THIS WEEK: The North Dakota State football team closes out the regular season this week when the fourth-ranked Bison (9-1, 6-1 MVFC) host 16th-ranked South Dakota (7-3, 5-2 MVFC) in the annual Harvest Bowl game at 2:30 p.m. Saturday, Nov. 20, at Gate City Bank Field at the Fargodome (18,700). North Dakota State has already locked up its 10th Missouri Valley Football Conference championship, but South Dakota enters on a two-game winning streak looking to claim a share of its first league title since winning the North Central Conference in 2005.
 
TELEVISION: The statewide ABC network of WDAY (Fargo), WDAZ (Grand Forks), KBMY (Bismarck/Dickinson) and KMCY (Minot/Williston) will have live coverage beginning at 2:30 p.m. with Dom Izzo (play-by-play), Kyle Emanuel (analyst) and Logan Campbell (sideline). The broadcast will also be available to ESPN+ subscribers on ESPN.com and the ESPN app.
 
RADIO: Coverage begins at 1:30 p.m. on the Peterson Farms Seed Bison Radio Network including Bison 1660 and 107.9 The Fox in Fargo with Jeff Culhane (play-by-play), Phil Hansen (analyst) and Cole Jirik (sideline). Extended coverage locally on Bison 1660 and 92.7 FM includes "Bison Tailgate" from 10:30-11:30, "Bison Game Day" from 11:30-1:30 and the "Bison Hotline" call-in show following the network broadcast.
 
ONLINE: NDSU All Access offers subscription video streaming for home games and free audio streams for all NDSU football games through GoBison.com/allaccess and the NDSU Athletics mobile app. Live in-game statistics will be available on BisonStats.com. Follow along with in-game updates on Twitter @NDSUfootball.
 
TICKETS: NDSU football tickets are available online at GoBison.com/tickets or by calling the Bison Ticket Office in the south lobby of the Sanford Health Athletic Complex at (701) 231-6378 between 8 a.m. and 4 p.m. Monday through Friday. Game day ticket sales at the Fargodome begin 5 hours prior to kickoff.
 
THE SERIES: This is the 85th meeting between North Dakota State and South Dakota. NDSU has won four straight to take a 56-26-2 lead in the all-time series dating back to 1903, and the Bison are 8-1 in nine meetings as Division I opponents since 2010. NDSU is 10-1 against USD in the Fargodome since 1993. The Coyotes' 24-21 victory in 2015 is USD's only victory in Fargo since 1978.
 
THE LAST MEETING: Last spring's game in Vermillion was canceled due to COVID-19 protocol. NDSU rolled to a 49-14 home win over South Dakota in the teams' last meeting Nov. 16, 2019. The Bison ran 70 offensive plays and rolled up 700 total yards - the third most in school history and the most by the Bison team in Division I play. Fullback Hunter Luepke caught his first two career touchdowns, Christian Watson had three catches for 94 yards including a 43-yard touchdown, and Phoenix Sproles made a game-high four receptions. Jackson Hankey and James Kaczor made nine tackles apiece and the Bison defense, with three starters out, racked up 10 tackles for loss while holding USD to a season-low 245 yards of total offense.
 
HARVEST BOWL HISTORY: The Harvest Bowl Ag Recognition Program was started in 1973 to recognize the efforts of leading agriculturists and outstanding student-athletes. The first Harvest Bowl football game was held in 1974. NDSU has won 10 straight and has a 41-2-2 record in the Harvest Bowl game, which was canceled last fall due to COVID-19. This is South Dakota's seventh appearance in the Harvest Bowl.
 
A LOOK THAT'S HARD TO BEAT: NDSU will wear its green "Harvest Helmet" and alternate gold jerseys for the first time since the January 2020 national championship win over James Madison. NDSU is 33-0 in gold jerseys since their first appearance in the 2011 season opener, 20-0 in green helmets since their November 2015 debut, and 14-0 in the gold jersey/green helmet combo.
 
10th TITLE: North Dakota State has clinched at least a share of its 10th Missouri Valley Football Conference championship, but NDSU can clinch sole possession of the league title with a win over South Dakota this week. The Bison won nine straight conference titles from 2011-2019 including five outright (2012, 2013, 2017, 2018, 2019). NDSU has won 37 total conference titles.
 
AUTOMATIC QUALIFIER: NDSU has already claimed the Missouri Valley Football Conference automatic qualifier for the in the FCS playoffs regardless of outcomes this week. In the event of a tie atop the league standings, NDSU owns the tiebreaker among the possible 6-2 teams based on its head-to-head win over Missouri State. The Bison and Bears are both 4-0 against common opponents.
 
PLAYOFF POSITION: North Dakota State may still be in position to earn a top-two seed for the NCAA playoffs and home field advantage through the semifinals. NDSU claimed the No. 1 seed with one-loss teams in 2012 and 2016, and the Bison were the No. 2 seed with one-loss teams in 2011, 2014 and 2017. North Dakota State has been a top-two seed for 8 of 11 appearances in the FCS playoffs. The Bison were seeded third in 2015 and not seeded in 2010 and 2020.
 
BISON RUN OVER PENGUINS: NDSU responded to its first loss of the season by beating Youngstown State 49-17 on the road last week. NDSU's 454 rushing yards were the most by a Bison team in Missouri Valley Football Conference play dating back to 2008, fifth most in NDSU's Division I era, and the second 400-yard rushing game for NDSU this season. NDSU averaged 10.1 yards on 45 rushing attempts. The Bison scored four of their seven TDs on drives of two plays or less.
 
CAREER DAY FOR WILLIAMS: NDSU's TaMerik Williams made his first career start at Youngstown State in place of injured tailback Dominic Gonnella. Williams had a career-high 18 carries for 137 yards, which were both single-game highs for an NDSU running back this year. He scored two touchdowns on runs of 1 and 50 yards, and averaged 7.6 yards per carry.
 
BIG PLAYS: NDSU is averaging a league-best 7.1 yards per play (3rd in FCS) and had seven plays of 40-plus yards last week including TD runs of 49 yards by Hunter Luepke, 50 yards by TaMerik Williams, 61 by Jalen Bussey and 84 by TK Marshall. Quarterback Cam Miller threw a 71-yard TD pass to Christian Watson and also had a 40-yard pass to tight end Josh Babicz. Marshall added a 60-yard run and was NDSU's leading rusher at Youngstown State with three carries for 146 yards.
 
BOUNCING BACK: North Dakota State has not lost back-to-back games since a five-game losing streak in the middle of the 2009 season. The Bison rebounded from a 27-19 loss at South Dakota State with a 49-17 road win over Youngstown State last week. NDSU has not lost back-to-back road trips since its 0-2 start in 2009 opening with losses at Iowa State (34-17) and Sam Houston (48-45).
 
SENIOR DAY: Prior to Saturday's game, North Dakota State will recognize 11 seniors who are playing their final regular-season home game. Since 2017 when a majority of the class arrived at NDSU, the seniors have contributed to a 61-5 overall record including 38-1 in the Fargodome. The list includes former tight end and current student assistant Austin Avery, defensive tackles Michael Buetow and Costner Ching, tight end Noah Gindorff, linebackers Jackson Hankey and Mason Hofstedt, defensive ends Logan McCormick and Brayden Thomas, kicker Jake Reinholz, offensive tackle Cordell Volson and wide receiver Christian Watson. Buetow, Thomas and Volson are currently in their extra year of eligibility due to COVID-19's impact on the 2020 season.
 
VETERAN VOLSON: Offensive lineman Cordell Volson is the eighth NDSU player to appear in 60 career games. The NCAA record is 62 games played by Appalachian State's Pierre Banks (2004-2008), while NDSU defensive back Christian Dudzik is the NCAA record holder for games started. Dudzik started all 61 games from 2011-2014, including one game at both safety and wide receiver.
        NDSU Career Games Played
        61 - Christian Dudzik, CB/S (61 starts, 2011-14)
        61 - Kyle Emanuel, DE (50 starts, 2011-14)
        61 - Andrew Bonnet, FB (29 starts, 2012-15)
        61 - Ben LeCompte, P (0 starts, 2012-15)
        60 - Joe Haeg, OT (60 starts, 2012-15)
        60 - RJ Urzendowski, WR (39 starts, 2014-17)
        60 - Cordell Volson, OT (36 starts, 2017-21)
        60 - James Fisher, LS (0 starts, 2014-17)
 
WATSON OVER 2,000: Senior wide receiver Christian Watson is the eighth player to reach 2,000 career receiving yards in NDSU history. Watson currently ranks eighth all-time at NDSU with 2,018 yards, 214 yards shy of seventh place Warren Holloway (2008-11). Watson's 21.24 yards per catch average ranks fourth in school history.
 
REINHOLZ CRACKS TOP 10: Senior kicker Jake Reinholz kicked his 17th career field goal at South Dakota State, which moved him into 10th place on the NDSU all-time list for field goals made (17-for-24). Reinholz is 11 of 16 this year including 5-for-9 from 40-plus yards. Reinholz is 65-for-65 on PAT kicks in his career.
 
HISTORIC PACE: North Dakota State has allowed an FCS-low 12 touchdowns this year and leads the FCS in scoring defense allowing 10.9 points per game. That is the best scoring defense in NDSU's 18 seasons as a Division I program, topping the 11.3 ppg by the 2013 national championship team. Only Georgia is allowing fewer points (7.6 ppg) this year in Division I.