THIS WEEK IN DICKINSON STATE FOOTBALL...
Saturday, Nov. 18 – Alumni Coliseum – Butte, Mont. – 1:00 pm MT
#16 Dickinson State (9-1, 8-0 NSAA) at #17 Montana Tech (7-3, 6-2 Frontier)
LIVE VIDEO: www.youtube.com/@MontanaTechAthletics/streams
LIVE STATS: www.dsubluehawks.com/sports/fball/2023-24/boxscores/20231118_3y5w.xml
LIVE AUDIO: kdix.com
SOCIAL MEDIA: Check the @BlueHawkFB Twitter feed for updates
OPENING ROUND TRIP: Despite finishing one spot ahead of Montana Tech in the final national polls, Dickinson State will head to Butte, Montana for the NAIA Football Championship Series Opening Round on Saturday … the Blue Hawks earned their way into the tournament thanks to another perfect conference season that saw them capture their ninth straight North Star Athletic Association title and finish 9-1 overall …this will be the first time that DSU will open up the playoffs with a team from the Frontier Conference since 2016, also against Montana Tech ... the last first round win for Dickinson State came in 2018 when they beat Northwestern on the road 14-6
THE SERIES...
vs MTU: DSU leads 10-6
Last: MTU 28-21 (11/19/16 in Butte) /
Streak: MTU 3
Notes: The last two meetings between the teams have both come in the NAIA Opening Round in Butte … before that the last matchup was in 2012 in Dickinson
SCOUTING THE OREDIGGERS: Montana Tech comes into the game ranked #17 after finishing the regular season 7-3 and taking third place in the Frontier Conference behind Montana Western and College of Idaho … the Orediggers dropped games this year to Carroll and Montana Western at home and Rocky Mountain on the road … they are scoring 32 points per game on 427 yards of total offense with 257 of it coming through the air … look out for the combination of QB Blake Thelen and WR Wyatt Anderson as they have connected 47 times for 978 yards and 8 touchdowns this season and completed at least one pass over 34 yards in 7 of their 10 games
IN THE POLLS…
The Blue Hawks jumped four spots to #16 in this week’s national poll (11/12)
| RANK |
LAST TIME |
SCHOOL [FIRST-PLACE VOTES] |
RECORD |
POINTS |
| 1 |
1 |
Northwestern (Iowa) [17] |
11-0 |
392 |
| 2 |
2 |
Grand View (Iowa) |
10-0 |
377 |
| 3 |
4 |
Keiser (Fla.) |
8-2 |
362 |
| 4 |
6 |
Georgetown (Ky.) |
8-1 |
346 |
| 5 |
7 |
Marian (Ind.) |
9-1 |
316 |
| 6 |
3 |
Indiana Wesleyan |
9-1 |
312 |
| 7 |
8 |
Bethel (Tenn.) |
10-1 |
310 |
| 8 |
10 |
Montana Western |
9-1 |
287 |
| 9 |
9 |
Evangel (Mo.) |
11-0 |
283 |
| 10 |
5 |
College of Idaho |
8-2 |
241 |
| 10 |
12 |
Morningside (Iowa) |
9-2 |
241 |
| 10 |
13 |
Saint Xavier (Ill.) |
7-3 |
241 |
| 13 |
19 |
OUAZ (Ariz.) |
8-1 |
184 |
| 14 |
17 |
Dordt (Iowa) |
8-2 |
181 |
| 15 |
18 |
St. Thomas (Fla.) |
8-3 |
177 |
| 16 |
20 |
Dickinson State (N.D.) |
9-1 |
157 |
| 17 |
22 |
Montana Tech |
7-3 |
143 |
| 18 |
21 |
Reinhardt (Ga.) |
8-2 |
142 |
| 19 |
11 |
Lindsey Wilson (Ky.) |
7-3 |
140 |
| 20 |
22 |
Baker (Kan.) |
8-2 |
129 |
| 21 |
25 |
Louisiana Christian |
9-1 |
76 |
| 22 |
RV |
MidAmerica Nazarene (Kan.) |
9-2 |
73 |
| 23 |
24 |
Friends (Kan.) |
9-2 |
63 |
| 24 |
16 |
Carroll (Mont.) |
7-3 |
37 |
| 25 |
14 |
Benedictine (Kan.) |
8-3 |
36 |
Dropped From Top 25: Texas Wesleyan
Receiving Votes: Concordia (Mich.) 33; Texas Wesleyan 15
NATIONAL MATCHUPS…
| Institution |
Record |
|
Institution |
Record |
| St. Thomas (Fla.) |
8-3 |
vs. |
Reinhardt (Ga.) |
8-2 |
| Montana Tech |
7-3 |
vs. |
Dickinson State (N.D.) |
9-1 |
| Dordt (Iowa) |
8-2 |
vs. |
Ottawa (Kan.) |
6-5 |
| Baker (Kan.) |
8-2 |
vs. |
Louisiana Christian |
9-1 |