THIS WEEK: MSU continues on the road for one more weekend as the Beavers travel to St. Cloud State for a 1 p.m. matchup with the Huskies.  

RECORDS: The Beavers (1-5, 1-5 NSIC) are coming off of their first victory of the year with an overtime win against Mary. The Huskies (3-3, 3-3) are coming off a seven-point loss to Minnesota Duluth.

COACHES CORNER: Minot State's head coach is Tyler Hughes, who is in his second season at the helm. He is 1-10 at Minot State and 21-14 overall as a head coach, all at Snow College in Ephraim, Utah, where he coached from 2011-12. Hughes spent the 2013 season as an assistant coach with Urban Meyer at Ohio State. Scott Underwood is in his eighth season with St. Cloud State. He has been with the Huskies since 2001 when he was hired as the defensive coordinator. In his first seven years with the program he compiled a 58-25 record leading his team to NCAA tournament appearances in 2010, 2011 and 2013. Prior to joining the Huskies, Underwood was an assistant coach at the University of North Dakota for four seasons and a defensive coordinator at the University of Sioux Falls from 1993-96.

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. MSU provides live video and live stats as well as links to the live audio at MSUBeavers.com. Minot State Athletics also is active on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, Pinterest and YouTube 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 was able to return home with its first victory of the season and a trophy after beating the University of Mary in overtime. Jarvis Mustipher (RB, Jr., Melbourne, Fla.) rushed for 154 yards on 26 carries including the final play of the game resulting in a touchdown to secure the victory for the Beavers. With a total of 254 rushing yards MSU found much more success on the ground than through the air. With two quarterbacks combining for 73 yards and three interceptions the Beavers ran the ball 36 more times than they passed. St. Cloud State trailed in its game from the beginning and could not do enough to catch back up to Minnesota Duluth. The Huskies did do enough, however, to score the final two touchdowns of the game and pull the game within seven points. St. Cloud State succeeded through the air passing for 424 yards and four touchdowns.

OVERALL SERIES: Minot State has yet to earn a victory against St. Cloud State since their debut game in 1937. St. Cloud leads the series 7-0-1.

LAST TIME OUT: With a 27-14 victory last season St. Cloud State was able to score the first 17 points of the game. With eight total tackles for a loss the Huskies were able to get pressure behind the line of scrimmage. Porter Sturm (WR, Sr., Roy, Mont.) scored one of the Beavers two touchdowns and totaled 87 yards receiving. Minot State struggled to get a run game going, with 21 total rush yards, while St. Cloud State was able to gain 165 yards on the ground.

NOTING THE HUSKIES: St. Cloud State's strength lies in their offense. With over 1,000 yards rushing and 1,500 yards passing the Huskies are one of just three teams in the NSIC be over those marks. The SCSU is averaging 4.3 yards per rush and 8.9 yards per pass making one of the third most successful team in the conference with 6.4 yards per play. The defense has also seen success in the conference with the fifth least yards allowed per game with 371.3.

IN A RUSH: Minot State has a wide variety of reliability when handing the ball off. Both Jarvis Mustipher (RB, Jr., Melbourne, Fla.) and Larry Overstreet (RB, Jr., Lehigh Acres, Fla.) have averaged over four yards per carry with 4.9 and 4.3, respectively. In short yardages situations the Beavers have been able to use Charles Hall (RB, Jr., Hinesville, Ga.) who has been able to push through the goal line three times this season.  

MANNING THE MIDDLE: Minot State senior Aaron James (LB, Oklahoma City, Okla.) is putting together a solid final season as he is tied with Thomas Bryson (Sr., DL, Layton, Utah) for team lead in sacks with 2.5, tied with Mitchell Matthias (Sr., DL, Merritt Island, Fla.) for second in tackles for a loss with 5.5 and is third on the team in total tackles with 49. Between his sacks and tackles for a loss, he has accounted for 58 yards on the season. James has 141 tackles as a Beaver and 161 total tackles in his career with 20 coming as a redshirt freshman at Central Oklahoma.

PASSING DEFICIENCY: Minot State has the fourth worst mark in the NSIC in passing efficiency with 103.2. The Beavers have thrown more interceptions (12) than any other team in the conference apart from Minnesota Crookston. Three quarterbacks have played extensive time for MSU this season and the team has yet to last 60 minutes without the opposition intercepting a pass.

DEFENSIVE PRESSURE: Since week one against Southwest Minnesota State when Minot State did not record a sack and only racked up two tackles for a loss the Beavers defense has been increasing their pressure behind the line of scrimmage. Since that first week MSU has averaged 7.6 tackles for a loss and 2.8 sacks per game. With 10 sacks and 23 tackles for a loss in the last three games Minot State have been making offenses take notice.

CLOCK MANAGEMENT: As Minot State does a better job rushing the football, the Beavers time of possession has gone up. The Beavers have averaged just over two minutes more time of possession than opponenets on the season, controlling the ball for 31:03 overall. MSU had held the ball more than its opponent in four of six games this season.

BY THE NUMBERS

5: Times Jarvis Mustipher (RB, Jr., Melbourne, Fla.) has rushed for over 100 yards in a single game throughout his career at Minot State. Mustipher rushed for 154 yards, a career high, against Mary.

10: Yards per punt return by Minot State this season. St. Cloud State has the conference's second worst net yards per punt mark with 28.6 yards per punt.

53: Rushing attempts taken by Minot State last week against Mary. That is the eighth most attempts since the start of the 2004 season.