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This week
No. 16 Augustana (0-1, 0-0 NSIC/0-0 NSIC South) hosts Bemidji State (1-0, 0-0 NSIC/0-0 NSIC North) Saturday to open the 2011 Northern Sun Intercollegiate Conference season. Kickoff from Kirkeby-Over Stadium is 1 p.m.
The series
Augustana is 4-1 against Bemidji State in a series that first saw action during the 1961 season. The Vikings' lone loss came on Sept. 22, 1962, when the Beavers topped Augustana 13-6 in Bemidji, Minn. Augustana has outscored BSU 129-31 in the teams' five meetings. Head coach Mike Aldrich is 1-0 against the Beavers as his Vikings blanked BSU 10-0 last season on the road to open their 2010 NSIC schedule. For more on the series, turn to page 13.
Shrine Game
Saturday's tilt with Bemidji State marks the 40th Annual Shrine Game. The Shriners will hold a pre-game parade on the campus of Augustana along Grange Avenue beginning at 10 a.m. The Shrine Chanters will also sing the national anthem Saturday.
Football forecast
Saturday's forecast calls for a high of 78 degrees and a partly cloudy sky.
Last time out
Top-ranked Minnesota Duluth recorded a defensive touchdown and Brian Lucas rushed for 116 yards and one touchdown as the top-ranked Bulldogs charged to a 20-12 non-conference victory over then-No. 8 Augustana last Saturday afternoon in both teams' season openers at Kirkeby-Over Stadium. Lucas rushed 19 times en route to his 100-yard performance. Chase Volger completed 12 passes for 114 yards. Augustana got a 23-of-33, 235 yard effort through the air from
Josh Hanson, who found
Sam Holsen and
Jordan Marshall for touchdowns.
NSIC Player of the Week
Nick Andreas (Lakeville, Minn.) is the NSIC Defensive Player of the Week. He tied a career high with 15 tackles against Minnesota Duluth last Saturday, including notching 2.5 for loss. The senior had seven solo stops in the Vikings' season-opening game. His 2.5 tackles for loss went for 7 yards, and he also notched 0.5 sacks for a loss of 5 yards.
Season-opening loss
The Vikings' loss to Minnesota Duluth to christen the 2011 campaign was their first season-opening blemish since 2005 when Concordia University,?St. Paul beat Augustana 33-30 in St. Paul, Minn., on Aug. 27. Prior to the loss to the Bulldogs, the Vikings had won five-straight season openers.
Two to open
If the Vikings were to fall to Bemidji State on Saturday, it would the first time Augustana has opened the season with two losses since the 1991 season. In 1991, the Vikings opened the year with losses to Southwest Minnesota State (28-10) and Northern Iowa (45-22) in what would turn into a winless, 0-10 season.
Vikings drop
The American Football Coaches Association and D2football.com polls both dropped Augustana several spots in their weekly national rankings. The Vikings fell eight spots to No. 16 in the latest AFCA national poll released Monday. Augustana earned 296 points. The Vikings fell five spots to No. 14 in the latest D2football.com top-25 poll released Tuesday by the website. Minnesota Duluth retained the top spot in both polls.
Return policy
Sam Holsen (Sioux Falls) racked up 142 yards on kick returns against Minnesota Duluth last Saturday, highlighted by a 43-yarder. The senior will likely have his best season in terms of kick returns. He is already near his total for the 2009 season when he logged 194 yards. Holsen has yet to break one for a touchdown, but he looked poised to do so last Saturday. For his career, Holsen has 489 total kick-return yards; he also averages 14.4 yards per return.
Newbies
A fresh set of linebackers held their own last Saturday against Minnesota Duluth.
Ross Peterson (Sioux Falls),
Austin Luecke (Groton, S.D.) and
Keith Newman (Watertown, S.D.) made their debuts as starters. Peterson and Luecke each logged 10 tackles, while Newman had three.
Josh Pruett (Sioux Falls) also saw significant time, notching six stops.
Hanson goes for 200
Josh Hanson (Watertown, S.D.) completed 23 of 33 passes for 235 yards against Minnesota Duluth last Saturday, marking the seventh time in his career the junior has eclipsed the 200-yard mark. Hanson connected for two touchdown passes in the Viking loss.
Golden receivers
The Vikings look to have a potent three-headed receiving monster in the form of
Sam Holsen (Sioux Falls),
Jordan Marshall (Ramsey, Minn.) and
Noah Huisman (Mason City, Iowa). The trio combined for 15 catches and 158 yards receiving last Saturday against Minnesota Duluth. Holsen is a returning starter, while Marshall and Huisman saw their share of snaps in reserve roles last season.
Non-rush hour
Augustana netted just 9 yards on the ground in its loss to Minnesota Duluth last Saturday. Two bad snaps in shotgun formations accounted for much of the lost yardage; nonetheless, it still counted as the worst rushing outing by the Vikings since the 2007 season. The last time Augustana had such a poor performance on the ground was on Sept. 1, 2007, at home against Concordia University, St. Paul when the Vikings actually lost 12 yards on the ground.
Attendance required
Augustana drew 5,718 fans to Kirkeby-Over Stadium last Saturday, marking the third largest crowd in the facility's history. The largest crowd at K-O was during the venue's opening game on Sept. 5, 2009, when 6,067 fans packed the stadium to watch the Vikings beat Emporia State 32-21. Augustana also entertained 6,066 fans against Northern State last season on Oct. 9, 2010.
Kicking woes
Drew Behrens (Pleasant Hill, Iowa) didn't connect on a point after for the first time since 2009 last Saturday against Minnesota Duluth. Behrens was unsuccessful on a pair of attempts against the Bulldogs--one the result of bad snap that forced the kicker to push the ball, and another that was blocked. The last time Behrens failed to connect on a PAT was on Oct. 3, 2009, at Southwest Minnesota State.
What the coaches say
The NSIC coaches picked the Vikings third overall and first in the South Division in their preseason poll. Augustana received 145 points overall and 33 points and four first-place votes in the South Division edition of the rankings. Minnesota Duluth was the preseason favorite with 11 first-place votes and 167 points. The Bulldogs were also picked to win the North Division with five first-place votes and 35 points.
All-America nods
Defensive backs Dan O'Keefe (Aberdeen, S.D.) and
Zac Kallas (Eden Prairie, Minn.) accepted a total of four preseason All-America certificates prior to the start of this 2011 season. Consensus Draft Services picked O'Keefe for their team. D2football.com, Lindy's and Sporting News reserved a spot for Kallas.
Playoff fever
With a reliable nucleus of returners, the Vikings have good reason to believe they can make another repeat trip to the NCAA playoffs. Prior to the 2010 season, Augustana's lone appearances in NCAA postseason competition came in 1988 and 1989; the Vikings made an early exit in both of those efforts.
We like Mike
Mike Aldrich commenced his career as a head coach in eventful style. He immediately rattled of nine wins and led the Vikings to their first playoff appearance in more than two decades. Aldrich also doubles as Augustana's defensive coordinator. The 2010 Region 5 Coach of the Year and a finalist for the Liberty Mutual?Coach of the Year, Aldrich owns a career record of 11-3.
History lesson
Augustana is in its 89th season of competition in 2011. The Vikings owns an all-time record of 365-436-15. The Vikings have posted 32 winning seasons, including the past three years.
Stay connected
It's easy to know the latest on Viking athletics. You can follow Augustana on its various social media outlets, including Twitter (twitter.com/GoAugie), Facebook (facebook.com/GoAugie) and YouTube (youtube.com/GoAugie). To learn more, visit GoAugie.com/stayconnected.
Augustana Sportscene
Augustana Sportscene is a 30-minute weekly television show highlighting Augustana athletics and is hosted by Director of Athletics Bill Gross. The show includes Viking highlights, interviews with various coaches and student-athletes and promotion of upcoming Augustana athletic events. Augustana Sportscene airs Monday's at 10:30 p.m. and Wednesdays at 6:30 p.m. on Midco Sports Network and at various times on Mediacom's MC22.
Video webcasts
The Northern Sun Intercollegiate Conference and Penn Atlantic have again teamed up to webcast each conference football game in 2011. A complete broadcast schedule is available at www.northernsun.org.
On the radio
Veteran radio man Jeff Fylling is back as the “Voice of the Vikings” for 2011. Join Fylling and color anaylyst and former Augustana quarterback John Schultz for each week's broadcast on KIKN-FM 100.5. You can also stream the broadcast at kikn.com/stream.
