Game Notes (.pdf) | Live Stats | Watch Live | Listen Live

The Northern State football team returns home to Swisher Field for a Saturday afternoon battle with the University of Mary. Kickoff is set for 1 p.m. NSU comes into the contest with a 3-5 record while U-Mary has a 4-4 mark.

Setting the Stage
Saturday will be a showdown of wills along the front line as Mary's number-one ranked pass rush in the NSIC comes to town. The Marauders have 28 sacks as a team this season and have three of the top-five sack artists in the league. Troy Guptill leads the conference with 10.5 sacks in 2013, while John Oyloe is fourth (6) and Grant Singer is fifth (5.5). Meanwhile, the Northern offensive line has only allowed seven sacks on the year, which is tops in the NSIC and 15^th nationally.

Northern looks to rebound after a tough loss at No. 22 St. Cloud State last weekend, Mary has dropped its last two games to SCSU and MSU Moorhead. NSU is 10-5 at home the last three seasons and have gone 2-2 this year.

Scouting the Marauders
Quarterback Craig Bagnell is second in the league in passing yards per game averaging 278 yards per contest in 2013. His top target is Nick Jolliffe, who is second in the NSIC in receptions with 6.4 per game. The U-Mary defense is led by an amazing pass rush and the league's leading tackler in Singer who averaged nearly 11 stops per game.

Marauder head coach Myron Schulz is entering his 15^th season as the head man at Mary. Schulz is the all-time winningest coach at Mary, having won 101 games with the Marauders and four conference titles. Since the program's inception in 1988, Schulz has been on staff in some capacity for 23 of the 26 seasons.

The Series
Northern is 2-5 all-time against U-Mary, but has won the last two seasons against the Marauders.

Last Meeting
Northern set a new program-record for points scored in a game last season as the Wolves dominated 65-17 in Bismarck. Jared Jacobson passed for a career-high 422 yards in the win and also had three passing TDs. John Hughes (2), Cam Pudwill (1) and Terrelle Walker (1) all rushed for a touchdown in the victory.

Wolves Notes
Jacobson is seventh in the NSIC and 31^st nationally as he is responsible for 124 points scored this season for Northern. Jacobson is also one of four Wolves to lead the team in rushing in a single game (Stephen Erlandson, Hughes and Sean Schweichler).

Connor Doherty and Tanner White are Northern's top two receiving targets this season. Doherty is second amongst the league's tight ends with 362 yards receiving in 2013. White, who until last week had caught a pass in 13 consecutive games for the Wolves, leads the team with 29 catches. The Wolves are a ball control offense as they have possessed the ball for an average of 32:11 in games this season, a mark that ranks them second in the NSIC and 18^th in the nation.


Defensively, Northern ranks third in the NSIC in defensive passing efficiency with a mark of 120.8 per contest. Corner Channing Barber ranks second in the league and 25^th nationally averaging 1.4 passes defended per game.

Blaine Schmidt leads the Wolves in tackles this season with 49 stops on the year (6.13 a game). Barber and Schmidt are tied for the team lead with two interceptions each.