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THIS WEEK: North Dakota State can win the Missouri Valley Football Conference outright for the second straight year and fourth time in program history when No. 1-ranked NDSU (9-0, 6-0 MVFC) faces Missouri State (4-5, 2-4 MVFC). Game time is 2 p.m. at Plaster Stadium (17,500) in Springfield, Mo.
 
TELEVISION: This is the Missouri Valley Football Conference TV Game of the Week and will be available exclusively on ESPN+ through ESPN.com and the ESPN app with subscriptions starting at $4.99/month. Scott Warmann will call the play-by-play with analyst Don Patterson and sideline reporter Kelly Burke.
 
RADIO: Coverage begins at 1:30 p.m. on the Peterson Farms Seed Bison Radio Network with third-year NDSU play-by-play voice Jeff Culhane joined by NDSU and Buffalo Bills hall of famer Phil Hansen and NDSU sideline reporter Jeremy Jorgenson. Extended coverage locally on 107.9 The Fox, Bison 1660 and 92.7 FM includes "Bison Tailgate" from 10:30-11:30 a.m. with Brad Jones, "Bison Game Day" from 11:30 a.m. to 1:30 p.m. and "Bison Hotline" for two hours following the network broadcast with hosts Keith Brake, Chris Hanson and former NDSU defensive end Cole Jirik.
 
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. Live stats for NDSU home games are available on BisonStats.com. Follow @NDSUfootball on Twitter for game updates.
 
THE SERIES: This is the 11th meeting between North Dakota State and Missouri State dating back to 2008. The Bison have won seven straight and lead the series 8-2 after last year's 38-11 homecoming victory in Fargo. NDSU is 4-1 in Springfield winning its last three trips since a 3-0 loss to end the 2010 regular season.
 
LAST YEAR: North Dakota State defeated Missouri State 38-11 in last year's NDSU homecoming game. Robbie Grimsley had a game-high 10 tackles and one of NDSU's three interceptions along with James Hendricks and Tre Dempsey. Quarterback Easton Stick was 15 of 21 passing for 220 yards and TD passes to Jeff Illies and RJ Urzendowski, who hauled in six passes for 82 yards. The Bison rushed for 214 yards with Bruce Anderson going 11 times for 106 yards and one score, and Lance Dunn carrying 10 times for 91 yards and two TDs.
 
BISON CLINCH CONFERENCE TITLE: North Dakota State clinched at least a share of its eighth Missouri Valley Football Conference title and the league's automatic qualifier with last week's 17-7 home win over Youngstown State. Easton Stick threw a 30-yard TD pass to Lance Dunn in the second quarter, and the Bison broke a 7-7 tie early in the fourth quarter on Stick's 1-yard TD run. The Bison defense got a three-and-out on the following possession sparked by Derrek Tuszka's tackle for loss and sack, and Cam Pedersen kicked a 36-yard field goal on the next drive. Tuszka finished with four tackles and had two of NDSU's five quarterback hurries as the Bison recorded four sacks and nine tackles for loss. Linebackers Jabril Cox and Dan Marlette had eight tackles apiece.
 
EIGHT IN A ROW: North Dakota State is the first Missouri Valley Football Conference team to win eight consecutive conference titles, a feat accomplished by only five other Division I programs.
        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)
        8 - Nebraska (Big 8, 1910-17)
        8 - North Dakota State (MVFC, 2011-18)
 
TARGET FIELD TICKETS ON SALE THURSDAY: The NDSU football team will host Butler in the 2019 season opener at 3 p.m. Saturday, Aug. 31, at Target Field presented by Pioneer. Tickets go on sale to the general public at 10 a.m. Thursday, Nov. 8. General seating will range from $20 to $58 and tickets will only be available through the Minnesota Twins. Student tickets will be made available at a later date through NDSU. For more information, visit TwinsBaseball.com/football.
 
LONGEST WINNING STREAKS: North Dakota State owns the longest active winning streak in the FCS at 15 games, which is second longest in Missouri Valley Football Conference history behind the 33-game Bison winning streak from 2012 to 2014. Colgate is 8-0 and has won 13 straight, and Princeton is the third remaining unbeaten in FCS with an 8-0 record tied with Kennesaw State's eight-game winning streak. UCF (21) and Alabama (11) have the two longest active winning streaks in FBS. NDSU's 14-game home winning streak is second longest in the FCS behind San Diego's 20.
 
MAKING THE PASSING GAME COUNT: North Dakota State ranks ninth in the conference in passing yards, but the Bison are making the attempts count. NDSU is second in passing efficiency with a 155.5 rating and has three of the league's top four in yards per reception. Desmond Cain caught a career-long 50-yard pass against Youngstown State and is the MVFC leader with 24.7 yards per catch. Dallas Freeman is third (21.4) and running back Bruce Anderson is fourth (19.8). NDSU leading receiver Darrius Shepherd is eighth with 17.6 yards per catch and ranks fourth in yards (686) and fifth in yards per game (76.2).
 
GRIMSLEY MOVES UP INTERCEPTION LIST: Senior Robbie Grimsley made his 14th career interception against Youngstown State and is tied with James Madison's Jimmy Moreland for the lead among active FCS players. Grimsley is fourth all-time at NDSU behind Marcus Williams (21 from 2010-2013), Steve Krumrei (16 from 1967-1969) and Tre Dempsey (16 from 2014-2017). Grimsley also ranks seventh at NDSU with 140 solo tackles.
 
NDSU, COX LEAD LEAGUE IN PICKS: Sophomore linebacker Jabril Cox continues to lead the conference with four interceptions and is 10th in the FCS with 0.4 interceptions per game. Cox is one of seven players in FCS with two or more pick-sixes this season. NDSU has not had a linebacker lead the team in interceptions since Joe Mays had three in 2005. The Bison record for interceptions by a linebacker is five by Rick Budde in 1976. NDSU leads the conference with 14 picks (1.56/game), up slightly from last year's pace of 1.47/game when the Bison finished with 22 interceptions.
 
BISON AMONG PUNT LEADERS: NDSU ranks sixth in FCS in with 17.07 yards per punt return with return specialist Darrius Shepherd ranked second in FCS with an average of 19.2 yards per return. Shepherd's career punt return average of 14.00 is fourth best in school history. Meanwhile, punter Garret Wegner ranks 10th in FCS and is second in the league with a 43.4 punting average.

STICK SETS NDSU TOUCHDOWNS RECORD: Senior quarterback Easton Stick set another NDSU career record with his 108th career touchdown in last week's win over Youngstown State. He broke Brock Jensen's record of 107 touchdowns responsible for from 2010-13. Stick has the NDSU career record with 74 TD passes (fifth in MVFC history) and has rushed for 34 scores. He enters Saturday's game at Missouri State just 42 yards of shy of the conference record for rushing yards by a quarterback held by MSU's DeAndre Smith (2,276 from 1987-90).
        MVFC Career Rushing Yards by QB
        2,276 - DeAndre Smith, Missouri State (1987-90)
        2,234 - Easton Stick, North Dakota State (2015-18)
        2,176 - Tirrell Rennie, Northern Iowa (2010-11)
        1,880 - Jeff Ryan, Youngstown State (1998-01)

        NDSU Career Rushing Yards by QB
        3,313 - Chris Simdorn (1987-90)
        2,945 - Jeff Bentrim (1983-86)
        2,473 - Kevin Feeney (1995-98)
        2,264 - Mark Speral (1977-80)
        2,234 - Easton Stick (2015-18)
 
SHEPHERD MOVES UP RECEIVING CHARTS: Senior wide receiver Darrius Shepherd made a career-high eight receptions last week to surpass Warren Holloway and Travis White for third in all-time receptions at NDSU with 165, trailing only Zach Vraa (195 from 2011-15) and Kole Heckendorf (178 from 2005-08). Shepherd also passed Urzendowski for fourth in receiving yards (2,462) just 82 shy of third-place TR McDonald (2,544 from 1990-93). Shepherd remains eighth in career TD catches with 16 behind Heckendorf (17 from 2005-08) and Eric Nelson (18 from 1997-00).
 
ACTIVE 2,000-YARD RUSHERS: North Dakota State is the only FCS team in the nation with three active 2,000-yard rushers. Lance Dunn (2,804) ranks sixth, Bruce Anderson (2,494) is 16th and Easton Stick (2,234) is 19th. North Dakota's John Santiago (3,643) and Brady Oliveira (2,722) along with James Madison's Marcus Marshall (2,520) and Cardon Johnson (2,442) are the only other active 2,000-yard rushing duos in FCS.
 
TURNOVER MARGIN LEADERS: NDSU's plus-13 turnover margin is third in the FCS behind co-leaders Southeast Missouri State and Dartmouth (+17). NDSU has scored a conference-best 87 points off turnovers.
 
RED ZONE SUCCESS: North Dakota State leads the MVFC in red zone defense this year allowing opponents inside the 20-yard line only 16 times with five touchdowns and two field goals. The Bison also lead the MVFC in red zone offense scoring on 34 of 37 chances with 30 TDs.
 
BISON LEAD LEAGUE IN SACKS: NDSU leads the Missouri Valley Football Conference with 29 sacks and the Bison rank eighth in FCS averaging 3.22 sacks per game. Greg Menard leads the Bison with 7.0 sacks. NDSU is first in the league (8) and 12th in FCS (0.89/game) for sacks allowed.
 
MENARD FOURTH IN CAREER SACKS: Defensive end Greg Menard is fourth in career sacks at NDSU with 36, five shy of the school record 41 total sacks held by Jerry Dahl (1973-74), Phil Hansen (1987-90) and Kyle Emanuel (2011-14). Menard is the FCS active career leader with 31.0 sacks counting solo and assisted sacks as defined by the NCAA.
 
GREAT STARTS: North Dakota State is the only team in Missouri Valley Football Conference history to win its first seven games in back-to-back seasons, and the Bison have done it twice. NDSU went 15-0 in 2013 and started 9-0 in 2014, and the Bison were 8-0 to start 2017.
 
PEDERSEN APPROACHING VALLEY PAT RECORD: Senior Cam Pedersen is NDSU's new career record holder for PAT kicks made (225) and attempted (231) and ranks second in MVFC history behind Craig Coffin of Southern Illinois, who made 229 PAT kicks from 2002-06. Pedersen has made 65 consecutive PAT kicks since a block at Illinois State in the 2017 regular-season finale.
 
PEDERSEN 14th IN FCS SCORING BY KICKER: NDSU's Cam Pedersen ranks 14th in FCS history for career points by a kicker with 354, the most among all active FCS players and five shy of the NDSU kicker scoring record of 359 by Adam Keller (2011-14). Pedersen's 354 career points rank ninth overall in the MVFC and fourth overall at NDSU. He ranks third at NDSU with 43 career field goals made behind Keller (56) and Shawn Bibeau (51 from 2006-09) and his 70 field goal attempts are tied with Keller for second behind Bibeau (73).

PLAYERS OF THE WEEK: North Dakota State has had seven players earn nine Player of the Week awards in the Missouri Valley Football Conference this year.
        —Bruce Anderson, Offense (9/2)..Rushed 11 times for a career-high 185 yards averaging 16.8 yards per carry with two touchdowns against Cal Poly...Scored on runs of 10 and 86 yards...Finished with 239 all-purpose yards including kickoff returns of 23 and 24 yards and one reception.
        —Tanner Volson, Offensive Line (9/4, 10/29)...Four knockdowns with zero sacks or hurries in each of the wins over Cal Poly and South Dakota...Graded 100% on assignment both games...NDSU rushed for 458 yards and seven TDs averaging 10.2 yards per carry vs. Cal Poly...Season-high 560 yards of total offense at USD with five rushing TDs and 8.0 yards per carry.
        —Easton Stick, Offense (9/23, 10/7)...Accounted for 321 yards of total offese and four TDs in the win over Delaware...Went 17 of 26 passing for 280 yards and rushed five times for 41 yards and two TDs...Completed nine passes for 179 yards and four TDs and ran for two TDs in the comeback win at Northern Iowa.
        —Dillon Radunz, Offensive Line (9/24)...Helped lead NDSU to 527 yards of offense against Delaware's No. 9-ranked defense...Coaching grade of 97% assignment and 82% technique with two explosive blocks...Team allowed zero sacks for the third straight week.
        —Garret Wegner, Special Teams (10/1)...Averaged 47.4 yards on five punts with three inside the 20 against South Dakota State...Booted a 49-yard punt out-of-bounds at the SDSU 2 with just 1:15 left before halftime...Launched a key 54-yarder to the SDSU 7 that led to a three-and-out on SDSU's final offensive possession.
        —James Hendricks, Defensive (10/14)...Two interceptions, one pass breakup and four tackles in the win at Western Illinois as the Bison forced five turnovers.
        —Darrius Shepherd, Special Teams (10/21)...Totaled 236 all-purpose yards against Illinois State including six catches for 126 yards and two punt returns for 103 yards...Had receptions of 55 and 44 yards on NDSU's first two drives and a 69-yard punt return to start the third quarter.
 
NATIONAL AWARD CANDIDATES: NDSU safety Robbie Grimsley and defensive end Greg Menard were named to the 25-man preseason watch list for the STATS FCS Buck Buchanan Award, presented annually to the FCS defensive player of the year. Bison quarterback Easton Stick and running back Bruce Anderson were nominated for the STATS FCS Walter Payton Award, presented to the FCS offensive player of the year.
 
SEVEN PRESEASON ALL-AMERICANS: North Dakota State led all teams in the FCS with a school-record seven players named to the STATS FCS Preseason All-America team. Running back Bruce Anderson and safety Robbie Grimsley were named to the first team. Quarterback Easton Stick, center Tanner Volson and defensive end Greg Menard earned second-team honors. Offensive tackle Zack Johnson and linebacker Jabril Cox were on the third team.
 
LEAGUE-BEST 11 ON PRESEASON SQUAD: NDSU had a league-high 11 players named to the preseason All-Missouri Valley Football Conference teams. First-team offense picks were running back Bruce Anderson, fullback Brock Robbins, offensive tackle Zack Johnson and center Tanner Volson. Quarterback Easton Stick and receiver Darrius Shepherd were second team. First-team defense picks were defensive end Greg Menard, defensive tackle Aaron Steidl, linebacker Jabril Cox and safety Robbie Grimsley. Defensive end Derrek Tuszka was named to the second team.
 
EIGHT STRAIGHT CONFERENCE TITLES: NDSU won its eighth consecutive Missouri Valley Football Conference championship, topping the league record seven straight by Northern Iowa in the early 1990s. NDSU won outright MVFC titles in 2012, 2013 and 2017. The Bison shared the 2011 title with Northern Iowa and the 2014 and 2015 crowns with Illinois State. North Dakota State has won 35 football conference championships including 26 in the North Central Conference (last in 1994) and one in the Great West Football Conference (2006).
 
14-TIME NATIONAL CHAMPIONS: North Dakota State won its 14th football national championship in 2017. NDSU claimed three College Division national championships in 1965, 1968 and 1969, five Division II 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.
 
BISON AT HOME: NDSU is 70-6 at home since 2010. The Bison have won 62 of the last 64 home games over non-conference opponents with its last home loss coming in the 2016 semifinals to James Madison. NDSU is 22-4 at home all-time against FCS Top 10 teams and 21-1 at home in the FCS playoffs. North Dakota State ranked seventh in FCS last year with an average home attendance of 18,333. The Bison drew 18,000-plus to 54 straight home contests from the 2011 quarterfinals through the 2017 second round.
 
DECADE LEADER:  North Dakota State's 115 wins this decade are more than any other program in college football. NDSU is 106-8 since the beginning of 2011, the first of five national championship seasons. North Dakota State holds the distinction of being the winningest Division II program of the 1980s, going 103-20-2 from 1980-89 with four national titles in that span.
        FCS Winningest Teams, 2010s (by wins)
        115 - North Dakota State (115-13)
        91 - Sam Houston State (91-31)
        85 - Eastern Washington (85-30)
        83 - Jacksonville State (83-26)
        79 - James Madison (79-32)

        FCS Winningest Teams, 2010s (by pct.)
        .898 - North Dakota State (115-13)
        .773 - Harvard (68-20)
        .761 - Jacksonville State (83-26)
        .746 - Sam Houston State (91-31)
        .739 - Eastern Washington (85-30)
 
MORE THAN 700 WINS: NDSU has played 1,124 games with a 719-371-34 record in its 122nd season of football, good for a .654 winning percentage. Only four Ivy League teams each with at least 20 more years of football have more wins at the FCS level: Yale (907), Harvard (873), Penn (856) and Princeton (829). Northern Iowa has the second most wins among Missouri Valley Football Conference programs with 668. NDSU's 106 victories since 2011 are more than any other team in Division I ahead of Alabama (98), Clemson (91), Ohio State (87) and Sam Houston State (85).
 
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 three future FBS games against Oregon in 2020, Arizona in 2022 and Colorado in 2024. NDSU's first three FBS wins were against Ball State (2006), Central Michigan (2007) and Minnesota (2007).