SIOUX FALLS, S.D. – The No. 25-ranked Augustana football team (5-2 overall, 5-1 NSIC) travels east for a Top-25 showdown against No. 13 Minnesota State on Saturday afternoon. Kickoff is slated for 1 p.m.

Complete action can be followed on GoAugie.com/Live and the GoAugie app, presented by The Original Pancake House. The app can be downloaded in the app store or Google Play.
 
About the Game
The Vikings and Mavericks will meet for the 55th time in series history with the Mavericks leading 28-26 in the series. The Vikings have won three of the last four meetings. The teams met twice last season, a 28-10 AU win in a week 9 matchup of unbeatens and a 51-24 thumping by the Vikings in the NCAA Tournament. In the two games, Jarod Epperson combined for 242 total yards and three touchdowns

Scouting the Enemy
The Mavericks enter the week 6-1 overall and 5-1 in the NSIC after having last weekend off.

MSU is the most disciplined team in the country, racking up the fewest penalties (3.43) and fewest penalty yards (28.71) per game. They also move the sticks, ranking fifth in the country with 176 first downs.

The strength of the offense is under center. Hayden Ekern ranks 28th in the country with a 64.2 completion percentage and 1,645 passing yards. He is also ninth in the country with 18.3 points responsible for per game and 15th in the country with eight rushing touchdowns. The offensive line has kept him upright for the most part, ranking ninth in the country with just 0.71 sacks allowed per game.

Defensively, Antonio Alzheimer is the engine. He leads the team with 54 tackles and had a forced fumble on his resume. Cody Brown leads the team with 3.0 sacks and 5.0 tackles for loss while Karson Dunn has a pair of interceptions and 3.5 tackles for loss. 

About the Vikings
Jarod Epperson is now alone at the top. The senior has run for 3,662 yards in his career, breaking the previous record held by Joe Clark (2006-10). The most remarkable part of the record is he was able to do so in one less game and on 130 less carries than Clark, bringing his career yards per carry to 5.9 over the course of 46 games. 

Epperson has also scored 29 rushing touchdowns, tied for third all-time with CJ Ham (2011-15). In all, he has 17 100-plus yard games. He has left his mark in the passing game through out his career as well as he is just 65 receiving yards away from being the second active player amongst all divisions to have over 3,500 rushing and 1,000 receiving yards.

It has been quite the coming out party for sophomore signal caller Gunnar Hensley. The Carlsbad, California native earned NSIC Offensive Player of the Week honors after throwing for 358 yards and four passing touchdowns while adding a four-yard receiving touchdown in a 41-7 win over Northern State on Sept. 21. He accounted for all five of his touchdowns in the first half and completed 28 of 35 passes. 

Hensley currently ranks third in the country in completion percentage at 70.3 percent, fifth with 9.73 yards per attempt, fifth with a 176.5 passing efficiency, 14th with 17.0 points responsible for and 23rd with 254.0 passing yards per game. He has also thrown for 14 touchdowns, 29th most in the country. 

A pair of coaches will return to the place they sprouted a coaching relationship on Saturday. Head Coach Jerry Olszewski and Assistant Head Coach/Defensive Line Coach Kelly Scholten spent parts of four seasons together on the MSU coaching staff from 1999-2002. Both got their coaching starts in Mankato as Olszewski spent a pair of stints with the Mavericks from 1993-1997 (Linebackers, Quarterbacks, Running Backs) and 1999-02 (Assistant Head Coach) while Scholten served from 1998-02 (Offensive Line/Recruiting Coordinator). 

Special teams has, again, been a strength for this year's team as they average 11.70 yards per punt return, 41st in the country, and allow just 13.93 yards per kick return, third in DII. They've also had success on their own kick returns, ranking 11th in the country with 26.50 yards per kick return.

Offensively, the Vikings rank seventh with a 67.0 completion percentage, 36th in passing offense at 238.1 yards per game. They're also fifth in red zone offense, scoring at a 92.6 percent clip inside the 20. Even more impressive, the Vikings have scored on every red zone possession in DII play. 

Defensively, it has been all about the front seven. The Vikings average 3.14 sacks per game, 10th in the country, and are 38th in rushing defense allowing 102.6 rushing yards per game. The defense has also stood tall in the biggest moments, ranking 34th in opponent fourth down conversion percentage, allowing 35.7 percent.  

One Last Thing
Head coach Jerry Olszewski sits at 79 career wins at Augustana, tying Jim Heinitz for the program's all-time wins mark.