THIS WEEK
•The Southwest Minnesota State University football team (2-7, 1-3 NSIC South) returns to Northern Sun Intercollegiate Conference South Division play this Saturday afternoon hosting Minnesota State University (5-4, 1-3 NSIC South) at Mattke Field at the Schwan Regional Event Center with kickoff slated for 1 p.m.
•Saturday's game is the final home game of the season for SMSU as its looks to snap an 11-game home losing streak. The Mustangs' last home victory came on Oct. 20, 2018, versus Northern State.  
•SMSU, which has lost four straight games, is coming off a 48-14 road loss to Bemidji State University last Saturday.
•MSU, which has lost three of its last four games, including last Saturday at home to Sioux Falls (45-35), has won all 18 meetings with SMSU. The Mavericks enter the game ranked eighth in Division II in scoring (41) and eighth in total offense (469).

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

SMSU HEAD COACH CORY SAUTER
•Cory Sauter is in his 12th season as head coach with an overall record of 45-75, including 44-73 in NSIC games.
•Sauter's 45 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.

SMSU vs. MSU Series Notes
Southwest Minnesota State and Minnesota State meet for the 19th time on Saturday with MSU leading 18-0 in a series that began on Sept. 4, 1971 ... MSU has been ranked in the Top 10 in seven of the last eight meetings ... MSU is 8-0 all-time in games played in Marshall, including earning a 38-23 win on Sept. 7, 2019 ... Saturday's game will be the 16th time the two schools have met as members of the same conference ... SMSU has been held to 17 or less points in 11 of the 18 games ... MSU has scored 34 or more points in the last 13 meetings.
 
The Last Time - SMSU vs. MSU
No. 3-ranked 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 in the 2019 season opener in Marshall. Nate Gunn led the Mavericks rushing for a game-high 242 yards and three touchdowns on 31 carries. 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. MSU finished the night amassing 601 yards of offense on 80 plays including 394 yards rushing. 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.
 
SMSU vs. MSU Series Information
Overall:    MSU leads 18-0
In Marshall:    MSU leads 8-0
In Mankato:    MSU leads 10-0
Last SMSU win:    -
Last MSU win:    Sept. 7, 2019 (38-23)
Largest win for SMSU:    -
Largest win for MSU:    47 (54-7, 2017)
Longest win streak for SMSU:    -
Longest win streak for MSU:     18 (1971-present)
Current win streak:     MSU, 18
Sauter vs. MSU:    0-10
Hoffner vs. SMSU:    10-0

BURNS AND ROBERSON CONTINUE TO RANK HIGH IN NSIC DEFENSIVE STATS
•The SMSU defense begins the week ranked eighth in the NSIC in yards allowed at 404 per game. SMSU is seventh in pass defense (251) and 10th in rush defense (153).
•Junior linebacker Onte Burns continues to lead the NSIC in tackles with 9.6 per game (86 total tackles) and ranks 24th in Division II. He ranks fifth nationally with 6.7 solo tackles per game. Burns will be making his 32nd consecutive start on Saturday.
•Senior linebacker Gage Roberson ranks second on the team (tied for ninth in the NSIC) with 67 tackles including a team-leading 7.5 for loss. Roberson racked up a career-high 13 tackles two weeks ago versus Wayne State.

DICKER AND SHERWOOD RANK AMONG TOP 50 IN NATIONAL STATISTICS
•Freshman punter Carter Dicker is averaging 41 yards per punt on 35 attempts ranking third in the NSIC and 18th in Division II. Dicker has six punts inside the opponents' 20-yard line and six punts of 50 or more yards. He is also 4 of 5 on field goals and 18 of 21 on PATs.
•Junior running back Jesse Sherwood ranks 22nd in Division II in yards per carry (6.4), 35th in rushing yards (787) and 43rd in rushing yards per game (87).  

MUSTANG OPENING DRIVE TIDBITS & SEASON NUMBERS
•Junior linebacker Onte Burns has amassed 141 career solo tackles ranking 11th in team history. He needs just two more tackles to tie Jason Jacobs (1996-99) for 10th in program history. Nate Rudolph (1996-99) holds the school record with 199 solo tackles.
•SMSU has rushed for more than 135 yards in six of nine games this season, including a season-high 241 in Week 4 at Concordia-St. Paul. In 2019, SMSU reached 100 yards rushing in just three games, while in 2018, SMSU reached the 100-yard rushing mark four times.
•Senior wide receiver Paddy Devlin caught a career-high five passes, including his first career touchdown last week at Bemidji State.
•Redshirt freshman Thomas Mergen blocked a punt in the fourth quarter on Saturday at Bemidji State. It was SMSU's first blocked punt since the final game of the 2019 season.
•Junior running back Jesse Sherwood ranks first on team and fifth in the NSIC with 787 yards rushing and six touchdowns on 123 carries. Sherwood's 67-yard run in Week 7 at Winona State was the longest by a Mustang since Max Simmons' 75-yard run on Sept. 29, 2018, at UMary. Sherwood rushed for a career-high 178 yards and one touchdown on 19 carries at Concordia-St. Paul in Week 4 and finished with 159 yards on 20 carries last week versus Bemidji State. Sherwood is the first SMSU player to reach 150 or more yards rushing in a game since Simmons versus Upper Iowa on Sept. 22, 2018.  
•Senior quarterback Andrew Haidet has completed 96 of 198 passes for 1,057 yards with five touchdowns and nine interceptions this season.
•Sophomore running back Duce Reynolds has amassed 249 rushing yards and four touchdowns on 88 carries.
•Junior wide receiver Zeke Robinson has a team-high 18 receptions for 234 yards and three touchdowns. Robinson caught two touchdowns in the Week 5 victory at Upper Iowa, including the game-winning score with 1:09 left in the game.  
•Freshman kicker Carter Dicker has booted four field goals this season, including a career-long 37-yarder at CSP in Week 4.
•Freshman safety Hunter Bohannon, sophomore safety Jordan White and senior cornerback Ken Truitt each lead the team with two interceptions.  
•SMSU's 92-yard scoring drive two week's ago versus Wayne State capped by a Duce Reynolds touchdown run was the longest drive by the Mustangs this season. •Senior Adihia Bell's 59-yard punt return on in Week 6 versus Sioux Falls was the longest by an SMSU player since Andrew McReynolds had an 89-yard return for a touchdown on Sept. 27, 2014.
•SMSU passed for just 70 yards in the victory at CSP in Week 4. It was the first time SMSU passed for less than 100 yards in a single-game since being held to 67 yards versus Winona State on Nov. 4, 2017.  

HIGH-POWERED BSU DOWNS SMSU LAST SATURDAY
•Bemidji State, ranked No. 6 in the NCAA region rankings, scored 34 straight points in the second and third quarters and used six touchdowns passes by Brandon Alt to earn a 48-14 victory over SMSU last Saturday in Bemidji.  
•Alt closed the day completing 21 of 30 passes for 305 yards and one interception. BSU entered the game with the seventh ranked passing offense in Division II.
•BSU finished the game with 521 total yards, the highest total allowed by SMSU this season.
•SMSU ended the afternoon with 267 yards of offense. •Jesse Sherwood had a strong day rushing the ball for the Mustangs with 159 yards and one touchdown on 20 carries.
•Paddy Devlin caught a career-high five passes for 46 yards and one touchdown.
•Andrew Haidet completed 9 of 20 passes for 94 yards, while Steven Nava was 5 of 13 for 35 yards and one touchdown pass.
•Onte Burns and Gage Roberson each recorded nine tackles for the Mustang defense.
•Marshawn Reese had seven tackles and had an interception.

SMSU IN NSIC SOUTH DIVISION PLAY
•Since the NSIC adapted divisional play prior to the 2008 season, SMSU is 25-59 all-time in South Division games, while finishing in the top half of the division three times in 12 seasons.
•SMSU had its highest finish of second place in 2013 and has also placed fourth three times, fifth once, sixth five times, seventh once and eighth once.  

BOHANNON EARNS NSIC AWARD
•True freshman safety Hunter Bohannon was named the NSIC Defensive Player of the Week on Sept. 27 following his performance in SMSU's 34-24 Week 4 victory over Concordia-St. Paul.
•Bohannon, in his first career start, recorded an 80-yard interception return for a touchdown and also had a pass break-up and registered five tackles, including a half a tackle for loss.
•He is the first SMSU player to earn an NSIC weekly award since Oct. 8, 2018.

HAIDET REACHES CENTURY MARK
•Senior quarterback Andrew Haidet rushed for 147 yards on 10 carries, including a 58-yard run for a touchdown, in the Week 3 loss to UMary. Haidet is the first SMSU quarterback to rush for more than 100 yards in a single-game since Kyle Johnston in 1986.

TEAM CAPTAINS NAMED FOR 2021
•Three players will serve as permanent team captains for the 2021 season as selected by the Mustang players.
•Senior Andrew Haidet and senior Adihia Bell along with junior Onte Burns were selected as permanent captains. It's the second straight season Burns has been named a captain.
•New this season, the SMSU coaching staff will select a game captain each week to serve as a fourth captain for the game.
•Khalif Spry was named captain for week one, Thomas Mergen in week two, Jesse Sherwood in week three, Ken Truitt  in week four, Evan Oetter in week five, Zeke Robinson in week six, Marshawn Reese in week seven, Dylan Lauer in week eight and Gage Roberson in week nine.

THE 2021 SMSU ROSTER
•The 2021 SMSU roster (as of Nov. 2) features 14 seniors, 16 juniors, 12 sophomores, 25 redshirt freshmen and 55 freshmen.

BURNS NAMED PRESEASON ALL-AMERICAN
•SMSU junior linebacker Onte Burns was named preseason second team All-American by D2football.com on Aug. 31. Burns, a two-time team captain, was named first team All-NSIC South and Don Hansen Football Committee All-American third team following the 2019 season.
•Burns finished the 2019 season ranked 24th nationally with 9.8 tackles per game and 47th in solo tackles per game at 4.9.

SMSU / MSU IN THE NCAA RANKINGS
•The following is where SMSU and MSU rank in the this week's NCAA statistics.
•A full listing of SMSU in the 2021 NCAA statistics can be found on pages 20-21.
         (163 teams ranked)     SMSU     MSU
             Scoring Offense    133rd     8th
             Rushing Offense    97th      21st
             Passing Offense    137th     29th
             Total Offense    135th     8th
             Scoring Defense    131st     83rd
             Rushing Defense    91st     84th
             Pass Defense    134th     85th
             Pass Efficiency Defense    154th     27th
             Total Defense    120th     83rd
             Net Punting     42nd     32nd
             Punt Returns     5th     8th
             Kickoff Returns     138th     124th
             Turnover Margin     91st     146th
             Fewest Penalty Yards/Gm.     82nd     107th   
             Time of Possession     49th     57th
             3rd Down Conversions     105th     88th
             3rd Down Conv. Defense    100th     29th

GET IN THE 'ZONE'
•SMSU is 20 for 26 in the 'red zone' with 16 touchdowns and four field goals this season.
•SMSU opponents are 31 of 38 in the 'red zone' with 25 touchdowns and six field goals.  
•SMSU finished the 2019 season 22 for 29 (75.9) inside the 'red zone' with 19 touchdowns and three field goals.
•SMSU opponents closed the 2019 season 34 of 42 (81.0) inside "red zone" with 28 touchdowns and six 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     22 of 29 (75.9)    19    3
    2021    20 of 26 (76.9)    16    4

BIG PLAY MUSTANGS
•SMSU has recorded 36 offensive/defensive plays or kick/punt returns of 20 or more yards in 2021 with 22 coming from the offense (7 run, 15 pass).
•For a complete look at the 'long' plays go to page 18.
•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    56    12    4    37    12    1    2    0
    2021    36    6    7    15    9    1    2    2

SMSU VERSUS THE NSIC NORTH
•Since 2012, when the NSIC schedule had each team playing four inter-divisional games, SMSU has a record of 19-18 versus NSIC North Division teams, including 1-4 in 2021.
•SMSU finished 2-2 versus NSIC North opponents in 2019, 3-1 in 2018, was a perfect 4-0 in 2015, 3-1 in 2016 and 2-2 in 2017.  

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

TURNOVER MARGIN BY THE NUMBERS
•SMSU is 'minus-5' in turnover margin in 2021.
•SMSU finished 'minus-2' in turnover margin in 2019, 'plus-2' in 2018 and was 'plus-9' in 2017.
•Since the start of the 2004 season (186 games), SMSU has been a 'plus' in turnover margin in just 62 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, twice in 2018, six times in 2019 and four times in 2021).
•The Mustangs have been 'even' or 'minus' in turnover margin in 105 of their last 163 conference games.

MUSTANGS AT HOME
•The 2021 season marks the 13th year that Mattke Field at the Schwan Regional Event Center served as the home for SMSU football.
•SMSU is 28-43 all-time at the stadium, including an 0-4 record in 2021.
•SMSU has lost 11 straight home games with the last victory coming on Oct. 20, 2018, versus Northern State.  
•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.  

MUSTANGS ON THE ROAD
•SMSU is 2-3 on the road in 2021 and are 8-19 in road games since the 2016 season.
•SMSU finished 3-3 in road games in 2019.
•SMSU is 22-36 in road games since head coach Cory Sauter took over in 2010.










WORKING OVERTIME
•SMSU is 4-8 all-time in overtime games, including 0-1 in 2019, since the NCAA added overtime in 1998.
•SMSU is 1-3 in multi-overtime contests.
•SMSU's last overtime game was a loss at Wayne State (19-13) on Sept. 14, 2019.
•SMSU's 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.

2021 NSIC PRESEASON POLL
•SMSU was picked to finish 11th overall and sixth in the South Division in the annual 14-team NSIC Preseason Coaches' Poll.
•Senior quarterback Andrew Haidet and junior Onte Burns were named 'Players to Watch' in the NSIC this season.

FOR OPENERS
•SMSU is 22-30 all-time in season openers after losing to MSU Moorhead this season.
•SMSU's last season-opening victory came on Sept. 1, 2016, 42-38, versus No. 19 Minnesota Duluth in Marshall.
•SMSU is 3-8 in season openers under head coach Cory Sauter.
•SMSU has lost its last four home openers with the last victory coming on Sept. 1, 2016, versus Minnesota Duluth.

MUSTANG HISTORY
•The 2021 season is the 53rd year of college football at SMSU dating to 1968.
•SMSU owns an all-time record of 203-340-5, including 141-246-5 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 MINNESOTA STATE
•Todd Hoffner is in his 11th season as head coach and has led the Mavericks to seven NCAA playoff appearances. He has a career record of 111-26 with six NSIC championships.
•MSU is coming off a 45-35 home loss to Sioux Falls on Saturday with USF building a 31-7 halftime lead. The Cougars finished the game with 607 yards of total offense in the victory.
•MSU senior quarterback JD Ekowa completed 22 of 42 passes for 264 yards with two touchdowns and one interception in the loss. For the season, Ekowa has completed 98 of 182 passes for 1,571 yards and 14 touchdowns with eight interceptions. He has also rushed for eight touchdowns and 241 yards on 74 carries.
•Senior running back Kaleb Sleezer leads the squad in rushing with 454 yards and five touchdowns, while redshirt freshman running back Charles Coleman has amassed 394 yards and five touchdowns.   
•Junior wide receiver Jalen Sample has caught a team-high 46 passes for 807 yards and five touchdowns.
•Senior wide receiver Nyles Williams has caught 27 passes for 438 yards and a team-high six touchdowns.  
•Senior linebacker Trent Carpenter has racked up a team-high 39 tackles with 5.5 for loss.
•Senior linebacker Eli Thomas has recorded 38 tackles with 2.5 for loss.
•Senior cornerback Ty'Shonan Brooks has racked up a team-high four interceptions.