THIS WEEK: The North Dakota State football team returns home for its next two games and the No. 3-ranked Bison (6-0, 3-0 MVFC) will host 17th-ranked Missouri State (4-2, 3-1 MVFC) at 2:30 p.m. this Saturday, Oct. 23, at Gate City Bank Field at the Fargodome (18,700). The Bears are in a tie for third place in the Missouri Valley Football Conference after a 37-7 homecoming win over Indiana State, next week's opponent for NDSU.
 
TICKETS: Tickets for NDSU home games are available online at GoBison.com/tickets or by calling the Bison Ticket Office in the south lobby of the Sanford Health Athletic Complex at (701) 231-6378 between 8 a.m. and 4 p.m. Monday through Friday. Game day ticket sales at the Fargodome begin 5 hours prior to kickoff.
 
TELEVISION: The statewide ABC network of WDAY (Fargo), WDAZ (Grand Forks), KBMY (Bismarck/Dickinson) and KMCY (Minot/Williston) will have live coverage beginning at 2:30 p.m. with Dom Izzo calling the play-by-play, Kyle Emanuel as color analyst, and Logan Campbell and Zach Staton reporting. ESPN+ subscribers can watch on ESPN.com and the ESPN app.
 
RADIO: Coverage begins at 1:30 p.m. on the Peterson Farms Seed Bison Radio Network including 107.9 The Fox in Fargo with Jeff Culhane (play-by-play), Phil Hansen (analyst) and Cole Jirik (sideline). Extended coverage locally on Bison 1660 and 92.7 FM includes "Bison Tailgate" from 10:30-11:30, "Bison Game Day" from 11:30-1:30 and the "Bison Hotline" call-in show following the network broadcast.
 
ONLINE: NDSU All Access offers subscription video streaming for home games and free audio streams for all NDSU football games through GoBison.com/allaccess and the NDSU Athletics mobile app. Live in-game statistics will be available on BisonStats.com. Follow along with in-game updates on Twitter @NDSUfootball.
 
THE SERIES: This is the 14th meeting between North Dakota State and Missouri State. NDSU has won 10 straight to take an 11-2 lead in the series dating back to 2008. The Bears are 1-5 in the Fargodome and have lost five straight since a 21-17 win in the 2009 Harvest Bowl game. NDSU has allowed only two touchdowns and has three shutouts in the last six games against Missouri State, including a current streak of nine straight scoreless quarters.
 
LAST YEAR: North Dakota State recorded seven sacks in a 25-0 win over Missouri State last March at Plaster Stadium in Springfield. Spencer Waege had three sacks and a forced fumble, linebackers James Kaczor and Jackson Hankey made seven tackles apiece, and Brayden Thomas blocked a 42-yard field goal attempt to keep the Bears scoreless. NDSU opened the scoring late in the first quarter when Zeb Noland connected with tight end Noah Gindorff on a seven-yard touchdown pass to cap a 12-play, 71-yard scoring drive kept alive by a fake punt and 23-yard run by punter Garret Wegner. NDSU did the rest of its scoring in the second quarter on a Jalen Bussey 53-yard TD run, Jake Reinholz 38-yard field goal and Braylon Henderson 81-yard reception.
 
BISON SHUT OUT REDBIRDS: Defensive tackle Eli Mostaert had 3.5 sacks and linebacker Jasir Cox made his first two career interceptions to highlight NDSU's 20-0 road win over Illinois State last week. The Bison held Illinois State to 99 yards of total offense and 2 of 11 on third down. NDSU opened the scoring on Christian Watson's 4-yard touchdown pass from Quincy Patterson, who connected with Phoenix Sproles for 37 yards and RaJa Nelson for 17 yards on the seven-play, 67-yard scoring drive. Jake Reinholz kicked a career-long 46-yard field goal and added another from 24 yards before TaMerik Williams capped the scoring with a 7-yard TD run late in the fourth quarter.
 
DOMINANT DEFENSE: North Dakota State posted its second shutout of the season last week at Illinois State allowing just 99 yards of total offense, the least by an NDSU opponent since allowing 57 against Robert Morris in 2017. It was the least amount of yards allowed by NDSU in a conference game since holding South Dakota to 76 yards in 2012. NDSU has limited seven Division I opponents to less than 100 yards of total offense since 2004.
        Fewest Total Offense Yards Allowed Since 2004
        57 - Robert Morris (Pa.), 9/23/2017
        58 - Mississippi Valley State, 9/2/2017
        61 - North Dakota, 9/19/2015
        76 - vs South Dakota, 10/20/2012
        88 - Robert Morris (Pa.), 9/1/2012
        91 - Austin Peay, 8/28/2008
        99 - at Illinois State, 10/16/2021

HISTORIC PACE: North Dakota State has allowed an FCS-low five touchdowns this year and leads the FCS in scoring defense and total defense allowing 7.2 points and 226.5 yards per game. Those are the lowest averages for points and yards allowed in NDSU's 18 seasons as a Division I program, topping the 11.3 ppg by the 2013 national championship team and the 234.5 ypg by the 2012 national title team. Only Georgia is allowing fewer points (6.6 ppg) this year in Division I, while Georgia (208.4 ypg) and Wisconsin (225.8 ypg) are ahead of the Bison in total defense.
 
RED ZONE DEFENSE: North Dakota State leads the FCS in red-zone defense (.429) allowing two rushing touchdowns and one field goal in seven opportunities inside the 20-yard line. NDSU opponents have two turnovers on downs, one interception and one fumble in the red zone, and the Bison have held two opponents (North Dakota and Illinois State) out of the red zone altogether.
        FCS Red Zone Scoring Defense Leaders
        .429 - North Dakota State (3-7)
        .500 - Dartmouth (5-10)
        .562 - Penn (9-16)
        .600 - Harvard (.611)
        .611 - Montana (11-18)

BISON FIFTH NATIONALLY IN SACKS: North Dakota State ranks fifth in the FCS with a conference-best 3.67 sacks per game. The Bison have recorded five sacks in two straight games and three of the past four. Eli Mostaert leads NDSU wih 5.0 sacks including a career-high 3.5 sacks at Illinois State, which tied for fifth most in NDSU single-game history. Will Mostaert is second on the team with 3.0 sacks, and the Bison have 14 players involved in at least one sack this season.
 
GROUND GAME: North Dakota State ranks fourth in the FCS in rushing offense this week averaging 275.0 yards per game. NDSU has four running backs averaging over six yards per carry in TaMerik Williams (7.8), Jalen Bussey (7.6), Hunter Luepke (6.8) and Dominic Gonnella (6.3), plus quarterback Quincy Patterson's 5.2 average and team-high 71 carries. Patterson has led the Bison in rushing in four of six games this fall, including the last three straight with 92 yards at North Dakota, 60 against Northern Iowa and a season-high 100 yards at Illinois State. His career high is 122 yards on 21 carries as a freshman in 2019 at Virginia Tech.