BEMIDJI, Minn. – For the second straight season, the No. 11/10 Bemidji State University Football Team will open the season at home when they welcome Northern State to Chet Anderson Stadium on Thursday night starting at 6 p.m.
The game will be Veterans/First Responders Appreciation and the first 100 fans will receive a hat courtesy of Boardwalk Mini Golf & Wood Fire Pizza, located on the south shore in the Sanford Center parking lot. They also offer a BSU student rate.
Bemidji State is ranked in all three polls entering the 2023 season. Coming off back-to-back Northern Sun Intercollegiate Conference titles, the Beavers have won 10 games in each of the past two seasons and have reached the second round of the NCAA Playoffs in both seasons. BSU is ranked eighth in the Lindy's College Football Magazine, 10th by D2Football.com and 11th by AFCA.
Senior quarterback Brandon Alt enters the season already the career program record in passing yards and touchdowns. He ranks eighth in passing yards and in the top-five in both passing yards per game and total offense per game among active NCAA Division II leaders entering the season.
Alt was named the NSIC Offensive Preseason Player of the Year, while Max Buduris was listed as a Player to Watch. Senior offensive lineman Ty Cobb earned multiple accolades this preseason being tabbed a Lindy's Preseason All-America and joined Alt on the D2Football.com Elite 100 Watch List.
The game will be broadcasted on the NSIC Network and on Beaver Radio Network. BSU will be moving to cashless tickets for the season, so please make sure to purchase your tickets ahead of time on HomeTown Tickets by clicking here
Game Notes NSIC Network Live Stats Beaver Radio Network
Bemidji State Notes
- - Brent Bolte enters the season with 52 wins, third most in program history. His next win will tie H.J. Erickson for second. His .732 winning percentage is best in program history. Bolte's 49 conference wins is second in program history
- - The Beavers have 95 All-Northern Sun Intercollegiate Conference players under Bolte's tenure with nearly half (47) earning first team honors
- - Bemidji State enters the season high in several polls. The Beavers were ranked eighth in the Lindy's College Magazine, 10th in the D2Football.com poll and 11th by the AFCA. BSU was also the preseason favorite to win the NSIC
- - BSU ranked fourth nationally in passing offense and fifth in sacks allowed last season
- - In 71 games under Bolte, BSU has scored less than 20 points just seven times, which occurred once last year
- - Brandon Alt returns as one of the top signal callers in the nation. In just the past two seasons, he has thrown for 8,109 yards and 84 touchdowns. The program career leader has thrown for 8,649 career passing yards and 94 career passing touchdowns
- - A strong offensive line in front of Alt returns this season anchored by All-America right tackle Ty Cobb. Cobb was named a Lindy's Preseason All-America after starting every game last season and powering the nations' fifth-best offensive line in terms of sacks allowed per game (0.69) and fourth-best passing offense (318.7)
- - Of the 17 players to receive All-NSIC honors in 2022, six return on offense and seven on defense
- - Bolte has gone 5-1 in home openers, winning his first five before Minnesota State snapped the streak last year
- - Bemidji State is 17-8 in season openers and home openers since 1997
- - Bolte is 6-0 against Northern State and last opened the season against the Wolves in Aberdeen in 2019 claiming the 33-7 victory. The year before in 2018 the teams opened the year in Bemidji with the Beavers rolling to the 38-17 victory.
- - Bemidji State holds a 25-19-1 series record against Northern State since 1957 and have won seven-straight in the series since 2015.
- - The Beavers are 14-6-1 at home against the Wolves and have won nine of the last 10 meetings in Bemidji, including three straight
- - BSU is 26-8 at home under Bolte and are just four wins from 400 in program history
- - Including his time as an assistant, Bolte is 160-87 with the Beavers
- - The Beavers are 10-2 at home over the past two seasons and have dominated over the past two seasons leading at the half going 17-0 in those games and 16-0 when leading after three quarters
- - The defense didn't allow any team to rush for over 200 yards last year and seven times held teams under 100 rushing yards
- - When BSU's scores first, the Beavers have gone 15-2 over the past two seasons in those games
- - BSU capitalized in the red zone last year converting on 52-of-61 trips to score 314 points. 41 of those times ended in a touchdown
- - On the flip side of that, the defense held teams to just 33 trips inside the 20 and 22 scores, with 17 ending up as touchdowns
- - Bemidji State ranked in the top-25 nationally last year in passing offense (4th), red zone defense (13th), rushing defense (22nd), sacks allowed (5th), scoring defense (25th), scoring offense (11th), team passing efficiency (10th), team passing efficiency defense (22nd), team sacks (9th) and total offense (10th)
Northern State Notes
- - The Wolves are led by fourth-year head coach Mike Schmidt who is 13-9 during that time
- - Northern State was picked to finish seventh in the NSIC Preseason Poll
- - NSU went 6-5 last year and 5-1 at home
- - The Wolves return NSIC Preseason Defensive Player of the Year in Ian Marshall. The defensive lineman posted 24.5 tackles for loss, 14 sacks and earned All-America accolades
- - NSU ranked eighth in the NSIC in scoring (25.7) and first in points allowed in the NSIC (17.5) during the 2022 season
- - Northern State averaged 19.4 points per game on the road last year going 1-4 away from Aberdeen
- - The Wolves have averaged nearly 20 points (19.6) in the last three games in Bemidji, all wins for the Beavers. The 2016 matchup went to overtime (31-28). Bemidji State has averaged 31 points on those three games
