Beaver Fever Friday – Jarrett Klein – Football

No. 15/11 Beavers travel to Nebraska to face Wayne State on Saturday afternoon

Beavers return to action following bye week

With the bye week now in the rearview mirror, the No. 15/11 Bemidji State University Football team gets set for a tough road test this week at Wayne State College. Kickoff is set for this Saturday afternoon at 12 p.m. at Bob Cunningham Field.

While the Beavers (4-1, 4-1 NSIC) were off last week, Wayne State (5-1, 4-1 NSIC) took down No. 17 Minnesota Duluth by a score of 28-18 in Nebraska. It was another big game for quarterback Nick Bohn throwing for 145 yards and a touchdown, while rushing for 55 yards and a pair of scores. The Wildcats have won four straight following a 31-14 setback at Minnesota State. WSC is 9-0 at home over the past two seasons.

Bemidji State is coming off the heart stopping Homecoming contest against Minnesota State in which the Mavericks held on by three (27-24). There were 900 total yards of offense with each team going over 400. It was the first time this season BSU was outgained and didn’t record a sack. The defense held strong in the red zone as although Minnesota State was inside the 20 six times, they only scored on three drives.

BSU leads the NSIC in third down conversion percentage on defense (.291), fourth down conversion percentage (.818), first downs allowed on defense (80), punt return defense (1.00), red zone defense (.562), red zone offense (.885), team sacks (4.0), and team tackles for loss (9.2). Nationally, the Beavers rank 16th in third down conversion percentage on defense, fifth in fourth down conversion percentage, 12th in first downs allowed on defense, 10th in punt return defense, ninth in red zone defense, 27th in red zone offense, third in team sacks and seventh in team tackles for loss.

Individually, Princeten Harris leads the NSIC and is 23rd nationally averaging 0.50 interceptions per game. Jamel Stone is second in the conference at 0.40. Harris leads the NSIC and is 14th nationally in passes defended (1.5). Dhel Duncan-Busby leads the NSIC and is 10th nationally with seven receiving touchdowns. He ranks third in the conference and 33rd nationally in points per game (8.4), sixth in the conference in total points scored (42) and fourth in total touchdowns. Jake Hill is third in the NSIC in punt return yards per game (6.7). Max Buduris is third in the NSIC in solo tackles per game (4.8). Marcus Hansen leads the NSIC and is third nationally in tackles for loss per game (2.5). He is also second in the NSIC and eighth nationally in sacks per game (1.10). Brandon Alt is 31st nationally in passing touchdowns (12), 41st in passing yards per completion (13.52) and 45th in passing efficiency (143.4). Marko Jovisic is second in the NSIC and 20th nationally in field goals per game (1.20) and is 29th nationally in field goal percentage (.750).

Alt is closing in on 10,000 career passing yards. He enters the game this week with 9,852 career passing yards. Over the past 31 games, Alt has thrown for 96 touchdowns and has 106 for his career.

The defense has 20 sacks and eight interceptions on the season. Although the defense didn’t record a sack last time out against Minnesota State, the Beavers have at least four sacks in the other four games. The defense did tally two interceptions to record multiple INT for the third game this year.

On the ground, Ali Mohamed has rushed for 302 yards and four touchdowns. Sage Booker has 208 rushing yards and three scores, while Jarrett Gronski is over 100 yards sitting at 102 and a score. Alt has completed 89-156 for 1,203 yards and 12 touchdowns this season to just three interceptions. Sam McGath has added three touchdown passes and a rushing score. Duncan-Busby has 21 receptions for 335 yards and seven touchdowns. Six total receivers have at least 100 yards receiving including Hill (232 yards), Joey Baron (152), Drayton Lehman (132), Brice Peters (125), and Booker (120). On defense, Buduris leads the team with 30 tackles and 24 solo stops. Hansen has 12.5 tackles for loss and 5.5 sacks. Stephen Hoffman adds five tackles for loss and 2.5 sacks. Cade Barrett, Elijah Brown and Darnell McCrea all have two sacks. Harris and Stone each have two interceptions, while Jarrett Klein, Spencer Wehr, Maalik Knox and Spencer Shaver have added an interception.

Wayne State holds a slight 11-10 advantage in the series since 1990. Bemidji State is 3-6 at Wayne, but won the last meeting there in 2018 (27-10). The teams haven’t played since 2021 with the Beavers claiming the 38-28 victory. BSU has won three straight in the series, with the last WSC win happening in 2014 in Wayne (35-13).

Brent Bolte stands alone in second in program history for wins by a head coach with 56. His .737 winning percentage is the best all-time and he is second in program history for conference wins at 53

Bemidji State had just their second home loss over the past two seasons, both against Minnesota State. Bolte is 28-9 during his time as head coach at home

Bemidji State enters this week ranked No. 15 in the AFCA Poll and No. 11 in the D2Football.com Poll. The Beavers opened the season ranked eighth in the Lindy’s College Football Preseason Poll

BSU leads or is tied for the NSIC lead in 9 categories following week six

In 76 games under Bolte, BSU has scored less than 20 points just seven times, which occurred once last year

Forty-four of Bolte’s wins have come when scoring at least 30 points, which has happened in four games this season

Bemidji State is 12-3 on the road over the past two-plus seasons and Bolte is 28-11 away from Bemidji

BSU has allowed 14 or less points in four of five games this season and has won by at least 20 points in all four victories. Twice the Beavers have won by over 30 points

Bolte is 3-0 against Wayne State and 1-0 on the road. The Beavers have won those three meetings by at least 10 points, outscoring the Wildcats 110-55.

Bemidji State is just one win away from reaching 400 in program history.

Including his time as an assistant, Bolte is 164-88 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 three teams to under 100 rushing yards

When BSU leads at the half, they hold a 21-0 record in the last two-plus seasons. Last time out against Minnesota State was the first time trailing at the break this season

BSU has continued to dominate in the red zone to start the 2023 season. The Beavers have scored on 23 of 25 chances so far this season for 133 points. The drives have ended with 17 touchdowns and six field goals

On the flip side of that, the defense has allowed just 16 trips inside the 20 and nine scores for 47 total points. Last time out against Minnesota State the Mavericks were inside the 20 six times, but only scored on three drives

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 added two more in week three and five for eight on the season to rank second in the NSIC and 27th nationally

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.This season the defense continues to post high sack numbers. Four times this season the Beavers have at least a sack and have 20 on the season to lead the NSIC and rank third nationally

For the fifth time this season, Bemidji State had more passing than rushing yards. Dating back to the 2019 season, Bemidji State has now gone 31 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)

Wayne State Notes

The Wildcats are led by Logan Masters who is 14-4 currently in his second season at Wayne State. This will be his first meeting against Bemidji State.

WSC was picked to finish third in the NSIC Preseason Poll and garnered two first-place votes.

WSC returns NSIC Players to Watch in QB Nick Bohn and LB Alex Kowalczyk. Bohn has thrown for 1,491 yards and 13 touchdowns. Kowalczyk has yet to play this season after recording 106 tackles, 7.5 TFL, four INT and three FF a season ago.

Last time out, the Wildcats won their fourth straight game upsetting No. 17 Minnesota Duluth by a score of 28-18. Wayne State is 9-0 at home over the past two seasons.

WSC reached the NCAA Playoffs last year falling to Minnesota State in the first round. This will be the first time BSU and WSC have played in Wayne since the 2018 season.

The Wildcats are averaging 34.67 points per game and allowing 23.17. WSC has passed for 1,513 yards and rushed for 962, picking up 16 rushing touchdowns. Bohn has been a force both passing and rushing, as he leads the team with eight rushing scores, while throwing for 13. Junior LB Dexter Larsen leads the defense with 46 tackles, while adding four TFL and two sacks.