THIS WEEK: Minot State plays a rare 5 p.m. game as the Beavers play host to Black Hills State Saturday evening at Herb Parker Stadium.

TRADITION IN TRANSITION: Minot State is in its third season of a four-year transition from NAIA to NCAA Division II. MSU advanced to Year Three Provisional status in July and is expected to complete the transition in July 2012. Minot State was selected to join the Northern Sun Intercollegiate Conference in 2012-13.

RECORDS: Minot State is 0-5 on the season – all nonconference due to MSU's transition to NCAA Division II. Black Hills is 1-3 and is in Year 2 in its transition between NAIA and NCAA Division II status.

COACHES CORNER: Minot State's head coach is Paul Rudolph. Rudolph is 26-20 overall in four-plus seasons with the Beavers and 69-67 overall as a head coach. The Yellow Jackets are coached by Jay Long, who is 7-7 in two seasons at the helm.

FOLLOW THE BEAVERS: The game is broadcast locally on KCJB 910-AM with Scott Kittell calling the play-by-play and former Minot State standout Brendan Weidler on color. Live audio can be accessed online at (www.kcjb.com). MSU provides live video and live stats as well as links to live audio and a MSU photo gallery all at (www.msubeavers.com).

RANKINGS: Neither team was ranked in the latest AFCA Division II Coaches Poll.

RECENT HISTORY: MSU lost its homecoming game, falling 35-23 to fellow transitioning team and future Northern Sun Intercollegiate Conference foe University of Sioux Falls on Saturday. Black Hills State was beat up at NCAA Division I FCS University of North Dakota last week, 53-19.

OVERALL SERIES: The Beavers and Yellow Jackets will meet for the 30th time in school history, dating back to 1935. MSU has an 18-9-2 edge.

NOTING THE YELLOW JACKETS: Black Hills State is a year behind Minot State in its move to NCAA Division II status, but has also found a home once a full member. The Yellow Jackets were accepted into the Rocky Mountain Athletic Conference during the off season… BHSU has struggled to run the ball at times this season as their ground leader – Trent Butler – has just 185 yards through four games… BHSU's Randall Hill leads the team in sacks with four in four games, but isn't listed as a starter. Hill officially backs up Mitch McDevitt at linebacker… Daniel Hancock has 310 yards receiving, just a little over 1/3 of the teams total passing yards of 924.

UPGRADE IN SCHEDULE: Minot State's 2011 schedule is arguably one of the toughest in school history as the Beavers have played multiple ranked opponents, including NCAA Division I FCS No. 4 Montana State. The Beavers match up last week with Sioux Falls was the first team with a non winning record as MSU's opponents combined record so far is 11-9. Things look to be on paper a little easier the rest of the way as MSU's future opponents combined record is just 5-16.

TURNOVERS ARE A NEGATIVE: Minot State is one of the bottom teams in the country in turnover margin this season at minus-9. The Beavers have thrown 14 interceptions through five games. Minot State has never been negative in the turnover margin category under head coach Paul Rudolph as the Beavers were a plus-20 entering the season. MSU's worst season was an even year in 2008.

YOUTH BE SERVED, PART TWO: Minot State's 2-deep roster has multiple first, second and third year players earning valuable minutes in 2011 – as was mentioned last week. MSU lists 23 players on its 32-man, 2-deep roster who are in their freshman, redshirt freshman or sophomore seasons. MSU has four true freshmen starting as Eric Kuntz (DB, Rugby, N.D.) is starting at defensive back/returner, Kelvon Davis (DB, Orlando, Fla.) earns his first start of his short career at outside linebacker, Andrew Walker (K/P, Meridian, Idaho) is the team's starting punter and Nick Phillips (K/P, LaCenter, Wash.) is the team's starting kicker. MSU has four starters who are in their second season. Black Hills also has a ton of youth up and down the 2-deep as the Yellow Jackets have one true freshman starter, QB Ward Anderson, and 31 players on the offense and defensive 2-deep who are freshmen, redshirt freshmen or sophomores.

KICKING UP THE RANKS: Minot State freshman Andrew Walker is the top rated punter among the NCAA Division II teams in transition with a 42.85 yards per punt average. Walker would sit in 10th place overall if the Beavers qualified for the NCAA DII rankings. He has a 72-yard punt to his credit so far this season.

NO BACKING INTO THE ENDZONE: Minot State does not have a rushing touchdown from any of its running backs or receivers. MSU has scored three rushing TDs, all on keepers by quarterbacks as Bryce Jorgenson (RFr., QB, West Fargo, N.D.) leads the team with two ground scores.

UNFAMILIAR TERRITORY: Minot State has not lost five games in a row season since the 2006 season. MSU dropped the first three contests of 2006 and coupled with the final two in 2005 gave the Beavers a five-game losing streak. MSU had a six-game winless streak between the 1981 and 1982 seasons as the Beavers lost four games and had a tie to finish the 1981 season and dropped the first contest in 1982. The last six-game losing streak goes all the way back to 1978 as the Beavers were defeated in the final four in 1977 and the first two in 1978.

ONE DOWN, ONE TO GO: Minot State senior wide receiver Zac Rudolph (Sauk Rapids, Minn.) needs just eight catches to reach 100 for his career. Rudolph surpassed the 1,000 career catching yards plateau at Montana State earlier in the season. For the year, Rudolph is the second leading receiver for the Beavers with 18 catches for 189 yards.