attempts for 184 yards and two touchdowns with one interception.

CHAPMAN BIG NIGHT LEADING THE DEFENSE
•Junior college transfer safety Garrett Chapman was all over the field in his first game at a Mustang recording a game-high 15 tackles including 11 solo stops.

MORE DEFENSIVE TRANSFERS MAKE IMPACT
•Along with Chapman, several other transfers on defense played major roles in the season opener.
•Senior safety Davaeon Johnson had seven tackles with one for loss, junior linebacker Gage Roberson also added seven tackles while junior cornerback Marshawn Reese registered five tackles.

FOUR TRUE FRESHMEN PLAY IN OPENER
•Four true freshmen made their collegiate debut for SMSU in last week's game versus Minnesota State.  
•Running back Duce Reynolds rushed for 26 yards on two carries including the team's longest rush of 23 yards.
•Defensive lineman Gary Barnes started and registered one tackle.
•Punter Adien Belt recorded five punts for a 39.4-yard average with a long of 46 yards.
•Defensive back Demeiko Hill played on special teams.

SMSU HEAD COACH CORY SAUTER
•Cory Sauter is in his 10th season as head coach with an overall record of 40-61, including 39-59 in conference games.
•Sauter's 40 victories rank second among 10 head coaches in program history.
•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 Sauter can be found on page 22.

SMSU / WSC IN THE NCAA RANKINGS
•The following is where SMSU and WSC rank in this week's NCAA statistics.
•A full listing of SMSU in the final national statistics can be found on pages 20-21.
    (156 teams ranked)    SMSU    WSC    
    Scoring Offense    80th    96th     
    Rushing Offense    150th     117th    
    Passing Offense    14th    38th
    Total Offense    87th    74th
    Scoring Defense    118th    113th    
    Rushing Defense    155th    117th
    Pass Defense    75th    132nd
    Pass Efficiency Defense    98th    131st
    Total Defense    152nd    145th
    Net Punting    32nd    125th
    Punt Returns    96th    66th
    Kickoff Returns    58th    1st
    Turnover Margin    113th    133rd
    Fewest Penalty Yards/Gm.    68th    4th   
    Time of Possession    135th    149th
    3rd Down Conversions    80th    19th         
    3rd Down Conv. Defense    74th    122nd

TEAM CAPTAINS NAMED FOR 2019
•Four players--two on offense and two on defense--serve as team captains for the 2019 season.
•The offensive team captains selected were senior quarterback Boyer Bouman and senior offensive lineman Nick Guzman.
•The defensive team captains are junior safety Lucas Fisher and sophomore linebacker Onte Burns.
•The team captains were selected by a vote of the Mustang players.

THE 2019 SMSU ROSTER
•The 2019 SMSU roster (Sept. 10) features 108 players with 24 seniors, 21 juniors, 14 sophomores, 16 redshirt freshmen 33 freshmen.

DAVIS COMES THROUGH IN FIRST SEASON
•Senior wide receiver Daniel Davis had a big first season for SMSU in 2018 leading the NSIC in both receptions and receiving yards while ranking third in all purpose yards.
•He finished the season with six 100-yard receiving games including a season-high 162 yards on 10 catches versus Northern State.
•Davis had a team-high 1,113 receiving yards last season ranking fifth in team single-season history and becoming just the eighth player in team history to reach 1,000 yards in a season and the first since 2013.
•Davis ranked 12th in Division II in receiving yards (989), 14th in receptions per game (6.7) and 19th in receiving touchdowns (nine).

DAVIS EARNS 2018 ALL-AMERICAN HONORS
•Senior wide receiver Daniel Davis was named to the Don Hansen All-American third team following last season. Davis was also named second team all-region by Don Hansen.

SIMMONS IN THE RECORD BOOK
•Senior running back Max Simmons ranks third in team history with 26 rushing touchdowns, is tied for seventh in total touchdowns (30) and is eighth in rushing yards (1,899).
•Simmons' 18 rushing touchdowns in 2016 rank second in team single-season history and was a school single-season record for a freshman.  
•Simmons has also twice tied the school single-game record for rushing touchdowns (4) which came during the 2016 season at Minnesota Crookston and at Winona State.
•See page 9 for career record rankings.

BOUMAN'S CAREER AT QUARTERBACK
•Senior quarterback Boyer Bouman returns for his fifth season and started the season opener versus No. 3 Minnesota State before leaving at halftime with an injury.
•Bouman entered the 2019 season having played 19 career games including making four starts to close the 2017 in place of an injured Blake Gimbel. He made his first career start versus Minnesota State on Oct. 19, 2017.
•In Bouman's four starts in 2017, he completed 100 of 168 pass attempts for 799 yards with four touchdowns and four interceptions.
•In the final game of 2017, Bouman completed 37 of 55 for 316 yards and one touchdown in a road loss to Concordia-St. Paul.
•In 2018, Bouman was 8 of 14 passing for 32 yards and one touchdown.

SPECIAL TEAMS LEADERS
•Junior Garrett Chapman, junior Adihia Bell and senior Josh Bauer all recorded two special team tackles last week versus MSU with both of Chapman's on punt return while Bell's and Bauer's tackles came on kickoff returns.

NSIC SOUTH ACTION TO OPEN SEASON AGAIN
•For the second straight season since the NSIC adopted an 11-game conference schedule in 2012, all NSIC teams will play their first four games versus divisional opponents.
•Prior to last season, SMSU opened the season with four games versus NSIC North opponents.
•SMSU again this season will face four NSIC South foes, then will play four NSIC North opponents, before closing the season with three games versus NSIC South teams.    
 
GET IN THE "ZONE"
•SMSU is 2 for 3 inside the "red zone" this season with one touchdown and one field goal.
•SMSU finished last season 28 for 37 (75.7) inside the "red zone" with 23 touchdowns and five field goals.
•SMSU opponents are 5 of 6 (83.3) inside "red zone" with three touchdowns and two field goals.
•The following is SMSU in the "red zone" since head coach Cory Sauter took over in 2010.
    Year    Red-Zone    TD    FG
    2010    22 of 30 (73.3)    22    0
    2011    35 of 41 (85.4)    29    6
    2012    30 of 37 (81.1)    25    5
    2013    49 of 57 (86.0)    40    9
    2014    35 of 43 (81.4)    26    8
    2015    39 of 50 (78.0)    36    3
    2016    38 of 45 (84.4)    37    1
    2017    24 of 37 (64.9)    18    6
    2018    28 of 37 (75.7)    23    5
    2019    2 of 3 (66.7)           1    1

BIG PLAY MUSTANGS
•SMSU has recorded 10 offensive/defensive plays or kick/punt returns of 20 or more yards this season with seven coming from the offense (1 run, 6 pass).
•For a complete look at the "long" plays and SMSU's "money" plays for this season, go to pages 18-19.
•The following are SMSU's "long plays" since 2010.
"Long" plays (20 yards or more) since 2010
    Year    No.    TD    Run    Pass    KR    PR    IR    FR
    2010    61    14    10    32    18    0    0    1
    2011    60    8    13    22    23    1    1    0
    2012    66    20    18    28    19    1    0    0
    2013    125    30    28    51    41    1    2    2
    2014    71    12    15    27    21    3    5    0
    2015    78    18    13    39    18    5    3    0
    2016    93    21    15    40    33    1    3    1
    2017    68    10    12    28    25    1    1    1
    2018    70    15    8    51    7    2    2    0
    2019    10    2    1    6    3    0    0    0  

OPENING GAME NOTES
•SMSU is now 22-30 all-time in season openers.
•SMSU has lost its last three season openers including a 38-23 setback to No. 3 Minnesota State this season.
•SMSU is 3-7 in season openers under head coach Cory Sauter.

SMSU VERSUS RANKED OPPONENTS
•SMSU is 1-24 versus Division II Top 25 teams since the 2008 season including 0-3 last season.
•SMSU's lone victory versus a Division II Top 25 team came in the 2016 season opener versus No. 19 Minnesota Duluth (42-38) in Marshall.

SMSU HIGH-OCTANE OFFENSE
•Since being shutout on Nov. 5, 2011, SMSU has scored 30 or more points in nearly half of its games.
•Dating back to the final game of the 2011 season through 2018, SMSU has scored 30 or more points in 36 of its last 80 games.
•In that time, SMSU has scored 40 or more points 21 times, 50 or more points 11 times and 60 or more points once.  
•SMSU hasn't been as prolific scoring in the last two-plus seasons, having reached the 30-point plateau just four times in its last 27 games since Oct. 20, 2016, but three of those games came last season.

NSIC PRESEASON POLL
•SMSU was picked to finish 11th overall and seventh in the South Division in the annual 16-team NSIC Preseason Coaches' Poll.
•Senior wide receiver Daniel Davis and senior cornerback Cory Hollowell were named "Players to Watch" in the NSIC this season.

SMSU IN NSIC SOUTH DIVISION PLAY
•Since the NSIC adapted divisional play prior to the 2008 season, SMSU is 23-51 all-time in South Division games and has finished in the top half of the division three times in 11 seasons.
•SMSU had its highest finish in 2013 at second place and has finished fourth three times, fifth twice, sixth three times and seventh once.  

SMSU VERSUS THE NSIC NORTH
•Since 2012, when the NSIC schedule had each team playing four inter-divisional games, SMSU has a record of 16-12 versus NSIC North Division teams.
•SMSU is 12-4 versus North Division teams since 2015.
•SMSU went a perfect 4-0 versus North Division squads in 2015, 3-1 in 2016, 2-2 in 2017 and finished 3-1 last season.  

TURNOVER MARGIN BY THE NUMBERS
•SMSU is "minus-2" in turnover margin this season following last week's loss to Minnesota State.
•SMSU finished "plus-2" in turnover margin last season after finishing "plus-9" in turnover margin in 2017.
•Since the start of the 2004 season (167 games), SMSU has been a "plus" in turnover margin in just 52 games (three in 2004, two in 2005, one in 2006, two in 2007, three in 2008, three in 2009, two in 2010, three in 2011, seven in 2012, six in 2013, twice in 2014, five times in 2015, five times in 2016, six times in 2017 and twice in 2018).
•The Mustangs have been "even" or "minus" in turnover margin in 96 of their last 144 conference games.

MUSTANGS AT HOME
•The 2019 season marks the 12th year that Mattke Field at the Schwan Regional Event Center has served as the home for SMSU football.
•SMSU, which is 28-35 all-time at the stadium, is 0-1 this season after finishing 3-3 last season.
•SMSU recorded back-to-back home winning seasons in 2015 and 2016 for the first time since having four straight winning seasons from 1989-92.
•The $16 million facility opened in the fall of 2008 with the first college football game played on Aug. 30 versus Minnesota Crookston.  

RECORD ON THE ROAD
•SMSU finished 1-4 in road games last season and are 3-13 in road games since the 2016 season.
•SMSU is a combined 32-63 in road games since 2000.

2018 ALL-NSIC RETURNERS
•SMSU returns three players from last season's team that garnered All-NSIC South honors in 2018.
•Senior wide receiver Daniel Davis was named first team All-NSIC South, senior cornerback Cory Hollowell was named second team All-NSIC South while senior offensive lineman Zach Stratmoen was named honorable mention All-NSIC South.

MUSTANG DEFENSE MAKES PLAYS IN 2018
•The SMSU defense finished with 84 tackles for loss last season ranking third in team history.
•The defense also recorded 28 sacks ranking tied for seventh in team history.  
•SMSU forced three or more turnovers in four games a season ago including five in a week two loss to Wayne State and six in a win over Minnesota Crookston in week six.

WORKING OVERTIME
•SMSU is 4-7 all-time in overtime games since the NCAA added overtime in 1998.
•SMSU is 1-3 in multi-overtime contests.
•SMSU's last overtime game was a home loss to Wayne State (48-45) on Oct. 25, 2014, while its last overtime win came on Nov. 2, 2013, (51-44) versus Winona State.
•The program's last multi-overtime game was a 34-31 double overtime loss at Minnesota State on Oct. 13, 2012.

MUSTANG HISTORY
•The 2019 season marks the 52nd year of college football at Southwest Minnesota State dating to 1968.
•SMSU owns an all-time record of 198-326-5, including 136-232-5 in conference play.
•SMSU has recorded 10 winning seasons, two NAIA playoff appearances (1987 and 1991) and one Mineral Water Bowl appearance (2013).
•The program earned its lone conference championship in 1990.

SCOUTING WAYNE STATE
•Dan McLaughlin is in his 15th season as head coach at WSC and has a career record of 75-81. He is the all-time wins leader in WSC history and is the second-longest tenured coach in the NSIC.
•The Wildcats finished 3-8 last season including 2-6 in NSIC South Division games.
•WSC opened its season last Saturday with a 37-20 road loss to Winona State. The Wildcats finished with 88 yards rushing and 284 yards passing.
•WSC trailed 23-0 after three quarters of play before scoring on two touchdowns passes and a 100-yard kickoff return in the fourth quarter.
•Redshirt freshman quarterback Andy McCance completed 21 of 37 passes for 284 yards with two touchdowns and three interceptions. McCance also led the team in rushing with 47 yards on 14 carries.
•Sophomore wide receiver Mason Lee caught five passes for 72 yards and one touchdown.
•Junior wide receiver Taurean Grady also registered five receptions for 68 yards and one touchdown.
•Junior defensive back Kevin Ransom racked up a team-high 16 tackles to pace the defense with one forced fumble.