GAMEDAY PROMOTION
The first 4,000 fans at Saturday's game will receiveve the new Fighting Sioux Football poster pictured below.
WEEKEND PLANS
After a tough 35-10 Great West Conference loss on the road to Southern Utah, the University of North Dakota football team returns to Grand Forks for more league action. On Oct. 31, the Fighting Sioux will host No. 18/16 Cal Poly in a 4p.m. Halloween Day gridiron match-up at the Alerus Center.
This is also Hall of Fame weekend for the University of North Dakota.
SERIES HISTORY
While Saturday's game will mark the second meeting between the two teams, it will be the first in over 30 years.
The first and last time that North Dakota and Cal Poly met at midfield was in the 1972 Camilla Bowl in Sacramento, Calif. In front of over 17,000 fans at Hughes Stadium, No. 6 North Dakota defeated No. 3 Cal Poly-San Luis Obispo, 38-21, to become the NCAA West College Football champions.
The win was the 10th of the season for the Fighting Sioux, setting a new school record.
ON THIS DAY IN FIGHTING SIOUX HISTORY
North Dakota holds an overall 9-4 record when playing on Oct. 31. UND played it's first Halloween game in 1914 and opened with a 33-3 home loss to South Dakota. Since then, the Fighting Sioux have registered a 5-2 record at home and a 4-2 record on the road.
The last time the Sioux lost at home on the last day of October was in 1925 when they fell to North Dakota State. They have not played on Oct. 31 since 1998. In that year, they defeated South Dakota 33-14 at Memorial Stadium.
Since UND first played on Halloween 95 years ago, it has out-scored it's foes 226-189 ... That averages to a 25-21 advantage per game.
RECORD REWIND
With the 35-10 loss to Southern Utah, Chris Mussman's career record moved to 9-8, his conference record is now 2-32, and his record against non-conference stands at 7-5.
All-time, the Fighting Sioux are 598-357-30 on the gridiron ... Just two wins away from 600.
NOTING THE FIGHTING SIOUX
North Dakota is on a two-game losing streak after falling to Sioux Falls, 28-13 (Oct. 17) and Southern Utah, 35-10 (Oct. 24). Prior to that, the Fighting Sioux had won back-to-back games at home. On average, UND is scoring 21.7 points per game. The Sioux are 72 percent (13-for-18) in red-zone scores, 56 percent (10-for-18) in red-zone touchdowns, and 89 percent (16-for-18) in extra-point attempts. In conversions, UND is 37 percent (33-for-90) on third-down and are 50 percent (1-for-2) on fourth-downs. In regards to first-downs, North Dakota has totalled113 this season with 45 coming on rushes, 56 receiving, and 12 on penalties.
OFFENSIVE NOTES
The UND offensive line has helped the Sioux to 2,170 total yards this season with an average of 310 yards per game. Junior QB Jake Landry (Grand Forks, N.D.) has thrown 116-for-195 (59.5 percent) for 1,281 yards and seven touchdowns ... During the game at SUU, backup QB Brent Goska (Wisconsin Rapids, Wis.) saw some action. He was 4-for-6 (66.7 percent) with a rushing TD of his own ... Top target for the QB duo is sophomore Ismael Bamba (Quebec, Montreal) who leads the team with 577 yards on 31 catches, despite being shutout last weekend in Utah ... Senior Ryan Konrath (White Bear Lake, Minn.) has also played a major roll in the UND air game. He is averaging 45.7 yards per game after gathering 320 yards on 30 catches ... On foot, redshirt freshman Mitch Sutton (Plover, Wis.) continues to lead UND with 420 yards on 82 attempts and four touchdowns. Landry and junior Jarrel Davis (Miami, Fla.) follow behind with 192 and 124 yards, respectively.
DEFENSIVE NOTES
The Sioux "D" has totalled 484 tackles this season, an average of 69.1 tackles per game, with 39 of those stops accounting for 142 yards of loss. The defense has also gathered 102 yards on eight interceptions ... Junior Joel Schwenzfeier (Hallock, Minn.) leads UND in tackles, tackles for loss, and interceptions. He has totaled 43 stops (35 solo) with seven of those accounting for 15 yards of loss and has registered 52 yards rushing on four interceptions ... Also high up on the tackle list is sophomore Dominique Hawkins (Plymouth, Minn.) who registered a career-high 12 tackles (five solo) in last week's game at SUU. Through seven games, he has recorded 40 tackles (24 solo) ... Grand Forks, N.D. native, junior Ryan Kasowski has registered two of UND's five total sacks and has also hurried the QB four times ... Junior Kris Ankenbauer (Murphy, Texas) continues to lead the team with a pair of fumble recoveries.
SPECIAL TEAMS NOTES
When it comes to scoring, senior Brandon Hellevang (Fargo, N.D.) leads the team with 40 points after going 8-for-11 in field goals and 16-for-18 in extra-points. He is also averaging 42.5 yards per punt, and 59.3 yards per kickoff ... Redshirt freshman Brett Cameron (Winnipeg, Manitoba) has totaled 304 yards on seven punts for an average of 43.4 yards per kick ... Junior Ryan Dressler (Bismarck, N.D.) has recorded 22 yards on six punt returns and Ismael Bamba has totaled 271 yards on 10 kick returns with an average of 27.1 yards per return.
NOTING THE MUSTANGS
Cal Poly is on a two-game winning streak after taking a 24-23 Great West Conference win over Southern Utah before defeating Dixie State, 44-14.
The Mustangs are ranked No. 18 on the Sports Network poll and No. 16 among the FCS coaches.
Cal Poly is led by QB Tony Smith who has thrown 52-for-112 for 722 yards and five touchdowns. He is averaging 103.1 yards per game with a 108.17 pass efficiency rating ... Smith has hit Dominique Johnson 19 times for 304 yards. He leads the Mustangs with an average of 50.7 receiving yards per game ... On the ground, Jordan Yocum has totaled 375 yards on 81 attempts with an average of 4.6 yards per rush and 75.0 yards per game
Kicker Chris Pinto has gone 6-8 on field goal attempts and 17-for-19 on extra-points.
Punter Harlan Prather is averaging 34.2 yards per kick after tallying 1,301 yards on 38 kicks. Cal Poly kicker Jake West has recorded 1,777 yards on 35 kickoffs with an average of 50.8 yards per kick.
On punt return, Asa Jackson is averaging 17.8 yards per return with a total of 142 yards on eight attempts. On kick return, Jono Grayson has boasted 421 yards on 24 attempts with an average of 17.5 yards per return.
On defense, the Mustangs are led by Marty Mohamed how has registered 62 tackles (31 solo) with 5.5 of those stops accounting for 21 yards of loss. He has also recorded two sacks and three pass breakups. Ryan Shotwell and Carlton Gillespie have both tallied a team-high four sacks and Scottie Cordier has a season-best four interceptions.
CAL POLY HEAD COACH TIM WALSH
Tim Walsh, offensive coordinator and quarterbacks coach at the United States Military Academy the last two seasons, was named Cal Poly's 16th head football coach at a press conference held Jan. 9, 2009.
Walsh replaced Rich Ellerson, the Mustangs' head football coach for eight seasons. Ellerson was named head coach at Army on Dec. 26, 2008.
Walsh has compiled a 117-82 record in 18 seasons as a college head coach, including four years at Sonoma State (27-14 from 1989-92) and 14 more seasons at Portland State (90-68 from 1993-2006). He guided Sonoma State to the Northern California Athletic Conference title in 1991 (ending UC Davis' streak of 20 consecutive conference titles), a pair of NCAA Division II playoff berths while at Sonoma State and four more postseason berths while at Portland State.
MEDIA INFORMATION
All UND football games can be heard on 96.1 FM ("TheFox") in Grand Forks and on stations across the Fighting Sioux Radio Network. Dan Hammer calls the play-by-play with former Grand Forks Central High School football coach Mike Berg as his color analyst. Former UND defensive back Kelly Howe provides sideline reports. You can also listen online at www.FightingSioux.com.
Live stats and live audio/video will be available on FightingSioux.com.
The game will also be broadcast on Fox College Sports Atlantic (DirectTV 617) and the Fighting Sioux Sports Network.
For full game notes, click the link at the top of the page ...
- Go Sioux -
