This Week in the MVFC
The league slate heads into November, and only three regular-season weekends remain. The MVFC will take its TV cameras to Carbondale, Ill., for the Western Illinois-Southern Illinois contest (ESPN3).  Lane Grindle, Adam Seidel and Kelly Burke will call the action from Saluki Stadium.  All four other league games this week will be available on ESPN+.

Saturday, Nov. 3
#13 Illinois State at UNI, 1 pm CT  |  Cedar Falls, Iowa • PSN / ESPN+
South Dakota at Indiana State, 1 pm ET  |  Terre Haute, Ind. • ESPN+
Missouri State at #7 South Dakota State, 2 pm CT  |  Brookings, S.D. • Midco / ESPN+
Youngstown State at #1 North Dakota State, 2:30 pm CT  |  Fargo, N.D. • ESPN+ / NBC ND
Western Illinois at Southern Illinois, 1 pm CT  |  Carbondale, Ill. • ESPN3

Weekly Notebook (PDF)

Streaking
North Dakota State owns the nation’s longest active winning streak in the FCS at 14 games.  The 14-game streak is tied for the second-longest in MVFC history.  The Bison, meanwhile, own the league’s three longest win streaks of all time (33, 14, 14).

Magic Number = 1
North Dakota State can earn at least a share of the 2018 MVFC title and the league’s automatic berth into the NCAA playoffs with a win this weekend against Youngstown State.  The Bison hold a two-game advantage over three teams in the standings (UNI, SDSU and Western Illinois).  NDSU would win the tiebreaker in the event it ties any of those three teams.

Title Town
Should North Dakota State earn this year’s MVFC crown, it would mark a league-record eighth-straight Conference title (shared or outright), and that would be second-only to UNI’s 16.  The Panthers had a streak of seven-straight titles from 1990-96.

Still Perfect
North Dakota State (8-0), Colgate (7-0), Dartmouth (7-0) and Princeton (7-0) still have perfect records through Oct. 27.  Dartmouth and Princeton play each other Nov. 3.  There are also four unbeaten FBS teams (Alabama, Clemson, Notre Dame and UCF).

Home Sweet Home
Two league schools are perfect at home this season:  North Dakota State (5-0) and South Dakota State (4-0).  A total of 30 FCS teams are unbeaten at home this year.  North Dakota State (14-straight) and South Dakota State (8-straight) boast two of the longest active home win streaks in the FCS.  San Diego (20) has the current longest home win streak among FCS schools.

5-0 League Start for NDSU
North Dakota State became the 25th team in league history to start an MVFC season with a 5-0 mark after the Bison defeated South Dakota on Oct. 27.  Twenty-two of the previous 24 earned a playoff berth, and 21 of those teams won the league crown.  A league team has started 5-0 in back-to-back seasons six times:  Western Illinois (87-88), UNI (94-95-96), Western Illinois (97-98), Southern Illinois (03-04), North Dakota State (13-14) and North Dakota State (17-18).  Twelve previous league teams have started MVFC play 6-0, and all of those teams won the title and qualified for the NCAA playoffs.

Another 8-0 Start for NDSU
North Dakota State is the only in Missouri Valley Football Conference history to win its first eight games in back-to-back seasons, and the Bison have done it twice.   NDSU was 15-0 in 2013 and started 2014 with nine-straight wins.  The Bison started 8-0 last year and are now 8-0 this season.  Only nine teams in MVFC history have started a season 8-0 or better. 

Winning in Conference
North Dakota State has won seven-straight league games, and that streak is the third-best active streak in the FCS.  The seven-game streak is tied for 11th-best in MVFC history.   NDSU established a league record with 18-straight MVFC wins (2012-14).

Just Stop It
Three league players average better than 10.0 tackles per game this year, including Indiana State’s Jonas Griffith (12.1), UNI’s Chris Kolarevic (10.8) and Indiana State’s Katrell Moss (10.1).  The trio rank among the Top 14 in the FCS.  Two MVFC players, meanwhile, rank among the Top 7 among active players in the FCS with 300+ career tackles.  With 306 career stops, SDSU’s Christian Rozeboom is the active leader among juniors.  He ranks 5th-highest overall.

Winning Against No. 1
When North Dakota State knocked off top-ranked and previously unbeaten James Madison in last year’s FCS title game, It marked the 17th time an MVFC member had recorded a win vs. the nation’s top-rated team (9 of those 17 wins were against a fellow league member).  As an MVFC member (since 1997), Youngstown State is 2-5 against No. 1 teams.  The Penguins beat NDSU in 2011 when the Bison were No. 1.  That game (27-24) was in Fargo (Nov. 12).

Scoring on Defense
With four defensive scores, Southern Illinois is tied for second nationally.  North Dakota State (3) and UNI (3) are just behind and are among 18 schools in the FCS with three or more defensive scores this year.

Tough Schedules
Three MVFC teams rank in the Top 16 in the FCS for toughest schedules (based on cumulative opposition and ranked by the NCAA Statistics service).  UNI leads the league and is ranked No. 4 overall.  A separate metrics service (Massey Ratings) has UNI with the nation’s most difficult schedule.  All of the league’s 10 members are rated in the Top 39 in the Massey Ratings strength of schedule, including each of the top-five spots (UNI, Western Illinois, North Dakota State, South Dakota and South Dakota State).

Strength of Schedule Ratings, Massey Ratings
1. UNI
2. Western Illinois
3. North Dakota State
4. South Dakota
5. South Dakota State
10. Illinois State
12. Southern Illinois
26. Missouri State
30. Youngstown State
39. Indiana State

Sticking It To ‘Em
QB Easton Stick has surpassed 2,000 career rushing yards (2,191), which is second among active quarterbacks.   SDSU’s Taryn Christion has 1,319 rushing yards, which is seventh best.  Stick is one of just three MVFC QBs to reach 2,000 career yards.  He needs 86 yards to overtake record-holder DeAndre Smith of Missouri State (1987-90).