SIOUX FALLS, S.D. – The No. 5 Augustana football team (7-0 overall, 6-0 NSIC) follows its bye week with a road matchup at Southwest Minnesota State (1-6, 1-5) on Saturday 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.

Scouting the Enemy
The Mustangs are 1-6 on the season and 1-5 in the NSIC after a nonconference loss to Northern State last weekend. SMSU is led by a pair of defensive standouts. Josiah Hedensten leads the team with 55 tackles and just surpassed 300 for his career while Parker Knutson leads the country with six interceptions.

SMSU was picked to finish 13th in the NSIC Preseason Poll and seventh in the South Division. Offensively, Macloud Crowton has found a reliable target in Colin Maher, whose 423 receiving yards and three touchdowns lead the team.

Last Time Against Opponent
The Vikings blew past Southwest Minnesota State, 38-6, on Oct. 7, 2023 to move to 6-0 on the season. The Vikings used three passing touchdowns, two rushing touchdowns and a field goal to rack up their 38 points en route to their seventh-straight victory when dating back to the 2022 season.  

Jack Fisher tallied a career-high 164 receiving yards with a touchdown while Jarod Epperson ran for 76 yards. The two rushing touchdowns came from the feet of wide receiver Devon Jones and Kyle Graham.

Weekend Rewind
The Augustana football team totaled a season-high 581 yards in a 50-10 offensive outburst over Concordia-St. Paul on Oct. 11 at Kirkeby-Over Stadium.

It was the Vikings' highest yardage total since 2019 and the most points they have scored since the first round of the 2023 NCAA Division II Playoffs. They also outgained the Golden Bears 306-207 on the ground, the most rushing yards for the Vikings since 2012.

In his first home start, Rich Lucero Jr. was efficient again, going 21 of 28 for 256 yards and three touchdowns while adding a touchdown on the ground. Mack Molander also saw snaps under center, running for 93 yards and two touchdowns on six carries. Breylon Blount had 172 total yards on 19 touches and Isaiah Huber had eight catches for 78 yards and a touchdown.

The defense allowed just 87 yards in the air as Logan Leonard led the way with an interception and a tackle. TJ Murray had a team-high five tackles and a sack while Kael Ryan and Ashton Toll had five tackles apiece. Ryan also forced a fumble. A trio of freshmen tallied four tackles as redshirt freshman Camron Maciejewski (A QB Hurry), true freshmen Marcus Vinson Jr. (1.0 TFL) and Brody Shuss each contributed defensively.

This (Game)Day in History
Augustana has played on October 25th 17 previous times, going 4-13 in those games. The Vikings have not won on the 25th of October since 1947 and are on a 10-game losing streak on the date.

Welcome to the Skoldiers
83 different Vikings have played over the first six weeks, including 23 Vikings that have made their AU debut.

Josh Larsen, a transfer from South Dakota, has made three starts at left guard and four starts at center. Rich Lucero Jr. has made a pair of starts under center. DJ Page has five catches for 53 yards in a pair of games. Neal May, a Minnesota State transfer, nine catches for 112 yards and 253 return yards. Klayton Sattler has 17 catches for 244 yards and five touchdowns.

Defensively, true freshman Brody Shuss has 29 tackles, including three tackles for loss. RJ Eckhardt has a sack and two tackles for loss while Ashton Toll has a half sack to go with 12 tackles.

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

As a team, The Vikings are 50.6 percent on third down, the 10th best conversion rate in the country. The team's completion percentage (70.0%) is sixth. Augustana threw its first interception of the season against USF, snapping a streak of 216 pass attempts without one dating back to last season. The Vikings have just four turnovers, seventh lowest in DII. They are scoring 34.7 points per game, 28th in the country.

The yardage margins have also leaned in the Vikings favor. Augustana is 14th with 284.3 passing yards a game and 29th with 430.6 total yards per game. The defense has also allowed just 18.7 points per game, 28th in the country.

The special teams have swarmed the opponents, ranking third with 11.67 kick return yards allowed per return while the return team averages 23.2 yards per return.