SIOUX FALLS, S.D. – The No. 8 Augustana football team (5-0 overall, 4-0 NSIC) makes the short trek to Bob Young Field on Saturday afternoon, taking on Sioux Falls (3-2, 2-2) on Saturday afternoon at 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.

The Key
The key trophy in the "Key to the City" game is a four-foottall key that was carved from an Aspen tree from the family farm of Arne Bortnem, a 1965 Augustana graduate. The traveling trophy is one of five active trophies played for in NSIC rivalries. The 'key' debuted in 2012, the first meeting between the two schools in 26 years.

The Vikings enter the week 4-8 all-time in Key to the City games but have won the most recent meeting at both Kirkeby-Over Stadium and Bob Young Field. In the most recent matchup hosted by USF, Casey Bauman threw for six touchdowns and ran for another in a 49-29 victory over the Cougars.

Scouting the Enemy
The Cougars are 3-2 on the season and 2-2 in the NSIC after a road loss to Minnesota State last weekend. USF is led by Camden Dean, a senior signal caller that is third in the NSIC with 265.6 total offense per game and is one of the most dangerous players in the NSIC.

Sioux Falls was picked to finish fifth in the NSIC Preseason Poll and third in the South Division. Hank Brown Jr. has established himself as a top receiver in all of DII, ranking seventh in the country with 463 receiving yards and fiifth wiht 7.6 recpetions per game.

Weekend Rewind
The No. 9  Augustana offense tallied 527 yards in a 34-26 victory over Winona State on Viking Days at Kirkeby-Over Stadium. The mark is the highest offensive output since 2021.

Gunnar Hensley had another efficient game, going 29 of 34 for 317 and three touchdowns without throwing an interception and touting a QBR of 192.7. He completed 18 of his first 19 passes and added 35 yards on the ground. Breylon Blount led the backfield with 126 total yards on just 15 touches and Klayton Sattler caught five passes for 96 yards and a pair of touchdowns.

As usual, a whole ton of names showed up on the stat sheet for the defense. Jermaine Hampton recorded his first career sack and had a pair of pass breakups while Logan Leonard broke up three passes to go along with seven tackles. Jack Detert had 2.5 tackles for loss, including 0.5 sacks, a pass breakup and a fumble recovery while Zach Richardson had a pair of breakups and 0.5 tackles for loss.

This (Game)Day in History
Augustana has played on October 4th 12 previous times, going 4-8 in those games. It will be the first game on this date since since 2014, a 31-25 loss to Upper Iowa. The first game played on this date came in 1935, a 39-0 womping of Northern State. AU is 3-3 on this date in Sioux Falls.

Welcome to the Skoldiers
81 different Vikings have played over the first two weeks, including 21 Vikings that have made their AU debut.

Josh Larsen, a transfer from South Dakota, has made three starts at left guard and two starts at center. Klayton Sattler has 17 catches for 244 yards and five touchdowns after back-to-back multi-touchdown performances. Neal May, a Minnesota State transfer, eight catches for 109 yards and 253 return yards. In his first career game, DJ Page caught three passes for 45 yards against Winona State.

Defensively, true freshman Brody Shuss has 17 tackles, including one for loss. RJ Eckhardt has a sack and two tackles for loss while Ashton Toll has a half sack to go with 11 tackles.

Vikings in the National Rankings
Plenty of statistics have jumped off the page through four games for Augustana.

As a team, The Vikings are 52.9 percent on third down, the ninth best conversion rate in the country. The offense is 17th in nation with 110 first downs and their team completion percentage (71.7%) is fourth. Augustana is one of nine teams to have not thrown an interception while their 180 pass attempts is the most among that group. The Vikings have just three turnovers, 11th lowest in DII.

The yardage margins have also leaned in the Vikings favor. Augustana is 14th with 296.8 passing yards a game and 31st with 420 total yards per game. The defense has also allowed just 18.6 points per game, 37th in the country. The special teams have swarmed the opponents, ranking sixth with 12.35 kick return yards allowed per return while the return team averages 23.1 yards per return.