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NDSU Notes | Weber State Notes

THIS WEEK:  North Dakota State will be looking to rebound from its first opening-game loss in six years this week when the Bison (0-1) host Weber State (0-1) at 2:30 p.m. Saturday, Sept. 12, at Gate City Bank Field at the Fargodome (18,700).  NDSU's 38-35 loss at Montana in the ESPN FCS Kickoff two weeks ago gave the Bison their first 0-1 start since a 34-17 loss at Iowa State in 2009.
 
TELEVISION:  Live statewide coverage in HD begins at 2:30 p.m. on the NBC North Dakota network and ESPN3 with Brian Shawn calling the play-by-play, Chris Berg color analyst, and Beth Hoole reporting from the sidelines.  A live video stream will be available to subscribers on GoBison.com/allaccess.
 
RADIO:  KFGO-AM 790 and Mix 101.9 FM of Fargo along with the Peterson Farms Seed Bison Radio Network will have live coverage beginning at 2 p.m.  KFGO's Scott Miller will describe the play-by-play with NDSU and Buffalo Bills Hall of Famer Phil Hansen as color analyst and NDSU's Jeremy Jorgenson reporting from the sidelines.  A free audio stream will be available on GoBison.com/allaccess.
 
THE SERIES:  This will be the sixth meeting between North Dakota State and Weber State dating back to 1978.  NDSU leads the series 5-0 after last year's 24-7 win in Ogden.  The Bison are 4-3 against Big Sky Conference opponents since 2004.
            NDSU-Weber State Series
            9/9/1978 in Ogden - NDSU, 49-28
            9/8/1979 in Fargo - NDSU, 11-10
            11/6/2004 in Ogden - NDSU, 31-17
            9/17/2005 in Fargo - NDSU, 41-0
            9/6/2014 in Ogden - NDSU, 24-7
 
LAST YEAR IN OGDEN:  Middle linebacker Carlton Littlejohn made 12 tackles and scored the go-ahead touchdown on a 5-yard fumble recovery to lead North Dakota State to a 24-7 win over Weber State last September.  Littlejohn also snuffed out a fake field goal try early in the fourth quarter.  His tackle at the NDSU 2 prevented a score that would have cut the NDSU lead to one possession.  John Crockett rushed 26 times for 123 yards and Carson Wentz went 13 of 22 passing for 192 yards with two interceptions.  Cornerback CJ Smith and linebacker Travis Beck each made nine tackles for NDSU.
 
TREES BOWL:  This is the 25th annual Trees Bowl game sponsored by the North Dakota Forest Service.  NDSU is 21-3 in the game and has won six straight including last year's 22-10 win over Montana.  Western Illinois was the last team to beat NDSU in the Trees Bowl with a 27-22 win in 2008.  The event began in 1990 and has missed only the 2001 season due to the cancellation of the Maine game after 9/11.
 
HOME OPENERS:  North Dakota State has won 16 straight home openers since the 1999 win over Ferris State.  Emporia State's 23-21 win in 1998 was NDSU's only home-opener loss in 22 years of football at the Fargodome.  NDSU beat Incarnate Word 58-0 last year.
 
MONTANA RALLIES PAST NDSU:  Joey Counts scored on a 1-yard run with two seconds left to lift No. 12/13-ranked Montana past top-ranked North Dakota State 38-35 in the second annual ESPN FCS Kickoff on Aug. 29.  Montana outgained NDSU 544-427 and the Grizzlies converted 4 of 6 attempts on fourth down.  Montana quarterback Brady Gustafson went 30 of 55 passing for 434 yards.  It was the most passing yards and total offense allowed by NDSU since a 48-45 loss at Sam Houston State in 2009.  NDSU senior quarterback Carson Wentz threw for two touchdowns and ran for two more.  He completed 16 of 28 passes for 198 yards and added 70 yards on the ground.  King Frazier led NDSU with 91 yards on 15 carries and a touchdown.  Cornerback Jordan Champion made a career-high 14 tackles. and linebacker Nick DeLuca made 12 tackles with one sack, two tackles for loss, a forced fumble and an interception.
 
THREE TRUE FRESHMEN PLAY:  North Dakota State played three true freshmen in the FCS Kickoff at Montana.  Safety Robbie Grimsley, running back Bruce Anderson and wide receiver Dimitri Williams all played for the Bison.  Grimsley was in on three tackles and Anderson rushed twice for three yards.  NDSU also debuted its only new junior college transfer on special teams.  Santa Rosa JC cornerback Quinten McCoy played on the NDSU punt defense.
 
KICKOFF RETURN TEAM HAS BIG DAY:  NDSU's kickoff return unit was key in helping the Bison establish an average starting position at their own 37-yard line in the loss at Montana.  Junior Eric Perkins returned five kicks for 155 yards (fourth most in the FCS through the opening weekend) and averaged 31 yards per return.  He started the game with consecutive 29-yard returns with the second leading to a Bison touchdown.  His long of 43 yards on the next possession sparked a four-play scoring drive to give NDSU its largest lead, 21-13.  Perkins' returns went for 29, 29, 43, 26 and 28 yards.
 
VRAA MOVES UP:  North Dakota State sixth-year wide receiver Zach Vraa is in position to become NDSU's all-time leader in pass receptions, receiving yards and touchdown catches.  Vraa has caught a pass in 42 of 44 games in his career and moved into a tie for second on the NDSU list for receiving touchdowns with his 24th career TD at Montana.  He needs just two more TD catches to tie and three to pass Tim Strehlow's record of 26 TD catches from 1996-99.
            NDSU Career Receiving Yards
            1. 2732 - Kole Heckendorf, 2005-08 (43g)
            2. 2544 - TR McDonald, 1990-93 (39g)
            3. 2482 - Zach Vraa, 2011-15 (44g)

            NDSU Career Receiving TDs
            1. 26 - Tim Strehlow, 1996-99
            2. 24 - Zach Vraa, 2011-14
                24 - Len Kretchman, 1985-88

            NDSU Career Receptions
            1. 178 - Kole Heckendorf, 2005-08
            2. 163 - Travis White, 2002-06
            3. 161 - Warren Holloway, 2008-11
            4. 159 - Zach Vraa, 2011-15
 
LeCOMPTE LEADS MVFC IN PUNTING:  All-America punter Ben LeCompte leads the Missouri Valley Football Conference with a 46.6 average on five punts including a long of 67 yards and two inside the 20 in the season opener at Montana.  LeCompte ranks sixth in FCS history and is the MVFC leader in career punting average at 44.14.  He is second in school history behind Mike Dragosavich's 44.46 average from 2004-07.
            NCAA FCS Career Punting Leaders
            45.1 - Jonathan Plisco, Old Dominion (2009-12)
            44.8 - Mark Gould, Northern Arizona (2000-03)
            44.8 - Eric Enderson, Delaware (2013-15)
            44.4 - Pumpy Tudors, Chattanooga (1989-91)
            44.3 - Cory Carter, Texas Southern (2012-15)
            44.1 - Ben LeCompte, NDSU (2012-15)
 
RUNNING BACK BY COMMITTEE:  North Dakota State used four running backs in the opener at Montana as the Bison work to replace John Crockett, who accounted for 2,419 all-purpose yards including a school-record 1,994 rushing yards last year.  King Frazier carried 15 times for 91 yards and a touchdown, Chase Morlock had 11 carries for 45 yards, redshirt freshman Lance Dunn had four for 20 yards, and true freshman Bruce Anderson carried twice for three yards.  The Bison have had a 1,000-yard rusher 12 straight seasons and dual 1,000-yard rushers in 2011, 2012 and 2013 before Crockett became the featured running back in 2014.
            NDSU 1,000-Yard Rushers
            2014 - John Crockett (1994)
            2013 - John Crockett (1277) and Sam Ojuri (1398)
            2012 - John Crockett (1038) and Sam Ojuri (1047)
            2011 - DJ McNorton (1020) and Sam Ojuri (1105)
            2010 - DJ McNorton (1559)
            2009 - Pat Paschall (1397)
            2008 - Tyler Roehl (1053)
            2007 - Tyler Roehl (1431)
            2006 - Kyle Steffes (1250)
            2005 - Kyle Steffes (1071)
            2004 - Kyle Steffes (1055)
            2003 - Rod Malone (1251)
 
BISON PICKED TO WIN; THREE ALL-MVFC:  NDSU was tabbed to win the Missouri Valley Football Conference crown with 32 of 40 first-place votes in a poll of the league's head coaches, media and sports information directors.  The Bison had fullback Andrew Bonnet, left tackle Joe Haeg and punter Ben LeCompte voted to the preseason all-conference team.  Quarterback Carson Wentz, tight end Luke Albers, long snapper James Fisher, offensive linemen Zack Johnson and Jeremy Kelly, and cornerback CJ Smith were honorable mention.
 
Last year's co-champ Illinois State received the other eight first-place tallies and was slated for second in the poll.  Northern Iowa, South Dakota State and Indiana State each won a postseason game last year and were third, fifth and sixth, respectively.  Youngstown State, one of two league schools with a new head coach (Missouri State is the other), was picked fourth in the poll.  The Penguins tied Indiana State for 5th last year.
 
WENTZ UP FOR PLAYER OF THE YEAR:  Quarterback Carson Wentz is on the STATS FCS Offensive Player of the Year and College Football Performance Awards FCS National Performer of the Year watch lists after a record-setting campaign in his first year as the Bison starter.  Wentz, the NCAA championship game MVP and first team Capital One Academic All-American®, set NDSU single-season records for passing attempts, completions, yards, and total offense per game.  He completed 228 of 358 passes for 3,111 yards with 25 touchdowns and 10 interceptions, and was NDSU's second-leading rusher with 138 carries for 642 yards and six TDs while averaging 4.7 yards per carry.  His rushing total was the most by a Bison QB since the veer-option offense led by Kevin Feeney in 1996.
 
BISON LEAD FCS WITH FIVE STATS PRESEASON ALL-AMERICANS:  North Dakota State led the nation with five players selected to the STATS FCS Preseason All-America team.  Left tackle Joe Haeg and punter Ben LeCompte made the first team, fullback/tight end Andrew Bonnet and left guard Zack Johnson are on the second team, and long snapper James Fisher is on the third team.  The Missouri Valley Football Conference led the nation with 17 preseason All-Americans.
 
NDSU LEADS WITH FOUR ON FAB 50 LIST:  North Dakota State had a nation's best four players named to the College Sporting News Preseason Fab 50 FCS All-America Team and the Missouri Valley Football Conference led all conferences with 12 selections.  Quarterback Carson Wentz, fullback Andrew Bonnet, left tackle Joe Haeg and punter Ben LeCompte were NDSU's four honorees.  Wentz, Haeg and Bonnet all were named to the year-end Fab 50 All-America list last season.
 
RETURNING 12 STARTERS:  North Dakota State returns 12 starters from last year's team that won a fourth straight FCS national championship and went 7-1 to claim a share of its fourth straight Missouri Valley Football Conference title.  NDSU returns eight starters on offense and four on defense.  In addition, all-conference left guard Zack Johnson is back from a knee injury that kept him out in 2014, and All-America punter Ben LeCompte is back after ranking second nationally in punting average last season.
 
VRAA GETS SIXTH SEASON:  All-conference wide receiver Zach Vraa is back for a sixth season after redshirting in 2010 and having his 2011 freshman season cut short with a broken collarbone in his first game.  He started in 11 of 13 games played as a sophomore in 2012 and had a record-setting junior year in 2013 when he finished 10th in the FCS with a school-record 1,191 yards (seventh in MVFC history) and was third nationally with a school-record 15 touchdowns (second in MVFC history).  Wide receiver Nate Moody is also returning for a fifth season after a knee injury early last year.
 
NEW-LOOK DEFENSE:  There will be plenty of new faces on the Bison defense as NDSU looks to replace two starting defensive ends, two outside linebackers and two safeties.  And junior middle linebacker Nick DeLuca started only five games down the stretch last year in place of injured Travis Beck.  NDSU does return experience at defensive end, where junior Brad Ambosius and sophomores Greg Menard and Jarrod Tuszka were part of the regular rotation behind starters Mike Hardie and Buck Buchanan Award winner Kyle Emanuel.  At safety, two-time All-American Colten Heagle and 61-game starter Christian Dudzik are gone.  Sophomore Tre Dempsey was a regular part of the Bison nickel defense last year and other front-runners are special-teams standouts Chris Board and Andrew Smith.
 
BISON AT HOME:  North Dakota State is 40-3 at home over the past five seasons and has the longest home winning streak in Division I football at 23 straight games.  The Bison have won 48 of the last 49 home games over non-conference opponents including 38 straight since a 2003 loss to UC Davis.  NDSU is 10-2 at home against Top 10 teams.
            Division I Home Winning Streaks
            23 - North Dakota State (MVFC)
            16 - Alabama (SEC)
            16 - Baylor (Big 12)
            15 - Florida State (ACC)
            15 - Boise State (Mountain West)
            14 - Fordham (Patriot)
 
NDSU THIRD IN FCS ATTENDANCE:  North Dakota State finished third in average home game attendance among the Football Championship Subdivision according to the final numbers released by the NCAA for the 2014 season.  NDSU drew an average of 18,571 over nine dates, down slightly from the school-record 18,622 set in 2013.  The Bison led the FCS in total attendance with 167,136.
 
TICKETS SOLD OUT:  Tickets for all six North Dakota State home games sold out within one hour August 1.  It is the fourth straight year NDSU has sold out the entire football season on the first day of single-game ticket sales.  NDSU had previously sold more than 12,000 season tickets.  Additional reserved and standing-room-only tickets may become available at 8 a.m. Friday of game week on GoBison.com/tickets.  Student tickets will be available online at GoBison.com/students beginning at 8 a.m. Monday of game week.
 
SUCCESS VS. THE FBS:  North Dakota State has an 8-3 record against Football Bowl Subdivision opponents and has won five in a row against FBS foes since 2010 with wins at Kansas (6-3), Minnesota (37-24), Colorado State (22-7), Kansas State (24-21) and Iowa State (34-14).  NDSU is scheduled to play at Iowa next season and Oregon in 2020.
 
FOUR-PEATS:  North Dakota State earned a share of its fourth straight Missouri Valley Football Conference championship last year tying Illinois State with a 7-1 record in conference play.  NDSU was the second school in Valley Football history to win four straight league titles behind Northern Iowa's run of seven straight from 1990 to 1996.  NDSU was just the second team in NCAA history to win four straight national championships.  Augustana College of Rock Island, Ill., won four NCAA Division III titles from 1983-86.  Carroll College of Helena, Mont., won four straight NAIA championships from 2002-05.
 
KLIEMAN INKED THROUGH 2020 SEASON:  North Dakota State head coach Chris Klieman (Northern Iowa, 1992) accepted a two-year contract extension in the offseason that will keep him with the Bison until January 2021.  Klieman led the Bison to a 15-1 record, a fourth straight Missouri Valley Football Conference championship with a 7-1 mark, and an unprecedented fourth straight NCAA Division I FCS national title.
 
NDSU didn't skip a beat in Klieman's first year despite losing 23 seniors and welcoming seven new assistant coaches.  The Bison scored 34 unanswered points to beat Big 12 member Iowa State in the season opener as part of an FCS-record 33-game winning streak that extended into November.
 
North Dakota State went 9-1 against Top 25 competition and earned the No. 2 national seed for the FCS playoffs.  NDSU had nine players named All-America, including Buck Buchanan Award-winning defensive end Kyle Emanuel, and four Capital One Academic All-America® selections.  Klieman was a finalist for the Eddie Robinson Award and was named the Rawlings Football/American Football Monthly FCS Coach of the Year.
 
The head coach at Division III Loras College in 2005, Klieman came to NDSU from Northern Iowa in 2011 as the defensive backs coach and was the defensive coordinator in 2012 and 2013.  He also made coaching stops at Western Illinois (1994-96), Kansas (1997), Missouri State (1999) and Loras (2002-04).  He is a native of Waterloo, Iowa, and was a three-time all-conference defensive back at UNI from 1986-90.