THIS WEEK
•The Southwest Minnesota State University football team (4-6, 1-4 NSIC South) will close the 2022 season this Saturday, Nov. 12, hosting Augustana University (6-4, 2-3 NSIC South) with kickoff slated for 1 p.m. at Mattke Field at The Schwan Regional Event Center. This is the fourth straight season the teams have met in the final regular season game.
•Saturday's game will be 'Senior Day' as the football program will honor its seven seniors in a pregame ceremony.
•Saturday is also 'Military Appreciation Day', with all military personnel—active, retired or reserve—receiving a free general admission ticket to the game with identification or proof of service.
•SMSU head coach Scott Underwood is a graduate of Augustana, having played for the Vikings from 1983-87. He was also an assistant coach for the program for five seasons (1988-92).
•Both teams will look to end the season breaking multi-game losing streaks. SMSU has dropped five straight games, while Augustana has lost its last three games.
•Augustana, which has defeating SMSU in 22 of the last 23 meetings, is ranked No. 10 in this week's Super Region 4 rankings released on Monday. The top seven teams in the region advance to the NCAA playoffs.
•A preview of Augustana is located on page 4.

SENIOR DAY SET FOR SATURDAY
•Saturday will be 'Senior Day' as the program will honor its seven seniors: Onte Burns, Alan Giron, Eli Jefferson, Dylan Lauer, Austin Moore, Jesse Sherwood, and Adrian Tolbert.

BROADCAST INFO
•Saturday's game will be broadcast on 105.1 FM KARL with 10th-year SMSU play-by-play voice Ryan Rohlik.
•Live stats, radio broadcast and video can be found at SMSUmustangs.com.

SMSU vs. AU Series Notes
Southwest Minnesota State and Augustana meet for the 26th time on Saturday with Augustana holding a 22-3 advantage in a series that started on Sept. 8, 1990 ... AU has won seven straight and 22 of the last 23 games since 1995 ... SMSU's win in 2013 snapped a 15-game winning streak for AU in the series ... SMSU won the first two games of the series in 1990 and 1991 ... Augustana is 11-1 all-time in Marshall with the lone win coming in 1990 ... SMSU won in Sioux Falls in 1991 and 2013 ... SMSU has been held to nine or less points in 11 of the 25 games, while Augustana has scored at least 25 points in 22 of the 25 meetings.   
 
The Last Time - SMSU vs. AU
SMSU closed the 2021 season a 55-0 loss to No. 25 Augustana in Sioux Falls, S.D., on Nov. 13. Augustana, which scored 28 points in the opening quarter, claimed its first conference championship since the 1959 season with the victory. Augustana, with one of the top defensive units in the country, showed why on limiting SMSU to a season-low 208 yards of offense, including minus-19 yards rushing. Augustana closed the game with 573 yards on offense with 275 yards on the ground. Onte Burns led the Mustang defense with a game-high 11 tackles, including 10 solo stops. SMSU's Andrew Haidet completed 16 of 30 passes for 147 yards and was intercepted once. Steven Nava completed 7 of 15 pass attempts for 80 yards and was intercepted once. Paddy Devlin was the team's top target with five receptions for 80 yards. Donald Austin rushed six times for a team-high nine yards and caught three passes for 47 yards for the Mustangs. Kyle Saddler passed for 273 yards and three touchdowns for the Vikings.
 
SMSU vs. AU Series Information
Overall:    AU leads 22-3
In Marshall:    AU leads 11-1
In Sioux Falls:    AU leads 11-2
Last SMSU win:    Nov. 16, 2013 (34-24)
Last AU win:    Nov. 13, 2021 (55-0)
Largest win for SMSU:    18 (28-10, 1991)
Largest win for AU:    70 (70-0, 2001)
Longest win streak for AU:    2 (1990-91)
Longest win streak for AU:    15 (1995-2011)
Current win streak:    AU, 7
Underwood vs. AU:    2-5
Olszewski vs. SMSU:    7-1

BURNS SETS SMSU AND NSIC SOLO TACKLES RECORD
•Senior linebacker Onte Burns last Saturday set the SMSU and NSIC record for solo tackles in career. Burns, who has started all 43 games of his career, has racked up 205 solo tackles surpassing Nate Rudolph's school record of 199 from 1996-99. He also moved past Augustana's Kirby Hora (2015-18), who held the NSIC record of 202 solo tackles. Burns' 352 career tackles ranks fourth in NSIC history. Joe Robidou from St. Cloud State (1977-80) ranks third in NSIC history.
•Burns' 352 career tackles ranks fourth in team history but he is close to moving into second place. The school record is held by Paul Litwicki (1974-75, 78), who amassed 485 tackles. Since 1979, Mike Roggenbuck (1982-85) has recorded the most tackles with 358, followed by Rudolph at 356.
•Burns, who is a two-time All-NSIC South honoree and has led the NSIC in tackles the past two seasons, ranks first in the NSIC in total tackles (90) and is 27th in Division II in tackles per game (9.0).

SHERWOOD REACHES 1,000 RUSHING YARDS
•Senior running back Jesse Sherwood, who missed two games earlier this season due to injury, became just the seventh player in team history to reach 1,000 yards rushing in a single-season versus Bemidji State on Oct. 29. Sherwood currently ranks third on the SMSU single-season chart with 1,118 yards on 197 carries and needs 55 yards on Saturday to move past Shad Peckenpaugh's 1,172 in 1985. Tyler Tonderum holds the team record with 2,145 yards on 341 attempts set in 2013.
•Sherwood's current 5.6 yards per carry ranks fourth in team single-season history. His 6.4 yards per carry last season (787 yards on 123 attempts) is the school single-season record.

OPENING DRIVE TIDBITS
•Senior running back Jesse Sherwood leads the NSIC in rushing with 139.8 yards per game (second in total yards; 1,118) and ranks seventh in yards per game in Division II. He has rushed for more than 147 yards in five of the eight games he has played this season. He also ranks 16th nationally in all-purpose yards (152.2).
•Redshirt freshman quarterback Justus McComb, who started the first six games of the season, has missed the last four games due to an injury. True freshman Marcus Martin, the first true freshman to start for SMSU since Rob Fagnan on Nov. 11, 2000, has started three games, while redshirt freshman John Romero made his first career start two week's ago versus Bemidji State.
•Martin has completed 46 of 85 pass attempts for 610 yards with four touchdowns and three interceptions, while Romero has appeared in three games and has completed 21 of 40 passes for two touchdowns and two interceptions.
•Martin completed 26 of 39 passes for 371 yards and three touchdowns last week at Minnesota State. He is the first Mustang to pass for more than 300 yards in a game since Boyer Bouman in the 2019 season finale.
•Prior to Martin, McComb was the first SMSU redshirt freshman or true freshman to start at quarterback since Tony Rislov started all 11 games in 2005.
•Junior wide receiver Peter Osman has caught a team-high 28 passes for 442 yards and two touchdowns. Osman set career-highs in both receptions (8) and yards (134) last week at Minnesota State. Osman was the first SMSU player to record a 100-yard receiving game since Daniel Davis in the final game of the 2019 season.
•Redshirt freshman wide receiver Eric Lira caught a career-high eight passes for a career-high 87 yards last week.
•The SMSU defense has forced at least one turnover in each game this season.
•SMSU ranks eighth in the NSIC in total offense (341.9) and ninth in total defense (382.8).
•SMSU's four-game winning streak earlier this season was its longest since starting the 2015 season 4-0. The last time SMSU opened a season 4-1 occurred during the 2016 season.

SMSU RUSHING ONE OF THE BEST IN TEAM HISTORY
•SMSU has rushed for 1,848 yards this season which ranks tied for fifth in team single-season history. Only two teams (2,958 in 2013) and (2,165 in 2015) in program history have reached 2,000 yards rushing in a single-season.
•SMSU is currently averaging 185 yards rushing per game which ranks fourth in team single-season history.

SMSU HEAD COACH SCOTT UNDERWOOD
•Scott Underwood is in his first season as SMSU head coach with a record of 4-6. He was named the program's 11th head coach on Jan. 7, 2022.
•Underwood was the first SMSU head coach in team history (11 head coaches) to begin his SMSU coaching career with a 3-1 record.
•Underwood compiled an overall record of 86-61 in 12 seasons as head coach at St. Cloud State (2008-19).
•SCSU recorded 10 winning seasons with three NCAA playoff appearances during his tenure. SCSU won seven or more games seven times, including a school record 12 victories in 2013.
•SCSU made NCAA playoff appearances in 2010, 2011 and 2013 and won a share of both the NSIC North Division and NSIC overall championship in 2011.
•He was also an assistant coach at SCSU (2001-07), North Dakota (1997-2000), Sioux Falls (1993-96) and Augustana (1988-92).
•A complete bio on Underwood can be found on page 20.

SMSU LAST TIME OUT
•Minnesota State scored 31 straight points to erase a three-point deficit in the second quarter to earn a 45-24 victory over SMSU last Saturday in Mankato.
•SMSU freshman quarterback Marcus Martin made his third career start and closed the game completing 26 of 39 passes for 371 yards with three touchdowns.
•Peter Osman caught a career-high eight passes for 134 yards for the Mustangs, while teammate Eric Lira recorded a career-high eight catches for a career-high 87 yards.
•Jesse Sherwood led the SMSU rushing game with 77 yards on 17 carries.
•SMSU finished the game with 426 yards of offense (second highest of the season) with 55 yards rushing and 20 first downs.
•Onte Burns had nine tackles, while Thomas Mergen added eight tackles with 2.5 for loss.

SMSU / AU IN THE NCAA RANKINGS
•The following is where SMSU and AU rank in this week's NCAA statistics.
         (163 teams ranked)     SMSU     AU
             Scoring Offense    117th     93rd
             Rushing Offense    43rd      114th
             Passing Offense    135th     82nd
             Total Offense    95th     111th
             Scoring Defense    91st     62nd
             Rushing Defense    110th     26th
             Pass Defense    91st     125th
             Pass Efficiency Defense    125th     83rd
             Total Defense    103rd     57th
             Net Punting     152nd     46th
             Punt Returns     140th     45th
             Kickoff Returns     100th     76th
             Turnover Margin     79th     102nd
             Fewest Penalty Yards/Gm.     19th     5th   
             Time of Possession     44th     45th
             3rd Down Conversions     99th    126th
             3rd Down Conv. Defense    53rd     30th

TURNOVER MARGIN BY THE NUMBERS
•SMSU is 'even' in turnover margin this season.
•SMSU has forced a turnover in each game and two or more in four games.
•SMSU finished the 2021 season 'minus-15' in turnover margin.

BURNS EARNS NSIC WEEKLY HONOR
•SMSU senior linebacker Onte Burns was honored on Sept. 26 as the NSIC Defensive Player of the Week after leading SMSU to a 27-20 overtime win over Minot State.
•Burns recorded a game-high 11 tackles, with four solo, along with two sacks and a pass break-up in the win.
•It's the first time Burns has earned the award in his career. He is also the first Mustang to receive the NSIC weekly defensive award since the 2017 season.

SHERWOOD TWICE HONORED BY NSIC
•SMSU senior running back Jesse Sherwood has twice been named the NSIC Offensive Player of the Week this season. He earned the first honor on Sept. 12 after rushing for 196 yards and one touchdown in a win versus Concordia-St. Paul.
•He earned the award again on Sept. 19 after rushing for a career-high 205 yards and three touchdowns on a career-high 36 carries in a win at UMary. The 205-yard game is the 13th highest single-game total in program history.
•Sherwood is the first SMSU player since Blake Gimbel in 2015 to earn the NSIC weekly award twice in a season.

TEAM CAPTAINS NAMED FOR 2022
•Four players serve as team captains for the 2022 season with seniors Onte Burns, Alan Giron, Dylan Lauer, and Jesse Sherwood selected by the Mustang players. It's the third straight season Burns has been named a captain.

THE 2022 SMSU ROSTER
•The SMSU roster (as of Nov. 8) features seven seniors, 10 juniors, 22 sophomores, 24 redshirt freshmen and 16 freshmen.

GET IN THE 'ZONE'
•SMSU is 20 of 32 inside the 'red zone' this season with 17 touchdowns and three field goals.
•SMSU opponents are 27 of 32 inside the 'red zone' with 17 touchdowns and 10 field goals.
•The following is SMSU in the 'red zone' since the 2010 season.
    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 29 (69.0)    16    4
    2022    20 of 32 (62.5)    17    3

BIG PLAY MUSTANGS
•SMSU has recorded 49 offensive/defensive plays or kick/punt returns of 20 or more yards in 2022 with 36 coming from the offense (14 run, 22 pass).
•Jesse Sherwood has the longest play from scrimmage this season with a 63-yard touchdown run versus Concordia-St. Paul.
•The longest pass play is a 50-yard connection from Marcus Martin to Peter Osman at Minnesota State.
•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    42    6    8    18    10    1    2    3
    2022    49    14    14    22    12    0    1    0

SMSU IN NSIC SOUTH DIVISION PLAY
•Since the NSIC adapted divisional play prior to the 2008 season, SMSU is 26-65 all-time in South Division games, including 1-4 this season. SMSU has finished in the top half of the division three times in 13 seasons.
•SMSU had its highest finish of second place in 2013 and has placed fourth three times, fifth once, sixth six times, seventh once and eighth 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 22-20 versus NSIC North Division teams, including 3-2 this season.
•With the departure of St. Cloud State and Minnesota Crookston, SMSU now plays five games versus NSIC North teams the past two seasons.
•SMSU finished 1-4 versus North teams a season ago, finished 2-2 in 2019, went 3-1 in 2018, was 2-2 in 2017, 3-1 in 2016 and was a perfect 4-0 in 2015.

MUSTANGS AT HOME
•The 2022 season marks the 14th year that Mattke Field at The Schwan Regional Event Center has served as the home for SMSU football.
•SMSU is 31-46 all-time at the stadium, including 3-2 this season.
•New turf was installed at the stadium in the summer of 2022.
•SMSU lost 12 straight home games from late in the 2018 season through 2021. SMSU was winless at home in both 2019 and 2021 (2020 season was canceled).  
•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
•After recording its last winning road record in a season in 2015 (5-1), SMSU is 9-24 in road games since the 2016 season, including finishing 1-4 this season.

WORKING OVERTIME
•SMSU is 5-8 all-time in overtime games since the NCAA added overtime in 1998, including 1-0 this season after defeating Minot State, 27-20, on Sept. 24.
•SMSU is 1-3 in multi-overtime contests.
•SMSU's previous overtime home win came on Nov. 2, 2015, versus Winona State.
•The program's last multi-overtime game was a 34-31 double overtime loss at Minnesota State on Oct. 13, 2012.

2022 NSIC PRESEASON POLL
•SMSU was picked to finish 13th overall and seventh in the South Division in the annual 14-team NSIC Preseason Coaches' Poll.
•Senior running back Jesse Sherwood and senior linebacker Onte Burns were named 'Players to Watch'.

SMSU VERSUS RANKED OPPONENTS
•SMSU is 1-27 versus Division II Top 25 teams all-time, including 0-2 this season, following a loss to No. 17 Sioux Falls and No. 24 Minnesota State.
•SMSU's lone victory versus a ranked team came in the 2016 season opener versus No. 19 Minnesota Duluth (42-38) in Marshall.

MUSTANG HISTORY
•The 2022 season is the 54th year of college football at SMSU dating to 1968.
•SMSU owns an all-time record of 207-348-5, including 145-254-5 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.

FOR OPENERS
•SMSU is 22-31 all-time in season openers after losing to Minnesota Duluth in the 2022 season-opener. SMSU has lost its last five season lid-lifters.
•SMSU's last season-opening victory came on Sept. 1, 2016, versus No. 19 Minnesota Duluth (42-38) in Marshall.
•SMSU has lost its last four home openers with the last victory coming on Sept. 1, 2016, versus Minnesota Duluth.  SMSU opens the 2022 home season on Saturday, Sept. 10, versus Concordia-St. Paul.

SCOUTING AUGUSTANA
•Jerry Olszewski is in his 10th season as head coach and has a record of 62-39. He was also head coach at St. Olaf College (2008-12) for five seasons.  
•Augustana is coming off a 34-24 home loss to Minnesota Duluth last Saturday. A strong UMD defense limited Augustana to 207 yards, including 32 rushing yards.
•Sophomore Brady Pfeifer was named NSIC Special Teams Player of the Week on Monday after booting three field goals of 50, 32 and 26 yards.
•Sophomore Thomas Scholten passed for 138 yards and a pair of touchdowns, all in the second half, to help push the comeback attempt. Scholten has completed 82 of 150 passes for 883 yards with eight touchdowns and six interceptions on the season.
•Junior quarterback Casey Bauman has throw for 1,054 yards and 11 touchdowns with six interceptions, while completing 97 of 173 passes.
•Junior running back David Addo has rushed for a team-high 428 yards and three touchdowns on 104 carries. •Junior running back Jarod Epperson amassed 324 yards and two touchdowns on 51 carries in the first four games of the season before suffering an injury.
•Sophomore wide receiver Jack Fisher has a team-high 535 yards receiving and seven touchdowns on 35 receptions.
•Junior wide receiver Devon Jones has a team-leading 53 receptions.
•Senior linebacker T.J. Liggett led the Vikings' defense versus UMD with nine tackles and has a team-high 71 tackles
•Senior defensive lineman Grayson Diepenbrock totaled six tackles versus UMD and added to both his career and season records with another sack, now at 9.5 in 2022 and 25 in his career.