THIS WEEK: The fifth-ranked North Dakota State football team is back on the road this week when the Bison (8-1, 5-1 MVFC) face Youngstown State (2-6, 1-5 MVFC) in the Missouri Valley Football Conference Game of the Week. Kickoff is scheduled for 12:05 p.m. ET at Stambaugh Stadium in Youngstown, Ohio. NDSU is looking to rebound from a 27-19 loss at South Dakota State, while Youngstown State is coming off a 24-21 loss at North Dakota.
 
TELEVISION: This is the Missouri Valley Football Conference Game of the Week and will be available exclusively to ESPN+ subscribers on ESPN.com and the ESPN app. Lane Grindle and Adam Seidel will call the game with reporter Kelly Burke. WDAY's statewide television coverage on ABC will return next week against South Dakota.
 
RADIO: Coverage begins at 10 a.m. CT on the Peterson Farms Seed Bison Radio Network including Bison 1660 and 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 7:00-8:00, "Bison Game Day" from 8:00-10:00 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 YSUSports.com. Follow along with in-game updates on Twitter @NDSUfootball.
 
THE SERIES: This is the 16th meeting between North Dakota State and Youngstown State. NDSU has won nine straight to take an 11-4 lead in the all-time series dating back to 1972. The Bison have won their last five trips to Youngstown, including a Stambaugh Stadium opponent-record 56 points in their 56-17 victory in November 2019.
 
THE LAST MEETING: NDSU and Youngstown State met in the opening game of the 2021 spring conference schedule with the Bison winning 25-7 at the Fargodome. Kobe Johnson rushed for 114 yards and a touchdown and Jalen Bussey added 43 yards and two touchdowns. Jackson Hankey made a game-high 14 tackles and James Kaczor had 11 stops as the Bison outgained the Penguins 317-171 in total yards.
 
BOUNCING BACK: North Dakota State looks to bounce back from its first loss of the season this week at Youngstown State. NDSU has not lost back-to-back games since a five-game losing streak in the middle of the 2009 season. The Bison rebounded from a road loss at Southern Illinois last spring with a 25-0 win at Missouri State. NDSU has not lost back-to-back road trips since its 0-2 start in 2009 opening with losses at Iowa State (34-17) and Sam Houston (48-45).
 
TITLE TALK: North Dakota State needs one win in its last two games to clinch at least a share of its 10th Missouri Valley Football Conference championship. With two wins, NDSU can clinch the title outright and claim the league's automatic qualifier to the FCS playoffs. The Bison won nine straight conference titles from 2011-2019 including five outright (2012, 2013, 2017, 2018, 2019).
 
PLAYOFF POSITION: North Dakota State may still be in position to earn a top-two seed for the NCAA playoffs and home field advantage through the semifinals. NDSU claimed the No. 1 seed with one-loss teams in 2012 and 2016, and the Bison were the No. 2 seed with one-loss teams in 2011, 2014 and 2017. North Dakota State has been a top-two seed for 8 of 11 appearances in the FCS playoffs. The Bison were seeded third in 2015 and not seeded in 2010 and 2020.
 
AGAINST THE PENGUINS: Running back Kobe Johnson has 367 all-purpose yards and is averaging 14.1 yards per touch in two career games against Youngstown State. Johnson had a 75-yard touchdown run and finished with 103 yards on six carries in 2019 plus a 94-yard kickoff return touchdown and 138 total return yards. Johnson's 114 rushing yards last February were a career high until his 155-yard game two weeks ago against Indiana State.
 
VETERAN VOLSON: Offensive lineman Cordell Volson will become the eighth NDSU player to appear in his 60th career game this week at Youngstown State. The NCAA record is 62 games played by Appalachian State's Pierre Banks (2004-2008), while NDSU defensive back Christian Dudzik is the NCAA record holder for games started. Dudzik started all 61 games of his career from 2011-2014, including one game at both safety and wide receiver.
        NDSU Career Games Played
        61 - Christian Dudzik, CB/S (61 starts, 2011-14)
        61 - Kyle Emanuel, DE (50 starts, 2011-14)
        61 - Andrew Bonnet, FB (29 starts, 2012-15)
        61 - Ben LeCompte, P (0 starts, 2012-15)
        60 - Joe Haeg, OT (60 starts, 2012-15)
        60 - RJ Urzendowski, WR (39 starts, 2014-17)
        60 - James Fisher, LS (0 starts, 2014-17)
 
WATSON APPROACHING 2,000: Senior wide receiver Christian Watson is closing in on the 2,000-yard mark, which only seven other NDSU players have reached in program history. Watson currently ranks eighth all-time at NDSU with 1,927 career receiving yards, 305 yards shy of seventh place Warren Holloway (2008-11). His 21.18 yards per catch average ranks fourth in school history.
        MVFC Active Career Leaders, Receiving Yards
        2,559 - Landon Lenoir, SIU
        2,321 - Isaiah Weston, UNI
        2,268 - Jorge Portorreal, YSU
        2,182 - Jacob Richter, UND
        2,177 - Dennis Houston, WIU
        1,999 - Daniel Bender, WIU
        1,927 - Christian Watson, NDSU
 
REINHOLZ CRACKS TOP 10: Senior kicker Jake Reinholz kicked his 17th career field goal last week at South Dakota State, which moved him into 10th place on the NDSU all-time list for field goals made (17-for-22). Reinholz is 11 of 14 this year including 5-for-8 from 40-plus yards and has made seven straight attempts. Reinholz is also 58-for-58 on PAT kicks in his career.
 
100-YARD RUSHERS: South Dakota State running back Pierre Strong's 156-yard performance last week was his third 100-yard rushing game against NDSU dating back to the 2018 semifinal game played in Fargo. In that 37-game span, only five other players have rushed for 100 yards against NDSU. Strong currently ranks first in the FCS averaging 126.9 rushing yards per game.
 
ANOTHER BIG BACK: North Dakota State's defense will contend with the fifth-ranked rusher in FCS this week. Youngstown State's Jaleel McLaughlin is averaging 112.8 yards per game and has five 100-yard games this fall including a season-high 29 carries and 242 yards in an overtime win against Incarnate Word. McLaughlin is the NCAA all-divisions active leader with 6,341 career rushing yards. He rushed eight times for 19 yards against NDSU in his Youngstown State debut last spring after transferring from Division II Notre Dame College.
 
HISTORIC PACE: North Dakota State has allowed an FCS-low 10 touchdowns this year and leads the FCS in scoring defense allowing 10.2 points per game. That is the best scoring defense in NDSU's 18 seasons as a Division I program, topping the 11.3 ppg by the 2013 national championship team. Only Georgia is allowing fewer points (6.6 ppg) this year in Division I.