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Teams: Minot State at Minnesota State-Moorhead | Series: MSUM leads 5-4
Date: Saturday, Nov. 1, 2014 | Time: 1 p.m. | Site: Alex Nemzek Field

THIS WEEK: Minot State travels to Moorhead, Minn., for its final road trip of the 2014 season, taking on Minnesota State University-Moorhead Saturday at Alex Nemzek Field with kickoff slated for 1 p.m.

RECORDS: The Beavers got win No. 1 this past week and are 1-7 on the season and 1-7 in NSIC play. Minot State moved up to sixth in the NSIC North with the win and sit at 1-3 in the division. MSU-M is also 1-7 on the season and 1-7 in NSIC play, but is 0-4 in the NSIC North.

COACHES CORNER: Minot State's head coach is Tyler Hughes, who begins his first season at the helm. He is 1-7 at Minot State and 21-11 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. MSU-M's head coach is Steve Laqua who is 8-33 in four seasons with the Dragons.

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. The game will be featured as the MidCo Sports HD Game of the Week and will air on Wednesday at 7 p.m. MidCo Sports (Channel 26 / HD 622) as the MidCo Sports HD Game of the Week and is live on the KXMC CBS (Channel 13.3 / 591 in Minot; 12.3 in Bismarck; 11.3 in Williston; 2.3 in Dickinson). 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 earned its first win of the season, blowing out Minnesota Crookston 50-20 Saturday at Herb Parker Stadium. The Beavers forced seven turnovers, rushed for a season-high 185 yards and got four TD passes from Zac Cunha (Jr., QB, Rocklin, Calif.). Cunha hit three different receivers for scores, finding Glyn Borel (Sr., WR, San Jose, Calif.) twice. Jarvis Mustipher (So., RB, Melbourne, Fla.) had two TD runs and a season-high 115 yards rushing. On defense, junior  Thomas Bryson (DL, Layton, Utah) had a huge day with three sacks, seven tackles, a forced fumble, a fumble recovery and a pass breakup. MSU-Moorhead fell just short at the University of Mary, battling back from a 27-point deficit to take the lead, only to see U-Mary score in the final five minutes for the win. Demetrius Carr had a huge game, rushing for 208 yards and two TDs and throwing for 188 yards and a score in the loss.   

OVERALL SERIES: Minot State trails the all-time series with MSU-M 5-4 and the two teams have each won on each other's home field in two meetings as NCAA Division II teams. Last year's game was a barn burner as the Dragons blocked an extra point attempt by Minot State with just 2:39 to play in the game to preserve a 31-20 win at Herb Parker Stadium. MSU-M scored 17 fourth quarter points to get the lead. Minot State's Zac Cunha (Jr., QB, Rocklin, Calif.) threw for 355 yards and two touchdowns, while MSU-M's Jake Hodge tossed the pigskin around for 356 yards and four scores. The Beavers' Wayne Peters had a career-day with 169 yards receiving on eight catches and a TD.

NOTING THE DRAGONS: Minnesota State University-Moorhead has been one of the top offensive teams in the NSIC, averaging 31.0 points per game. But the Dragons are last in defense in nearly every category and have given up 432 points (54.0 average) per game… Redshirt freshman Demetrius Carr's 208 yards rushing were the most by a Dragons' player in 16 years… MSU-M converted on 4 of 6 fourth downs last week and have converted on 14 of 28 attempts this season… The first and four quarters have not been good to the Dragons this season as they have been outscored 133-64 in the first and 141-36 in the fourth quarter… Quarterbacks Jake Hodge and Demetrius Carr have had big weeks rushing the ball as they ranked Nos. 2 and 3 on the team in rushing. Hodge has 536 yards rushing in 2014, second to Zayne Medhaug's 626… Adam Jiskra has 60 receptions this season for 870 yards… Abe Roehrich has put together a solid season on defense as he is the team's leading tackler with 67 and also has an interception, two forced fumbles, a blocked kick, a sack and four pass breakups.

IN YOUR FACE LANE: Minot State University came into last week ranked dead last in NCAA Division II in rushing. But after a big weekend against Minnesota Crookston where the Beavers rushed for 185 yards, MSU has leaped out of the cellar and passed not only Lane College but also Johnson C. Smith, Lindenwood and Western Oregon to sit in 163, a yard-per-game off of No. 162 Pace's pace.

CUNHA SETTLING IN: Junior signal caller Zac Cunha (Rocklin, Calif.) has settled into a solid season. Cunha has passed for 1,446 yards and 12 touchdowns this season, throwing just four interceptions. He need about 900 yards in his final three games to reach his total passing yards from last season of 2,352 but only needs to throw three TDs in that span to eclipse his best touchdown mark of 14, set as a freshman. In his career, Cunha has 5,780 yards passing and 39 TDs.

BEAVERS MUST GET MUSTIPHER GOING: Last week, Jarvis Mustipher (So., RB, Melbourne, Fla.) rushed for 115 yards and two touchdowns for the Beavers. It was his fourth career game over 100 yards and the Beavers are 2-2 in those games. His 115 yards nearly doubled his total on the year as he has fought through some injuries this season and it was his first two TDs of the season.

SACK LUNCH FOR BRYSON: In Saturday's win over Minnesota Crookston, junior defensive lineman Thomas Bryson (Layton, Utah) had a career-high three sacks to go along with seven tackles in the game. Bryson's three sacks jumped him to the top of the Beavers' leaderboard with 5.5 sacks in eight games on the season, totaling 38 yards lost by opponents. In his first season with the Beavers, Bryson has proved to be a nuisance in the backfield of the opposition as he has nine tackles for a loss to go with the 5.5 sacks.

SACK LUNCHES FOR EVERYONE: Minot State picked up eight quarterback sacks Saturday, marking the season high in 2014. In fact, it is the most QB sacks for the Beavers since the 2008 season when Minot State had eight as well against Jamestown College in a wild 54-41 home loss. The Beavers have 18 total sacks this season, already better than its total in 2013 (17), 2012 (12) and 2011 (11) – its first three seasons as a member of NCAA Division II.

ROAD WEARY: Since moving to NCAA Division II, the Beavers have struggled on the road. MSU's last road win in conference was in week 8 when it knocked off Minnesota Crookston 20-19. In nearly three complete seasons, Minot State is 2-13 away from Herb Parker Stadium in NSIC contests and is just 3-19 since joining DII. One of those three wins, however, came two seasons ago in Moorhead, where the Beavers topped MSU-M 31-10.

BY THE NUMBERS
6: Touchdown receptions this season for Glyn Borel (Sr., WR, San Jose, Calif.). Borel has 32 total catches this year, ranking him second to Leon La Deaux's (Sr., WR, Port Orchard, Wash.) 39. The six TDs out of 32 catches has Borel scoring in one of every 5.3 times he hauls in a pass.

36: The lowest total points given up by Minnesota State-Moorhead in a game this season – a 40-36 win over Wayne State College in week 3. MSU-M has surrendered 40 or more points in seven of eight games, giving up 50 or more five times and 60 or more three times. The high – or low, depending on your point of view – was a 73-21 defeat at the hands of the University of Sioux Falls in week 4.

66: Rushing yards on a team-high 15 attempts for Alamoti Vaenuku (Jr., FB, Kearns, Utah) in last week's win over Minnesota Crookston. It was the most rushing yards and by far the most attempts for Vaenuku, who is used primarily used as a blocking back. Vaenuku scored his first career TD for the Beavers in the fourth quarter from 1 yard out.