Independent file photo SMSU’s Max Simmons carries the ball during their Homecoming game against the University of Minnesota Crookston on Oct. 6, 2018. The Mustangs will face Bemidji State today.

MARSHALL — Southwest Minnesota State University (2-3, 1-3 NSIC South), currently on a two-game winning streak, returns home to face Bemidji State University (4-1, 3-1 NSIC North), one of the top teams in the Northern Sun Intercollegiate Conference this afternoon.

•The SMSU homecoming game is scheduled to kickoff at 3 p.m. at Mattke Field at the Schwan Regional Event Center.

•SMSU will be looking to secure a three-game winning streak for a second straight season. Last season SMSU defeated Upper Iowa, UMary and Minnesota Crookston for its first three-game winning streak since 2016.

•Today’s game is the second of four straight versus NSIC North Division opponents for SMSU during the month of October. The Mustangs will resume NSIC South play at home on Nov. 2 versus Winona State.

•SMSU and BSU both won last week with touchdowns in the final 30 seconds of the game. SMSU started its final drive from its own 13-yard line, while BSU started the winning drive from its 5-yard line.

•The BSU defense enters the game ranked fourth in the NSIC in yards allowed and fifth nationally in third down conversion defense.

Broadcast info

•Today’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.

SMSU on Homecoming

•SMSU is 24-26 all-time on homecoming.

•SMSU defeated Minnesota Crookston last season and has won four of its last five homecoming games.

•SMSU is 7-12 on homecoming since 2000.

SMSU vs. the

NSIC North

•Since 2012, when the NSIC schedule had each team playing four inter-divisional games, SMSU has a record of 17-12 versus NSIC North Division teams including 1-0 this season following last week’s victory at Minot State.

•SMSU finished 3-1 versus NSIC North opponents last season and is now 13-4 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 3-1 last season.

SMSU vs. BSU series notes

Southwest Minnesota State and Bemidji State meet for the 46th time on Saturday with BSU leading the series 23-21-1 … the teams first met on Oct. 17, 1970, in Marshall … BSU has won 14 of the last 15 games since 1998 … SMSU had won nine of 10 in the series (1988-97) prior to BSU’s current streak … SMSU’s lone win in the last 15 games came during the last meeting in Marshall on Sept. 12, 2015 … SMSU leads 12-9 in games played in Marshall … BSU won the last game played, 40-22, in Bemidji on Sept. 23, 2017.

SMSU vs. BSU series information

Overall: BSU leads 23-21-1

In Marshall: SMSU leads 12-10

In Bemidji: BSU leads 13-8-1

Neutral Record: tied 1-1

Last SMSU win: Sept. 12, 2015 (34-30)

Last BSU win: Sept. 23, 2017 (40-22)

Largest win for SMSU: 49 (49-0, 1990)

Largest win for BSU: 38, 2x (52-14, 2001; 47-9, 2005)

Longest win streak for SMSU: 8 (1990-97)

Longest win streak for BSU: 13 (1998-13)

Current win streak: BSU, 1

Sauter vs. Bemidji State: 1-4

Bolte vs. SMSU: 1-0

Opening drive tidbits

•SMSU’s victory last Saturday at Minot State was the 200th in the program’s 52-year history.

•SMSU held Minot State to 251 yards of total offense in last week’s victory, which is the lowest by a Mustang opponent this season. SMSU also allowed just 12 first downs in the victory.

•Senior running back Max Simmons ranks seventh in the program history with 2,168 rushing yards. He needs 78 yards to tie for sixth and 96 to move into fifth place.

•Simmons rushed for a season-high 142 yards last Saturday for his 10th career 100-yard rushing game ranking tied for third in team history. He needs one more to tie Zach Wysong for second all-time and three more to tie Tyler Tonderum for the program record.

•Simmons’ 58-yard rush last Saturday was the longest play from scrimmage for SMSU this season.

•Freshman Duce Reynolds rushed for a career-high 92 yards and one touchdown on 21 attempts in last week’s win at Minot State.

•Junior Marshawn Reese secured last week’s victory with his team-high second interception of the season.

•Sophomore Dakota Jaeschke caught four passes for 67 yards last week, including grabbing a 49-yard Hail Mary touchdown to end the first half. It was his first career touchdown reception.

•SMSU rushed for a season-high 254 yards on 56 attempts last week. After not reaching 100 yards rushing in six straight games dating back to last season, SMSU has amassed 158 and 254 yards the last two weeks.

•Freshman Adien Belt ranks first in the NSIC averaging 44 yards per punt. Belt’s 64-yard punt three weeks ago versus Sioux Falls was the longest by an SMSU punter since Mike Wenk had a 74-yarder versus Concordia-St. Paul on Nov. 1, 2014.

•Daniel Davis, who has 110 career receptions in two seasons, ranks second in the NSIC in receptions (31) and is fifth in receiving yards (402).

•Davis has seven career 100-yard receiving game ranking 10th in team history.

•Sophomore linebacker Onte Burns (45) and junior safety Garrett Chapman (44) and rank third and fourth respectively in the NSIC in total tackles.

•Senior safety Davaeon Johnson is sixth in the NSIC with 40 tackles, while junior safety Lucas Fisher ranks ninth with 38.

•Senior left tackle Zach Stratmoen has started 27 straight games the past three seasons. It’s the longest streak by any current Mustang.

Defensively, SMSU coach Cory Sauter said they need to continue to find new ways to slow down the run game and create turnovers as well as short field position for their offense.

“We’re playing Bemidji this week, who has had some rushing games so we’re trying to be creative and find ways to make things more difficult to run against us. We’ve made some strides these last two weeks but we obviously still have some defficiencies there that we need to continue to build upon,” Sauter said. “We would love to create some sacks and some turnovers and in those third down situations to help us out and create some good field position for our offense. We were able to create a turnover deep in Minot’s territory last week and were able to capitalize on that, so if we can get one or two of those, that can certainly help us. Overall it’s just more of the same, just trying to get a little bit better each and every day, stay focused and not lose our sights on every single day’s practice.”

SMSU high-octane

offense

•Since being shutout on Nov. 5, 2011, SMSU has since scored 30 or more points in nearly half of its games.

•Dating back to the final game of the 2011 season through four games this season, SMSU has scored 30 or more points in 37 of its last 84 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 five times in its last 31 games since Oct. 20, 2016, which includes three last season and once this season.

Sauter said offensively, they’re looking to continue to utilize running the football and gain more confidence in the ground game and on the line of scrimmage as well as being able to convert on the late down situations.

“This week in terms of offense, we’re continuing to put a lot of stock in running the football, that’s not going to stop. We have weapons in terms of running backs and the offensive line starting to come together, they’re getting more and more games and snaps under their belts so they’re becoming more and more confident,” Sauter said. “To go along with that, at some point, you have third downs and that’s where we’ve got to make some plays happen which we were able to do this past weekend. We would like to see one or two more of thoses per game to help us extend some drives; against Minot, we had a critical fourth-and-1 that we were stopped on deep in their territory that you would like to convert on and usually that equals points then. We’re not there yet, but we’re excited about seeing what this group can do here in the second half of the season.”

Scouting

Bemidji State

•Brent Bolte is in his fourth season as head coach at Bemidji State with a record of 28-11.

•BSU is coming off a dramatic 21-20 home win over Augustana on Saturday scoring a touchdown and two point conversion with five seconds left in the game.

•BSU started the game-winning drive from its own 5-yard line with 1:12 left in the game.

•Junior quarterback Emmett Enright, BSU’s third string quarterback to open the season, has completed 20 of 51 passes for 242 yards with two touchdowns and four interceptions.

•Redshirt freshman quarterback Brandon Alt was injured in week one, while senior Jared Henning was injured in a week four loss to Minnesota Duluth.

•Sophomore running back Jalen Frye has a team-high 390 yards rushing and four touchdowns on 85 carries but did not play last week versus Augustana

•Senior wide receiver Malik Williams has caught 16 passes for 134 yards and three touchdowns.

•Sophomore wide receiver Brendan Beaulieu has 14 receptions for a team-high 217 yards and two touchdowns.

•Senior cornerback Michael Junker has three interceptions and five pass break-ups.

— Content courtesy

of SMSU Athletic

Communications