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Teams: Minot State at Bemidji State | Series: BSU leads 14-1
Date: Saturday, Oct. 18, 2014 | Time: 2:30 p.m. | Site: Chet Anderson Field

THIS WEEK: Minot State travels to mascot rival Bemidji State for the Battle of the Beavers Saturday at 2:30 p.m. at Chet Anderson Field. The game will be BSU's homecoming game for 2014.

RECORDS: The Beavers dropped to 0-6 on the season after last week's loss and are 0-6 in NSIC play. Minot State is also 0-2 in the NSIC North. Bemidji State is 2-4 overall, 2-4 in NSIC play and 2-0 in the NSIC North.

COACHES CORNER: Minot State's head coach is Tyler Hughes, who begins his first season at the helm. He is 0-6 at Minot State and 20-10 overall as a head coach, all at Snow College in Ephraim, Utah, where he coached from 2011-12. Hughes spent last season as an assistant coach with Urban Meyer at Ohio State. Bemidji State's Jeff Tesch is in his 19th season at school, compiling a 118-83 record all with BSU.

FOLLOW THE BEAVERS: The game is broadcast locally on KCJB 910-AM with Scott Kittell calling the play-by-play. Live audio can be accessed online at kcjb.com. MISU provides live video and live stats as well as links to the live audio at MSUBeavers.com. Minot State Athletics also is active on Facebook, Twitter and You Tube with all feeds accessible through the home page.

RANKINGS: Neither team is ranked in either the American Football Coaches Association Poll or the D2Football.com polls.

RECENT HISTORY: Minot State fell just short of its first win of the season as the Beavers couldn't convert late in University of Mary territory, losing 31-29 in the "Battle of the Big Lake" Saturday. The Beavers had the ball inside the U-Mary 5-yard line with less than a minute to play, but a pass was ruled a lateral and the Marauders jumped on the ball to end the game. Minot State outgained the Marauders 411-383 in total offense as senior quarterback Zac Cunha (Rocklin, Calif.) threw for a career high 370 yards and two scores – both to senior wideout Leon La Deaux (Port Orchard, Wash.). Bemidji State had little trouble with Minnesota Crookston as the Beavers rolled up 504 yards of total offense and defeated the Golden Eagles 38-3. Ryan Shields led the BSU offense with 241 yards passing and two touchdowns.   

OVERALL SERIES: The "Beaver Bash," as this series was once called, has been fairly lopsided as Bemidji State holds a 14-1 advantage all time. Minot State and Bemidji State used to play a nonconference game in the teams' season opener when MSU was an NAIA institution. Minot State is 0-2 since moving to the NSIC against BSU. Last season, BSU's Avery Walker finished with 194 yards rushing and four TDs as Bemidji State topped MSU 35-14 in the season finale at Herb Parker Stadium. Leon La Deaux (Sr., WR, Port Orchard, Wash.) caught a pair of touchdown passes for the Beavers in the loss.

NOTING THE BSU BEAVERS: Bemidji State was badly outscored in four games against NSIC South Division teams, giving up 168 points in four games for a 42 point average. Since then, however, BSU is 2-0 and have outscored its opponents 59-23… Despite the point differential on the season, BSU has outgained its opponents by nearly 100 total yards on offense this season… It has been running-back-by-committee at BSU this year as four players have at least 100 yards rushing. Jordan Hein leads the way with 187, but Tony Peterson is right behind with 180 and Jonathan Albercrombie has 160 on the year… Ryan Shields and Hein have shared quarterbacking duties with Shields having the mainstay of passing yards. He has 1,304 yards passing on 91 completions, but has thrown seven interceptions. Hein has six INTs in just 66 attempts… Colton Blascyk leads the defense with 51 total tackles, while both Greg Button and Evan Tompkins have two interceptions apiece.

WHAT'S IN A NAME: Minot State and Bemidji State are two of eight colleges who use the beaver as their mascot. They are the only two teams in NCAA Division II who use the beaver as their mascot. NCAA Division I Oregon State along with both the California Institute of Technology and the Massachusetts Institute of Technology all utilize the industrious rodent. The most popular name for the mascot is Bucky, used by American River College, Bemidji State, CIT and the University of Maine-Farmington. Minot State's mascot is Buckshot, while OSU's goes by the name of Benny. And then there is MIT, whose mascot is Tim, yep, MIT spelled backwards.

GAME OF FIRSTS: Minot State's narrow defeat at home against the University of Mary had a series of firsts for the Beavers in 2014. The Beavers took their first second-half lead this season, intercepted their first pass, returned their first interception for a touchdown and scored their first rushing touchdown.

OH SO CLOSE: MSU has been involved in a number of close games since becoming an NCAA Division II member. During its first season, the Beavers went 1-1 in games settled by a touchdown or less, both involving Black Hills State. The Beavers defeated BHSU 20-16 on a great defensive stand at home, but fell 10-7 at Spearfish, S.D., later that season. Since then, however, Minot State is just 2-5 in games decided by a touchdown or less. MSU has lost both its close games this year, a three-point setback to Wayne State in week 4 and last week's two-point loss to U-Mary.

FREIDT BACK ON TRACK: Senior linebacker Levi Freidt (Minot, N.D.) got back to big tackling numbers this week for MSU as he finished with 16 to lead all players. Freidt, Minot State's leading tackler with 69 total stops also has a sack, six tackles for a loss and four pass breakups in 2014. Freidt has four games with over 10 tackles including three of his past four outings. Northern State was the only team to keep him under eight stops in a game.

AIR CUNHA SET FOR TAKEOFF: Minot State's junior quarterback Zac Cunha (Rocklin, Calif.) threw for a career-high 370 yards against the University of Mary Saturday. He topped his old mark of 355, set last year against Minnesota State University-Moorhead, and now has four games in his career passing over 300 yards. Cunha has 1,027 yards passing in five games this season, averaging 205.4 per game.

BRYCE SWEEPS UP ON D: Minot State defensive back Bryce Broome (So., Port Orchard, Wash.) had a banner day on defense last week as he earned his first collegiate interception in the third quarter against the University of Mary. Broome wasn't done there, however, as he picked off a pass later in the game and returned it for a 29-yard touchdown, securing his first pick-six in his career. Broome also finished with four tackles for MSU.

BY THE NUMBERS
2: The number of times Minot State has been scheduled as the opposition's homecoming. Two weeks ago it was Gypsy Days in Northern State for the MSU-NSU game and this week, Bemidji State entertains Minot State in homecoming.

35: The number of yards given up in penalties last week by Minot State, the fewest of the season. Minot State has struggled with penalties this season, but committed just four for 35 yards against U-Mary. The four tied for the low mark this season and the 35 yards was three fewer than any other game.

905: Yards separating Minot State and its opponents in rushing. The Beavers are one of the bottom teams in the nation in rushing, while MSU has given up 1,178 yards in rushing this season.