Nine non-conference games are on the slate this weekend, which includes home openers for six MVFC schools, one Big Sky-MVFC matchup, and three games at FBS sites.

Weekly Notebook (PDF)

Saturday, Sept. 7
Morehead State at #16 Illinois State  |  Normal, Ill. • 6:30 p.m. [NBCSCH/ESPN+]
Dayton at #14 Indiana State  |  Terre Haute, Ind. • 1 pm ET [ESPN+]
RV North Dakota at #1 North Dakota State  |  Fargo, N.D. • 2:30 pm CT [NBC ND/ESPN+]
Southern Utah at #11 UNI  |  Cedar Falls, Iowa • 4 pm CT [PSN/ESPN3]
South Dakota at #4 Oklahoma  |  Norman, Okla. • 6 pm CT [FS Southwest]
Long Island at #3 South Dakota State  |  Brookings, S.D. • 6 pm CT [Midco/ESPN3]
Southern Illinois at UMass  |  Amherst, Mass. • 2:30 pm CT [FloSports]
Western Illinois at Colorado State  |  Fort Collins, Colo. • 3 pm CT [AT&T SportsNet]
Howard at RV Youngstown State  |  Youngstown, Ohio • 2 pm ET [ESPN+]




MVFC vs. the FBS
Thanks to Illinois State’s 35-19 win at Colorado State on Sept. 22, 2018, the Conference has had at least one FBS win in each of the last nine seasons.  The MVFC recorded a 1-7 mark vs. the FBS last year.  The Conference has 45 FBS wins in its history. There are nine MVFC-FBS games on the schedule this year, including three this week.

This Week’s MVFC/FBS Schedule
South Dakota at #4 Oklahoma
Southern Illinois at UMass
Western Illinois at Colorado State 


Big Sky-MVFC Challenge Series
Last year, the MVFC captured the second annual Big Sky-MVFC Challenge Series, 5-3.  (The MVFC also won the 2017 series, also by a 5-3 edge.)  The home team won all eight games last year.  Seven of the eight games in 2018 featured at least one ranked team (in two of the games, both teams were ranked.)   The MVFC conducted one previous challenge series (with the OVC) and the MVFC won all three season series against the OVC (2003, 2004, 2005) with a combined record of 20-2 in those games.  The two playoff matchups last year did not count toward the series.
Ten MVFC-Big Sky matchups are on the slate this year, including one this week.  The Big Sky leads this year’s series (2-0).

Aug. 29 - Northern Arizona 37, Missouri State 23
Aug. 31 - #25 Montana 31, South Dakota 17
Sept. 7  - Southern Utah at UNI
Sept. 14 - Montana State at Western Illinois
Sept. 21 - Idaho State at UNI
Sept. 21 - Northern Arizona at Illinois State
Sept. 21 - South Dakota at Northern Colorado
Sept. 21 - UC Davis at North Dakota State
Sept. 21 - Southern Utah at South Dakota State
Sept. 28 - Northern Iowa at Weber State

MVFC-FBS:  Down to the Wire
Three MVFC-FBS games in Week 1 went down to the closing minutes.  South Dakota State led Minnesota, 21-20, before the Gophers scored with 5:39 left for an eventual 28-21 victory.  With 2:20 remaining, Indiana State led Kansas, 17-16, before the Jayhawks scored to win 24-17.  Notably, UNI led No. 21 Iowa State with a minute remaining in the fourth quarter before eventually falling, 29-26, in three overtimes.  The overtime loss at Iowa State marked the second time in league history that an MVFC team had lost to an FBS team in overtime (Missouri State lost to Oklahoma State in 1996).

Strong Debuts
Five league teams have first-time starting QBs this year.  Here’s how those signal callers fared in Week 1.

Player, School    Cmp-Att    TD    Yards
Trey Lance, NDSU    10-11    4    185
Will McElvain, UNI    25-42    1    228
Stone Labanowitz, SIU    16-28    0    217
J’Bore Gibbs, SDSU    13-26    1    193
Connor Sampson, WIU    18-30    0    183

5 MVFC Teams Ranked
Two-time defending national champ North Dakota State headlines a list of five MVFC teams ranked in top-25 polls this week.  All five schools are in the Top 16 of both polls.

MVFC in the NFL
There are a total of 18 student-athletes representing MVFC schools on NFL opening-day rosters.  They include the following:

Ravens - Chris Board (North Dakota State)
Cardinals - David Johnson (UNI)
Colts - Joe Haeg (North Dakota State), Adam Vinatieri (South Dakota State)
Packers - Darrius Shepherd (NDSU), Robert Tonyan (Indiana State), Billy Turner (North Dakota State)
Titans - MyCole Pruitt (Southern Illinois)
Broncos - Shelby Harris (Illinois State)
Chargers - Easton Stick (North Dakota State)
Eagles - L.J. Fort (UNI), Dallas Goedert (South Dakota State), Carson Wentz (North Dakota St.)
Texans - Dylan Cole (Missouri State)
Chiefs - Khalen Saunders (Western Illinois), Xavier Williams (UNI)
Jets - Tom Compton (South Dakota)
Jaguars - James O’Shaughnessy (Illinois State)

Home-Opening Win Streaks
North Dakota State, with 20-straight wins in home-opening games, ranks second in the FCS (to North Dakota’s 33-game streak).  NDSU opens its home schedule vs. North Dakota this Saturday at the FargoDome.  South Dakota’s 16-game win streak in home openers ended with a loss to Montana on Saturday, Aug. 31.

33 – North Dakota (1987-present)
20 – North Dakota State (1999-present)
19 – Central Arkansas (2000-present)
18 – Wofford (2001-present)
18 – Harvard (2001-present)
16 – James Madison (2003-present)
15 – Montana (2004-present)
15 – McNeese (2005-present)
14 – Richmond (2006-present)
13 – Jacksonville State (2006-present)

Kicking It
Freshman Matthew Cook of UNI was a perfect 4-for-4 on FG tries in his debut against Iowa State.  Cook connected on field goals of 50, 31, 49 and 28 yards.  He’s the first freshman in the league to make 4 field goals in a game since Sam Drysdale (UNI) connected on four tries on 11-5-2016 vs. Indiana State (also in his career debut).

Against Ranked FCS Teams
The MVFC opened the 2019 season against two Top-25 opponents last week, falling to #25 Montana (South Dakota) and #17 Southeast Missouri State (Southern Illinois).  Last year, in non-league play, the league was 2-2 during the regular season against ranked FCS teams, marking the 16th time in the league’s 34-year history with multiple regular-season top-25 non-conference wins.  Since 2014, league schools have combined for a 43-21 record against non-conference top-25 teams (counting the playoffs).

MVFC WEEKLY HONORS

Offense & Newcomer
QB Trey Lance, North Dakota State
6-3, 221, RFr., Marshall, Minn. (Marshall HS)
Lance became the first NDSU freshman quarterback to start a season opener and accounted for 301 yards and six touchdowns in the 57-10 win over Butler. Lance had five carries for 116 yards with touchdown runs of 33 and 61 yards, and went 10 of 11 passing for 185 yards and four TDs in three quarters of action. The Bison rolled up 388 yards rushing and 605 yards of total offense.

Defense
DL Kaleb Brewer, Indiana State
6-5, 260, R-Jr., Bloomington, Ind. (Bloomington North HS)
The Indiana State defense forced three turnovers during its season opener at FBS Kansas Saturday. Redshirt junior Kaleb Brewer forced what might have been the most important turnover late in the fourth quarter on a strip sack in the endzone. Teammate Inoke Moala was able to fall on for a touchdown to put the Sycamores ahead 17-16 with under three minutes to play. In all, Brewer finished his day with five solo tackles, including three tackles-for-loss for 15 yards, a sack for seven yards and a forced fumble.

Special Teams
PK Matthew Cook, UNI
5-11, 175, Fr., Cedar Falls, Iowa (Cedar Falls HS)
In the first game of his career, Matthew Cook hit four field goals, including the first 50-yard field goal for UNI since the 2015 season. He hit from 50, 31, 49, 28. His last two field goals came in overtimes of the 3OT loss.

Offensive Line
RT Aron Johnson, South Dakota State
So., 6-6, 295, Chisago City, Minn. (Chisago Lakes HS)
Johnson graded out at 93 percent and was credited with six finish blocks in South Dakota State’s Aug. 29 season opener at Minnesota. He did not give up a sack and allowed only one quarterback pressure despite being matched up against all-Big Ten defensive end Carter Coughlin much of the night. As a team, the Jackrabbits averaged 5.1 yards per rushing attempt.