BEMIDJI, Minn. – Following a 2-0 start to the season, the No. 10/7 Bemidji State University Football team returns home this Saturday to host Winona State in Northern Sun Intercollegiate Conference play. Kickoff is set for 2 p.m. at Chet Anderson Stadium. The game will be Shrine Game/Senior Day/Family Weekend as well. The 25 BSU seniors will be honored prior to the game.
Another early start powered the Beavers scoring just over five minutes in. The lead reached 27-7 before BSU claimed the 34-14 victory at Southwest Minnesota State. Another balanced attack highlighted the night with the Beavers throwing for 238 yards and rushing for 153 yards. Dating back to the 2019 season, Bemidji State has now gone 28 straight games throwing for more yards than rushing. Five times during the 2019 season the Beavers had more rushing than passing yards.
Brandon Alt threw for 238 yards and a touchdown without an interception, with Dhel Duncan-Busby catching six passes for 66 yards. Joey Baron adding the receiving score. Ali Mohamed, Sage Booker and Jarrett Gronski tallied rushing touchdowns.
Defensively, the Beavers had another four-sack effort for the second straight game. BSU added six tackles for loss. Marcus Hansen had three tackles for loss and two sacks, along with a forced fumble that was recovered by the Beavers. Hansen added five tackles. Max Buduris collected 1.5 sacks and five tackles. The defense forced multiple fumbles with Jarrett Klein and Jamel Stone adding a forced fumble as well.
Special teams have posted a strong couple of weeks to start the season. Marko Jovisic has made 4-5 field goals and 9-9 on extra point attempts. Elliott Lowney has punted seven times for an average of over 38 yards. He has a long of 62 and four landing inside the 20.
It was a big jump in the national polls this week with Bemidji State moving to new program highs in both the AFCA Poll at No. 10 and D2Football.com Poll at No. 7.
Winona State leads the all-time series with a 47-31-1 record. Bemidji State has won the last two meetings that both came last year. Following the 10-point win during the regular season, the Beavers pulled away in the second half to down the Warriors 31-7 in the first round of the NCAA Playoffs.
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 stands alone in second in program history for wins by a head coach with 54. His .739 winning percentage is the best all-time and he is second in program history for conference wins at 51
- Another quick start powered the Beavers to the win at SMSU. Including the two games this season, Bemidji State is now 17-2 when they score first. BSU led 14-0 after the first quarter and then held a 27-7 lead early in the fourth quarter
- Bemidji State moved to new program highs in the AFCA and D2Football.com polls this week going up a spot to No. 10 in the AFCA and No. 7 in the D2Football.com poll. BSU opened the season ranked eighth in the Lindy's College Magazine rankings
- BSU leads or is tied for the NSIC lead in 10 categories following week two
- In 73 games under Bolte, BSU has scored less than 20 points just seven times, which occurred once last year
- Forty-two of Bolte's wins have come when scoring at least 30 points, which has happened both times this season
- Bemidji State has gone 11-2 at home over the past two-plus seasons and Bolte is 27-8 at home since becoming head coach
- Winona State holds the overall series record at 47-31-1, but Bemidji State has won the past two meetings that happened last year in Bemidji
- The Beavers have a couple of players ranked high individually in the NSIC through week two with Marko Jovisic second in the conference in both field goal percentage (80) and field goals per game (2). De'vonta' Roberts leads the conference in kickoff return yards per game at 31.8. Princeten Harris is tied for the conference lead in passes defended per game (1.5). Dhel Duncan-Busby is third in the NSIC in both punt return yads per game (4.3) and receiving touchdowns (2). Ali Mohamed is third in the NSIC in rushing touchdowns (3). Hansen leads the conference in sacks per game (1.75). Hansen is second in the conference in tackles for loss per game (2.2).
- Nationally, Jovisic is third in field goals per game. Roberts is 13th in kickoff return yards per game. Duncan-Busby is 28th in receiving touchdowns. Mohamed is 16th in rushing touchdowns and 14th in rush yards per carry (7.43). Hansen is fourth in sacks and 19th in tackles for loss. Jovisic is 31st in total points scored (21) and Mohamed is 29th in total touchdowns
- Bolte is 2-2 against Winona State having won the last two meetings. Three of those games have been played in Bemidji
- Bemidji State is 19-18-1 against Winona State in Bemidji and have gone 5-5 in the last 10 meetings at home in the series
- Bemidji State is just two wins away from reaching 400 in program history.
- Including his time as an assistant, Bolte is 162-87 with the Beavers
- The defense didn't allow any team to rush for over 200 yards last year and seven times held teams under 100 rushing yards. So far in 2023, the Beavers have limited both Northern State and Southwest Minnesota State under 100 yards on the ground
- When BSU leads at the half, they hold a 19-0 record in the last two-plus seasons
- BSU has continued to dominate in the red zone to start the 2023 season. The Beavers have scored on 11 of 12 chances so far this season for 60 points. The drives have ended with seven touchdowns and four field goals
- On the flip side of that, the defense has allowed just six trips inside the 20 and three scores for 21 total points
- The defense forced four interceptions in week one, which is the most in a game since tallying four against Minnesota Crookston during the 2019 season. BSU didn't have an INT in week two, but remain ranked 11th nationally and tied for first in the NSIC
- Six times last year Bemidji State tallied at least four sacks in a game. The high was nine against MSU Moorhead on Oct. 15, 2022.
- It was a balanced attack offensively for the Beavers against SMSU passing for 238 yards and rushing for 153. Dating back to the 2019 season, Bemidji State has now gone 28 straight games throwing for more yards than rushing. Five times during the 2019 season the Beavers had more rushing than passing yards.
- 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)
Winona State Notes
- The Warriors are led by Brian Bergstrom who is 9-5 currently in his second season at Winona State
- Winona State was picked to finish sixth in the NSIC Preseason Poll.
- WSU returns two NSIC Players to Watch in Ty Gavin (RB) and Clay Schueffner (LB). So far this season, Gavin has rushed 21 times for 59 yards, while Schueffner leads the defense with 21 tackles (13 solo), along with 1.5 TFL
- Last time out, the Warriors held a 23-0 halftime lead on their way to cruising to the 33-8 home win over Concordia-St. Paul. Cole Stenstrom passed for 161 yards and a touchdown. Four running backs all rushed for over 40 yards to contribute to a 170 rushing day for the team. Cayden Holcomb caught three passes for 69 yards. Schueffner led the defense with seven tackles (three solo) and had a half-tackle for loss
- Winona State won 15 games combined during the 2022, 2021 season, reaching the first round of the NCAA Playoffs against BSU last year. During the two meetings last year, BSU won the regular season game 34-24 and then used a big second half to win the playoff game going away by a score of 31-7. The last three meetings in the series have been in Bemidji with the Beavers going 2-1. Last year, BSU outscored WSU 65-31 and the two wins in 2022 snapped a three-game winning streak for WSU from 2015-2019 when the Warriors outscored BSU 77-51. The series dates back to 1932 with the first game played in Winona that was a win for the Warriors
- The longest winning streak in the series for Bemidji State was seven games (1941-1951) and the longest winning streak for Winona State was nine games (1995-2005)
