THIS WEEK: No. 1-ranked North Dakota State (2-0, 1-0 MVFC) is scheduled to play Southern Illinois (1-1, 0-1 MVFC) at noon Saturday, Feb. 27, at Saluki Stadium in Carbondale, Ill. This is the first true road game for the Bison since playing at SIU in the final game of the 2019 regular season.
 
TELEVISION: NBC North Dakota will have statewide television coverage with Lee Timmerman (play-by-play), Kyle Emanuel (analyst) and Ryan Gellner (sidelines). Pregame coverage begins at 11 a.m. with KVLY TV's Beth Hoole and Devin Fry. ESPN+ will carry the game beginning at noon. ESPN+ is available by subscription on ESPN.com and the ESPN app.
 
RADIO: Coverage begins at 11:30 a.m. on the Peterson Farms Seed Bison Radio Network including 107.9 The Fox in Fargo with Jeff Culhane (play-by-play) and Phil Hansen (analyst). Extended coverage locally on Bison 1660 and 92.7 FM includes "Bison Tailgate" from 8:30-9:30, "Bison Game Day" from 9:30-11:30 and the "Bison Hotline" call-in show following the network broadcast.
 
ONLINE: NDSU All Access offers free audio streaming of all NDSU football games as well as live video of Bison home games to subscribers on GoBison.com/allaccess and the NDSU Athletics mobile app. Links to live streams and live in-game stats are available at GoBison.com/coverage. Follow along with in-game updates on Twitter @NDSUfootball.
 
THE SERIES: This is the 13th meeting between North Dakota State and Southern Illinois dating back to 1963. NDSU has won eight straight to take a 9-3 lead in the series. The Bison are 4-3 in Carbondale, but have won their last four visits including a 21-7 in the 2019 regular-season finale. SIU's last win in the series was a 24-14 home victory in 2009.
 
WAEGE, BISON DEFENSE ICE PENGUINS: North Dakota State defensive end Spencer Waege returned to the Bison lineup and was part of a suffocating Bison defense that limited Youngstown State to 51 yards rushing and 1.5 yards per carry. Waege, who missed the 2020 fall season with a foot injury, charted career highs of six total tackles and 2.5 tackles for loss in the 25-7 victory. Linebacker Jackson Hankey made a game-high 14 tackles with seven solo stops and was in on one of NDSU's seven tackles for loss, and linebacker James Kaczor had 11 tackles.
 
JOHNSON LEADS GROUND GAME: Sophomore running back Kobe Johnson led the Bison rushing attack with a career-high 16 carries and 114 yards (7.1 ypc) in last week's win over Youngstown State. NDSU had seven ball carriers combine for 243 net yards and three touchdowns including two TDs for redshirt freshman Jalen Bussey, who had six carries for 43 yards. Johnson scored on a 15-yard run in the first quarter and added one reception for 12 yards. In two career games against YSU, Johnson has 367 all-purpose yards on 26 touches (14.1 yards per play) with three touchdowns.
 
OFFENSIVE LINE SOLID IN DEBUT: North Dakota State's new-look offensive line produced familiar results in the conference opener against Youngstown State. NDSU rushed for 243 yards and averaged 6.1 yards per carry while the offensive line allowed only one negative yard rushing without a sack in senior quarterback Zeb Noland's first start for the Bison. Left guard Nash Jensen is NDSU's only returning starter back in the same position from 2019. Cordell Volson made his first start at left tackle after 17 games at right tackle, Zach Kubas made his second start at right guard, and center Jalen Sundell and right tackle Cody Mauch made their first starts under new Bison offensive line coach Dan Larson, who joined the program as running backs coach in 2019.
 
REINHOLZ PLAYER OF THE WEEK: Junior kicker Jake Reinholz was named Missouri Valley Football Conference Special Teams Player of the Week after scoring seven points in the win over Youngstown State. His two-point conversion run put NDSU ahead 8-0 late in the first quarter, and his second career field goal (from 28 yards) gave the Bison an 11-0 lead before halftime. Reinholz added a pair of extra-point kicks and averaged 62.8 yards on five kickoffs with two touchbacks. It was his first player of the week honor.
 
FIRST SUNDAY GAME: NDSU's conference opener with Youngstown State was the first Sunday game in NDSU football history dating back to 1894. The game was held on Sunday due to a scheduling conflict at the Fargodome, which hosted the North Dakota high school wrestling state championships Thursday through Saturday. A crowd of 6,578 was on hand to see the Bison and Penguins, less than the 50 percent capacity limit of 9,500 set for the game.
 
BACK-TO-BACK ON THE ROAD:  North Dakota State is scheduled to hit the road for its next two conference games this week at Southern Illinois and next week Missouri State. The Bison have won back-to-back road trips in conference play each of the past five seasons against South Dakota State and Youngstown State in 2019, Northern Iowa and Western Illinois in 2018, Indiana State and Youngstown State in 2017, Western Illinois and Northern Iowa in 2016, Indiana State and Southern Illinois in 2015.
 
BISON FAVORED TO WIN: North Dakota State was picked to win its 10th straight Missouri Valley Football Conference title in a preseason poll of the league's head coaches. One point separated Northern Iowa and South Dakota State for second and third place, respectively. Illinois State was fourth and Southern Illinois fifth followed by South Dakota, North Dakota and Youngstown State with Missouri State and Western Illinois tying for the ninth and final spot.
 
EIGHT ON PRESEASON MVFC TEAM: NDSU has a league-best eight first-team picks on the preseason All-Missouri Valley Football Conference team including fullback Hunter Luepke, wide receiver Christian Watson, offensive lineman Cordell Volson, long snapper Ross Kennelly, defensive lineman Spencer Waege, linebacker Jackson Hankey, cornerback Josh Hayes and safety Michael Tutsie. Tight end Josh Babicz earned honorable mention.
 
FOUR PRESEASON ALL-AMERICANS: North Dakota State offensive lineman Cordell Volson and safety Michael Tutsie were named to the HERO Sports spring preseason All-America team. Volson and wide receiver Christian Watson were named to the Athlon Sports spring preseason All-America team. Prior to the fall season, Volson and linebacker Jackson Hankey were named to the Stats Perform FCS preseason All-America second team and Tutsie was third team.
 
16-TIME NATIONAL CHAMPIONS: North Dakota State has won 16 football national championships. NDSU claimed three College Division national championships in 1965, 1968 and 1969 via the national polls, five Division II playoff titles in 1983, 1985, 1986, 1988 and 1990, and was the first team in college football history to win five straight national titles with FCS crowns in 2011, 2012, 2013, 2014 and 2015 before winning again in 2017, 2018 and 2019.
 
NINE STRAIGHT TITLES: North Dakota State in 2019 won its ninth straight Missouri Valley Football Conference championship and fifth outright crown including 2012, 2013, 2017 and 2018. North Dakota State has won 36 football conference championships including 26 in the North Central Conference (last in 1994) and one in the Great West Football Conference (2006).
        Most Consecutive Conference Titles in Division I Football
        14 - Oklahoma (Big 8, 1946-59)
        12 - Montana (Big Sky, 1998-09)
        10 - BYU (WAC, 1976-85)
        9 - Florida State (ACC, 1992-00)
        9 - North Dakota State (MVFC, 2011-19)
 
FIRST 16-GAME WINNERS: Last year's 16-0 North Dakota State team was the sixth to go undefeated and untied in winning the FCS championship joining Eastern Kentucky in 1982 (13-0), Georgia Southern in 1989 (15-0), Marshall in 1996 (15-0) and NDSU in 2013 (15-0). The Bison were the first modern-era college football team in any division to finish a season 16-0. The only other 16-0 team was at Yale in 1894. NDSU has played one other 16-game season. The Bison won the 2014 national title with a 15-1 record.
 
UNBEATEN SEASONS: Twelve teams have gone unbeaten in Missouri Valley Football Conference games since 1985, and only North Dakota State (2013, 2018, 2019) and Southern Illinois (2009) have done it through an eight-game conference schedule. There have been 16 undefeated NDSU teams since 1894 including the 2019 national champions (16-0).
 
UNDEFEATED FIRST-YEAR HEAD COACHES: North Dakota State's Matt Entz last year became the first Division I head football coach to win all 16 games in his first season at the helm. Among other notable winning streaks for first-time head coaches, Walter Camp won his first 28 games at Yale in 1888 and 1889, Larry Coker won his first 24 games at Miami (Fla.) in 2001 and 2002, and current Ohio State coach Ryan Day had a 16-game winning streak snapped in the 2019 Playstation Fiesta Bowl loss to Clemson.
        Undefeated, Untied First-Year Head Football Coaches (Division I, minimum 10 games)
        16-0, Matt Entz, North Dakota State, 2019
        15-0, Bob Pruett, Marshall, 1996 (FCS champions)
        13-0, Walter Camp, Yale, 1888
        13-0, Chris Petersen, Boise State, 2006
        12-0, Larry Coker, Miami (Fla.), 2001
        11-0, Bill Thomas, Tennessee State, 1984
        10-0, Joe Susan, Davidson, 2000
        10-0, Ed Zubrow, Penn, 1986
 
BISON ON 39-GAME WINNING STREAK: North Dakota State's current 39-game winning streak is the third longest in Division I history and the longest in FCS history surpassing the record 33-game Bison winning streak from 2012-14.
        Longest Division I Football Winning Streaks
        47—Oklahoma, 1953-57
        40—Washington, 1908-14
        39—North Dakota State, 2017-present
        37—Yale, 1890-93
        37—Yale, 1887-89
        35—Toledo, 1969-71
        34—Miami (Fla.), 2000-03
        34—Penn, 1894-96
        33—North Dakota State, 2012-14
 
HOME STREAK AT 30 GAMES: North Dakota State is on a school-record 30-game home winning streak, which is tied for fifth longest in FCS history behind Georgia Southern (39, 38), Eastern Kentucky (34), Middle Tennessee State (31) and Montana (30). It is the longest active home winning streak in Division I and a new Missouri Valley Football Conference record, topping NDSU's 26-game home winning streak from 2012-15. The Bison had a 36-game home unbeaten streak 1964-71 including a 1970 season-opening tie with Eastern Michigan. NDSU has won 69 of the last 71 home games over non-conference opponents with its last home loss coming in the 2016 semifinals to James Madison. NDSU is 27-4 at home all-time against FCS Top 10 teams.
 
COORDINATORS NAMED TO 35 UNDER 35: North Dakota State offensive coordinator Tyler Roehl and defensive coordinator David Braun were selected to the 2020 class of the American Football Coaches Association's 35 Under 35 Coaches Leadership Institute, a prestigious program aimed at identifying and developing premier, future leaders in the football coaching profession. Selected participants are invited to attend the one-day institute that features a curriculum of interactive lectures focused on topics specifically tailored to emphasize leadership in the coaching profession, ethics, influential responsibilities, career progression, and family balance.
 
WEGNER ON WATCH LIST: North Dakota State's Garret Wegner is one of 22 punters on the preseason watch list for the 2020 FCS Punter of the Year Award. Created in 2019, the award honors the nation's top collegiate punter in the Football Championship Subdivision. Wegner, a senior from Lodi, Wis., averaged 40.5 yards on 53 punts last season and had nine punts of 50-plus yards. He ranked second in the Missouri Valley Football Conference with 22 fair catches. Wegner was a third team FCS All-America selection by Stats Perform and The Associated Press as a sophomore in 2018.
 
SUCCESS VS. THE FBS: NDSU has a 9-3 record against Football Bowl Subdivision opponents and has won six 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), Iowa State (34-14) and 11th-ranked Iowa (23-21). NDSU has two future FBS games against Arizona in 2022 and Colorado in 2024. NDSU's first three FBS wins were against Ball State (2006), Central Michigan (2007) and Minnesota (2007).