#5/6 Bison Host Illinois State For Homecoming on Oct. 1

No. 5/6-ranked North Dakota State (3-0, 0-0 Valley Football) is scheduled to host Illinois State (2-2, 1-1 Valley Football) at 1:07 p.m. Saturday, Oct. 1, in the Fargodome (Artificial / 18,700) ... It’s the annual Homecoming Game and NDSU is looking to break a two-game losing streak at Homecoming ... The Bison are 50-37-3 overall in the Homecoming Game, which began in 1919 ... North Dakota State is coming off a 37-24 win at Minnesota at TCF Bank Stadium, while Redbirds defeated South Dakota State 20-13 at Hancock Stadium.

TELEVISION: The game will be televised on the North Dakota NBC TV Network and Comcast Sportsnet Chicago Plus ... Valley News Live (KVLY-TV, NBC, Channel 11, Fargo) sports director Dan Hammer, KFYR-TV (Channel 5, Bismarck) sports director Lee Timmerman, and former NDSU QB Kevin Feeney are in the booth, while Valley News Live weekend anchor Jamal Spencer is on the sidelines ... The other network stations include KFYR-TV (Channel 5, Bismarck), KMOT-TV (Channel 10, Minot), KQCD-TV (Channel 7, Dickinson) and KUMV-TV (Channel 8, Williston) ... The Bison are 89-55-1 (.617) in television games.

AT HOME: North Dakota State has compiled a 232-35-3 record at home since 1964 ... The Bison are 87-21-0 in the Fargodome since moving from Dacotah Field in 1993 ... NDSU is 2-0 this season at home and are 38-10 since head coach Craig Bohl took over in 2003.

SERIES RECORD: This is the fifth meeting between North Dakota State and Illinois State ... The series is tied 2-2 ... The Bison have lost the last two meetings, 27-24 in 2009 at the Fargodome, and 34-24 in 2010 at Illinois State.

WILLIAMS NAMED VALLEY FOOTBALL DEFENSIVE PLAYER OF THE WEEK: Sophomore cornerback Marcus Williams scored pair of defensive touchdowns including a 40-yard interception return with 2:36 remaining to seal 8th/12th-ranked North Dakota State’s 37-24 win over Minnesota played Sept. 24 before a crowd of 48,802 at TCF Bank Stadium ... Williams was named the Missouri Valley Football Conference Defensive Player of the Week ... He was selected as a College Sporting News Weekly FCS All-Star, and named the College Football Performance.com National Defensive Performer and DB of the Week and  the College Sports Madness.com National FCS Player of the Week  ... Williams returned a lateral from teammate Colten Heagle’s interception 52-yards for a TD on the last play of the first half. He added a pair of tackles as the Bison held Minnesota to 124 passing yards and 292 offensively overall ... Williams has five career interceptions and three defensive scores in his 17-game career ... He has at least one pass defended in 15 of 17 games played ... The Bison have scored at least one defensive TD in three of the last four games (three by Williams) including the NCAA playoff game at Eastern Washington ... NDSU last scored twice on defense in the 31-24 win over South Dakota State last season.

AGAINST THE FBS: Since moving to the NCAA Division I Football Championship Subdivision (FCS), North Dakota State has a 5-3 record against Football Bowl Subdivision (FBS) teams since 2006 ... The Bison are 2-1 against Minnesota, 1-0 against Ball State, 1-0 against Central Michigan, 1-0 against Kansas, 0-1 against Wyoming and 0-1 against Iowa State ... All games have been played on the road.

BISON QUICK-HITTERS: Defensive end Coulter Boyer had 2.5 sacks against Minnesota, pushing his season sack total to four and career sack total to 22 ... Boyer ranks 5th nationally in sacks (1.33 avg/g) and tied for 25th in tackle for loss (1.67 avg/g) ... He was named the College Football Peformance.com National Defensive Lineman of the Week (9-26-11)  ... The Minnesota crowd of 48,802 at TCF Bank Stadium is the fourth largest road crowd in the program’s history ... Senior safety John Pike recorded a career-high seven tackles in his first career start at Minnesota in place of Daniel Eaves, who missed the game due to injury ... Pike recorded his second career interception to stop a Saint Francis drive in the first quarter on Sept. 10 ... The Bison are 10 for 11 in trips into the Red Zone this season, opponents are 5 for 7 ... Sophomore linebacker Don Carter led the Bison with a career-high eight tackles vs. Saint Francis (9-10-11) ... Senior defensive end Scott Stoczynski made his second career fumble recovery to stop the first Saint Francis trip inside the Red Zone on Sept. 10 ... Opponents have one punt return for zero yards in three games as NDSU punter Matt Voigtlander has forced seven fair catches out of 11 punts ... NDSU and Lafayette combined for zero (0) turnovers on Sept. 3 ... The last time that happened was Nov. 14, 2009, in NDSU’s 56-17 win at Indiana State, and Oct. 3, 2009, in NDSU’s 27-24 loss to Illinois State ... The 54 yards rushing allowed vs. Lafayette (9-3-10) were lowest total allowed by the Bison since last year’s 27 yards given up against Indiana State ... Versatile offensive lineman Austin Richard has started at center, guard and now tackle (vs. Lafayette, 9-3-10) for the Bison during his career ... The Brock Jensen and Warren Holloway combo clicked for TD passes of 67 and 57 yards vs. Lafayette (9-3-10) ... Jensen completed 15 of 22 passes for 197 yards, two TDs and no interceptions ... Jensen completed 16 of 21 passes for 197 yards and ran six times for 37 yards including a 1-yard TD in the 37-24 win over Minnesota (9-24-11) ... He led NDSU on scoring drives of 65, 83, 71 and 55 yards including two over 8-minutes and 30-seconds in the game ... Jensen hasn’t thrown an interception in 56 pass attempts this season ... He had a string of 15 straight completions including the Saint Francis and Minnesota games, one off the school record of 16 set by Steve Walker in 2004 ... Jensen is ranked 2nd nationally in pass efficiency with a 178.52 rating ... North Dakota State won its 11th straight season opener at home ... The last loss was to Emporia State 23-21 in 1998 ... With a 64-30 record, NDSU head coach Craig Bohl is No. 2 on the school’s all-time win list passing Ron Erhardt (61-7-1, 1966-72) ... Bohl is one of three Bison coaches with 60 wins ... Kicker Ryan Jastram hit four extra points to extend his streak to 60 straight PATs without a miss. ...  ... North Dakota State Director of Athletics Gene Taylor started a four-year term on the Division I Football Championship Subdivision Athletics Directors Association (FCS ADA) Executive Committee in this fall ... North Dakota State will play Robert Morris on Sept. 1, 2012, and Western Carolina on Sept. 21, 2013, in a future schedules update ... With the Valley schedule revisions, the Bison will not play Western Illinois in 2012 and 2013.

HOLLOWAY ON THE RECEPTION: Wide receiver Warren Holloway caught four passes for 73 yards and a TD vs. Saint Francis (9-10-11) ... Big Tex caught six passes for 147 yards and two TDs vs. Lafayette (9-3-10) and earned Missouri Valley Football Conference Offensive Player of the Week honors ... The two TDs matched a career-high ... Holloway has four career 100+ yard receiving games ... He caught seven passes for a career-high 184 yards against Western Illinois (10-2-10) ... Holloway matched his career-high with eight receptions at Missouri State (11-20-10) ... He led NDSU with 49 catches for 698 yards (14.2 ypc) and five TDs in 2010 ... It was the second straight season Big Tex led the Bison in receiving ... Holloway is fifth all-time at NDSU with 99 receptions for 1,483 yards (9th all-time) and nine TDs in 39 career games ... He also has three blocked kicks in his career.

McNORTON NAMED TO WALTER PAYTON WATCH LIST: North Dakota State running back D.J. McNorton was named to the 2011 Walter Payton Award Watch List announced by The Sports Network in July ... McNorton rushed 13 times for 92 yards and one TD at Minnesota (9-24-11) ... He has rushed 407 times for 2,137 yards and 25 TDs in 38 career games, and will crack the school’s top 15 list -- currently 16th ... McNorton is one of 20 athletes on the Watch List for the Football Championship Subdivision’s top individual honor ... He was also listed among The Sports Network’s FCS Preseason Top 10 running backs.

complete release attached