Click here to view the PDFTHE SEASON RECORD: The Southwest Minnesota State University football team finished the 2006 season with an overall record of 4-7, which included a mark of 3-5 in the Northern Sun Conference good for a tie of sixth place in the final league standings.
2006 MUSTANG FOOTBALL SENIORS: SMSU had 14 senior players on the final 2006 roster. The seniors include: Justin Ellis, Johnny Fils-Aime, Kinson Jean-Francois, Jon Kubat, John Kunelius, David Marshall, Jeremy Nopens, Tony Ortmann, Tyrone Oulman, Brendan Osuocha, Andy Schlichting, Jason Strouf, Mike Wierson and Tom Yarbrough.
2006 SMSU FOOTBALL LETTERWINNERS: (players must have appeared in one game) SMSU football had 68 letterwinners on the 2006 squad.
SENIORS (14): Justin Ellis, Johnny Fils-Aime, Kinson Jean-Francois, Jon Kubat, John Kunelius, David Marshall, Jeremy Nopens, Tony Ortmann, Tyrone Oulman, Brendan Osuocha, Andy Schlichting, Jason Strouf, Mike Wierson and Tom Yarbrough
JUNIORS (16): Ben Adams, Demarco Butts, David Connors, Thomas Durham, Tyler Fischer, Jon Garcia, James Holmes, Garret LaTorre, Marcus McCrary, Ryan Reingardt, Kyle Rider, Talise Simeon, William Sutton, Justin Van Wyk, Brad Wolf, Ryan Wudtke
SOPHOMORES (19): Tom Brown, Tim Cariveau, Kyle Christensen, Bobby Clayborn, Ross DeMasi, Eric Dockter, Matt Fischer, Emmanuel Hawkins, Tom Kolb, Jeff Mimick, Jim Nelson, Tyler Reed, Tony Rislov, Korey Roethler, Nick Schneider, Josh Shudlick, Scott Talcott, Brandon Welle, Grant Wells
REDSHIRT FRESHMEN (18): Levi Bullerman, Matt Carmody, Mike Ganger, Bryce Haessly, Michael Hagny, Brad Henjum, J.D. Koedatich, Paul Muecke, Bill Noethlich, Seth Rohde, Shaye Thomas, Derek Townsend, Ryan Vette, Kevin Wagner, Nick Wagner, Tony Weiler, Blake Wilson, Zach Wysong
TRUE FRESHMAN (1): Paul Benesh
RADIO BROADCASTS: All SMSU football games were broadcast of KARL FM 105.1 with Aaron Ziemer handling the play-by-play and Grant Will as analyst.
DOWN TO THE WIRE IN 2006: One thing SMSU fans learned during the 2006 season is not to leave a game early. SMSU was involved in some very tight games this season. Seven of SMSUs 11 games have been decided by a total of 29 points, an average of 4.1. Five of SMSUs seven losses on the season were by a total of 24 points. Those five losses were by three, eight, three, eight and two points.
THE HEAD COACH: Southwest Minnesota State University head coach Eric Eidsness finished his third season at SMSU and has compiled an overall record of 13-20, including a 7-15 record against Northern Sun Intercollegiate Conference opponents.
Eidsness 13 career victories is tied for the second most among six SMSU head coaches after serving their first three years as head coach. Ron Flowers (1997-99) had 14 wins in his three seasons as head coach, while Gary Buer (1979-81) had 13 wins in his first three seasons.
2006 ALL-CONFERENCE HONORS: SMSU had 10 players earn all-conference honors following the season. SMSU had two first team, four second team and three honorable mention selections and one defensive newcomer of the year.
First Team: Matt Fischer (TE), Jon Kubat (LB)
Second Team: John Kunelius (DB), Brendan Osoucha (DL), Scott Talcott (K), Tom Yarbrough (OL)
Honorable Mention: Ben Adams (LB), Jeremy Nopens (OL), William Sutton (DB)
NSIC Defensive Newcomer of the Year: Brad Wolf (DL)
TEAM AWARD WINNERS: Team awards were voted by SMSU players following the season.
Most Valuable Player: Jon Kubat (LB)
Offensive MVP: Josh Shudlick (QB)
Defensive MVP: Brendan Ousoucha (DL)
Special Teams MVP: Mike Wierson
Scout Team Offensive MVP: Alex Mayorov (RB)
Scout Team Defensive MVP: Paul Muecke (LB)
Scout Team Special Teams MVP: Sam Woitalewicz
ACADEMIC ALL-NSIC: SMSU had 13 players earn academic All-NSIC honors. The 13 selection was the second most among the nine NSIC schools. Ben Adams, Tyler Fischer, Tom Kolb, John Kunelius, Tyrone Oulman, Tyler Reed, Tony Rislov, Andy Schlichting, Nick Schneider, Josh Shudlick, Brandon Welle, Grant Wells, Mike Wierson
TEAM STATISTICS, NOTES, RECORDS AND MORE: SMSU rushed for 19 touchdowns this season which is second all-time (22 in 2004) ... SMSUs team completion pct. of 57.7 (184 of 319) is tied for third all-time ... SMSU was a perfect 22 of 22 on point after attempts which is the fourth time in school history SMSU has been perfect (1977, 1989, 2004) ... SMSU attempted a school record 18 field goals ... finished with 74 tackles for loss which is sixth all-time ... recorded 28 quarterback sacks ranking seventh all-time.
MUSTANGS LOOK TO BREAK STREAK AGAINST NSICS BEST: Southwest Minnesota State has done a solid job over the past nine years against teams that finish in the middle or the bottom of the Northern Sun Conference standings in each year, but facing the top teams in the NSIC have been a different story.
Since the start of the 1998 season through 2006, SMSU has compiled a record of 3-34 against teams that finished in the top four of the NSIC standings that particular season. SMSU defeated MSU Moorhead (who finished tied for fourth) in 1999, Winona State (who finished first) in 2000 and Concordia (who tied for third) in 2006.
Based off of the above numbers, obviously SMSU has struggled against the traditional top teams in the conference. Since the 1998 season, SMSU is a combined 3-35 in 38 games against Bemidji State, Concordia, Northern State and Winona State. Two of SMSUs victories have came against Concordia, (in 1999, CSPs first year in the NSIC and this season on Oct. 7), while the other was against Winona State in 2000.
TALCOTT BREAKS SCHOOL RECORD: SMSU sophomore kicker Scott Talcott, a native of Sioux Falls, S.D., set a single-season record in the season finale to MSU Moorhead. He finished the season with 11 field goals made, moving past fellow Sioux Falls native Nate Krull, who booted 10 during the 1998 season.
SHUDLICK RANKS SECOND IN SINGLE SEASON BOOK: Sophomore quarterback Josh Shudlick completed 170 of 280 passes on the season good for a 60.7 completion percentage which ranks second in single-season history. Steve Elzenga (1987) holds the record by completing 313 of 507 for 61.7 percent.
SMSU LOOKING TO HOLD ONTO THE BALL: As most everyone in football knows, winning the turnover margin against your opponent is a key to winning games each week. In their week one victory over South Dakota Tech, SMSU was plus-1 in turnover margin and won the game, but in their last ten games, SMSU was a combined minus-14.
In their last 17 NSIC games, which spans from late in the 2004 season (last two games of 2004, all seven games in 2005 and eight in 2006) through the 2006 season, SMSU is minus-32 in turnover margin. SMSU has been even or minus in turnover margin in all 17 of those games.
The last time SMSU had a plus turnover margin in a conference game came in week nine of the 2004 season in a victory over Minnesota, Crookston.
SMSU AGAINST THE RUN: The SMSU defense has held opponents to under 100 yards rushing 12 times since the start of the 2004 season, a span of 33 games and has held opponents to 108 yards or less in 14 games during that same period. The SMSU defense held six of their 11 opponents this season to under 100 yards rushing in a game.
MUSTANGS IN OVERTIME: The Oct. 14th victory over Upper Iowa marked the sixth overtime game in SMSU history and the second multi-overtime game. With the victory over Upper Iowa, SMSU is now 2-4 in overtime games and 1-1 in multi-overtime games. SMSU lost 65-63 to Bemidji State in four overtimes during the 2000 season.
SMSUS 3-1 NSIC START BEST SINCE 1991: SMSU began the Northern Sun Conference schedule with a record of 3-1, which was their best record after four conference games since the 1991 team started the conference season 4-0.
KUBAT FINISHES CAREER AMONG THE PROGRAMS BEST: Senior linebacker Jon Kubat finished his career with 252 tackles which ranks him 12th all-time in school history.
Only five other SMSU players have recorded over 100 career tackles in their Mustang careers. Junior Tyler Fischer (139), senior John Kunelius (136), junior Ben Adams (124), sophomore Tyler Reed (114) and senior Tony Ortmann (108) are the only other SMSU players with triple-digit career tackles.
MUSTANG DEFENSE STINGY ON POINTS: Despite giving up 34 points in a week ten loss to Winona State, the most by any opponent during the season, the SMSU defense was solid keeping opponents off the scoreboard.
In 11 games this season, SMSU opponents scored 213 points, an average of 19.4 points per game. Those numbers are solid, but more impressive is the fact that SMSU allowed just 85 first half points (7.7/per game) and seven of those points came on a defensive score by Northern State in week four.
Of the 213 points scored against SMSU this season, the SMSU defense was on the field for only 195 of those points and 13 of those points were scored in overtime periods.
What does it all mean you ask? It means that the SMSU defense allowed 182 points in regulation play, an average of 16.5 points per game.
RED-ZONE NUMBERS FOR SMSU: The Mustang offense finished the season scoring 27 of 38 (71.1 percent) times inside the opponents 20-yard line (the red-zone) in 2006. SMSU scored 20 touchdowns (17 rush, 3 pass) and seven field goals.
In 2005, SMSU was 21 of 29 (72.4 percent) in the red-zone with 14 touchdowns and seven field goals, while during the 2004 season SMSU was 30 of 47 (63.8 percent) with 25 touchdowns and five field goals.
MUSTANG SACK STREAK COMES TO AN END: SMSUs 21-game streak of recording at least one quarterback sack came to an end on Oct. 21 a loss to Wayne State. SMSU had recorded at least one sack in every game since week nine of the 2004 season.
FRESHMAN RUNNING BACKS LEAD THE WAY: SMSUs top two running backs this season were both freshmen. Redshirt freshman Zach Wysong and true freshman Paul Benesh combined to rush for 1,019 yards and 11 touchdowns on 241 carries.
Prior to this season, the last time SMSU had two freshman running backs lead the team in rushing was in 1999 when redshirt freshman Josh Schleusner finished with 1,013 yards and true freshman Ryan Rambacher ended the season with 283 yards. Another redshirt freshman that season Ken Sather finished the 1999 season with 281 yards rushing.
Current SMSU junior running back Thomas Durham was the last freshman to lead the team in rushing when he rushed for 527 yards during the 2004 season.
WIERSON, TALCOTT AND KUBAT EARN CONFERENCE WEEKLY HONORS: SMSU senior Mike Wierson, sophomore Scott Talcott and senior Jon Kubat were all named NSIC Player of the Week this season. Wierson was named special teams player of the week on Sept. 18, while Talcott was named special teams player of the week on Oct. 9. Kubat was named defensive player of the week on Nov. 14.
MUSTANGS AT MATTKE: Southwest Minnesota State, which finished 3-3 in six home games this season, has compiled an all-time record of 77-90-1 (.461) at Mattke Field, which opened for play in 1971.
SMSU hasnt recorded a winning home season since the 1994 team finished a perfect 3-0. SMSU did rack up a school record 17-game home unbeaten streak from 1989 through 1992.
ON THE ROAD AGAIN...: SMSU finished the 2006 road season with a 1-3 record which was the programs second straight losing season on the road.
Since the program started in 1968, SMSU has had just three road winning seasons. In 1991 SMSU finished 4-1, in 1997 they finished 3-2 and in 2004 SMSU finished with a road record of 3-2.
2006 TEAM CAPTAINS NAMED: Four players were named team captains for the 2006 season as selected by the SMSU players. Senior offensive lineman Jeremy Nopens and senior wide receiver Mike Wierson were named offensive team captains while senior linebacker Jon Kubat and senior safety John Kunelius were named defensive team captains.
NSIC PRESEASON COACHES POLL: SMSU was picked to finish sixth in the 2006 NSIC preseason coaches poll. Winona State (90 points) was picked to win the league, followed by Concordia (77), Northern State (75), Bemidji State (63), Wayne State (60), SMSU (54), Upper Iowa (39), MSU Moorhead (35) and Minnesota-Crookston (29).
MUSTANG FOOTBALL HISTORY: The 2006 season completed the 39th season of football at Southwest Minnesota State. SMSU is 145-245-5 all-time, which includes an 84-151-5 record in conference games. SMSU has amassed just seven winning seasons in school history with the last coming in 1999 (6-5).
MUSTANGS TO GET NEW HOME FOR 2008: The SMSU football team will have a new place to call home in 2008 as a Regional Event Center will be built on campus, currently where the football practice fields are located.
During the 2006 Minnesota State legislative session, Southwest Minnesota State University secured $11 million in state funding for the Regional Event Center that will be matched with at least $5 million in private funding. The Schwan Food Company in Marshall has generously committed to helping raise the private contributions.
The Regional Event Center will be a bowl-shaped venue that seats approximately 4,000 people on a mixture of chairback, bench and terraced seating. A state-of-the-art press and media area will serve dual purposes for game day and event functions while also being a classroom and lab space for SMSU radio/TV students. The artificial turf playing surface will be covered in the winter months with a portable air-supported dome to accommodate indoor recreational activities.
Ground breaking for the facility was expected in the fall 0f 2006, with an anticipated completion date of fall 2007, but delays have pushed the project back to the summer of 2008.
