No. 1 North Dakota State Hits the Road, Travels to No. 14 Northern Iowa on Sept. 29

complete release attached

No. 1-ranked North Dakota State (3-0, 0-0 Valley Football) is scheduled to play the No. 14/17-ranked University of Northern Iowa (1-3, 0-1 Valley Football) at 6:07 p.m. Saturday, Sept. 29, at the UNI-Dome (Artificial / 16,324) in Cedar Falls ... NDSU defeated Prairie View A&M 66-7 on Sept. 22 ... Northern Iowa lost 42-35 at Youngstown State on Sept. 22 ... North Dakota State has won eight straight since the loss to Youngstown State in November 2011 ... NDSU head coach Craig Bohl and coaching staff will participate in the Coach to Cure MD with more than 500 universities across the country ... The coaches are wearing patches on their sleeves at UNI to raise awareness of Duchenne (“DOO-shin) Muscular Dystrophy ... Visit CoachToCureMD.org for more information.

SERIES RECORD: This is the 45th meeting between North Dakota State and Northern Iowa in a series that started in 1938 ... The Panthers lead the series 25-19 ... North Dakota State defeated UNI 27-19 at the Fargodome last season to end a three-game losing streak to the Panthers (recap on page 4) ... UNI leads in Cedar Falls 15-6.

ON THE ROAD: North Dakota State is 7-0 on the road over the last two seasons ... The Bison have won 12 of their last 16 road games ... The Bison are 32-20 on the road since head coach Craig Bohl took over in 2003 ... NDSU is 9-7 in MVFC road games.

TELEVISION: The game will be produced and broadcast by KWWL-TV (Ch. 7, Waterloo) and WOI-TV (Ch. 5.2, Des Moines-Ames) ... The game will be televised locally on KVLY-TV (Ch. 11, NBC, Fargo) ... The announcers include Jeff Mickey (play-by-play), Rick Coleman (analyst) and Eric Braley (sideline reporter) ... All 11 regular season games in 2012 will be televised for the first time in school history ... The Bison are 103-56-1 (.647) in TV games.

RADIO BROADCASTS: KFGO-AM 790, Fargo ... Veteran sports announcer Scott Miller will handle the play-by-play ... Former NDSU quarterback Steve Walker will handle the color duties, while NDSU director of athletic broadcasting Jeremy Jorgenson is on the sidelines ... Air time is set for 5:30 p.m., kickoff at 6:07 p.m. on Sept. 29 ... Anchored by flagship, The Mighty 790, KFGO-AM, the Bison Radio Network has 20 stations including (Fargo, simulcast on KRWK 101.9 FM); ESPN 710 AM (Bismarck); KHRT 1320 AM (Minot); KSJB 600 AM (Jamestown); KEYZ 660 AM (Williston); KDVL 102.5 FM (Devils Lake); KHND 1470 AM (Harvey); KZZJ 1450 AM (Rugby); KPOK 1340 AM (Bowman); KAUJ – 100.9 FM (Grafton); KLTC 1460 AM (Dickinson); KRCQ 102.3 FM (Detroit Lakes); WLKX 95.9 FM (North) / KBGY 107.5 FM (South) (Minneapolis/St. Paul); KDDG 105.5 FM (Albany); KZCR 103.3 FM (Fergus Falls); KMGK 107.1 FM (Glenwood), and KKCQ 96.7 FM (Fosston) ... The Bison gameday format includes a 30-minute pregame show with comments from Craig Bohl, in-depth analysis and features ... A complete 30-minute postgame show is covered from the press box and locker room areas.

BISON QUICK-HITTERS: Wide receiver Zach Vraa caught a career and season-high eight passes for 156 yards and two touchdowns vs. Prairie View A&M (9-22-12) ... Vraa entered the game with 12 career receptions for 156 yards in three previous games ... He caught TD passes of 11 and 69 yards from Brock Jensen ... His 69-yard TD reception was the longest for NDSU since Nick Mertens and Gary Williams hooked up on a school record 95-yard score against Illinois State on Oct. 3, 2009 ... His 156 yards receiving were the most for a Bison receiver since Warren Holloway had 184 on seven catches against Western Illinois on Oct. 2, 2010 ... Holloway had eight receptions (96 yards) vs. Georgia Southern in the NCAA FCS semifinals ... Deveon Dinwiddie rushed 10 times for 79 yards and three TDs vs. Prairie View A&M (9-22-12) ... His three rushing TDs were the most for a NDSU running back since Sam Ojuri scored three times on the ground at Western Illinois in 2011 ... North Dakota State’s 81 offensive plays against Colorado State  (9-8-12) were its most since running 83 against Northern Iowa on Oct. 10, 2009 ... NDSU’s 39:52 in time of possession at CSU was its most since holding the ball for 40:17 in a 51-14 win over Cal Poly on Nov. 11, 2006 ... NDSU has allowed just 41 points in its last seven contests, dating back to the start of the 2011 Division I FCS Playoffs ... The Bison have allowed just 27 points in their last six contests, dating back to a 24-0 shutout victory over Lehigh in the 2011 Division I FCS Quarterfinals ... NDSU has limited its opponent to 10 points or less in 10 of its last 18 games ... Defensive end Cole Jirik had 4 tackles including a safety, two tackles for loss and a sack in North Dakota State’s 22-7 win over Colorado State on Sept. 8 ... His safety with 5:34 left in the first quarter broke a 7-7 tie and gave the Bison the lead for good ... The safety was the first for North Dakota State since Matthew Gratzek’s against Robert Morris in the 2010 FCS playoff game ... North Dakota State’s field goal block by nose guard Ryan Drevlow at Colorado State (9-8-12) was the first since Matt Veldman’s effort against Illinois State (10-1-11) ... North Dakota State’s 52-0 shutout of Robert Morris in the season opener on Sept. 1 at Gate City Bank Field was the first since 2011 when the Bison beat Lehigh 24-0 in the NCAA FCS quarterfinals ... It was NDSU’s first shutout in a home opener since defeating Valparaiso 52-0 in 2004 ... North Dakota State improved to 79-30-7 in season openers including 61-17-4 at home ... North Dakota State committed zero (0) turnovers in eight of 15 games played last season ... The Bison committed only 12 turnovers overall in 15 games in 2011 ... NDSU leads the nation in scoring defense (4.7 avg/g) and 1st, Total defense (174.33 avg/g); 2nd in pass defense (119.67 avg/g); 3rd in rushing defense (54.67 avg/g); 4th in scoring offense (46.67 avg/g), sacks (3.67 avg/g) and 4th in sacks allowed (0.33 avg/g); 6th in tackles for loss (8.67 avg/g); 7th in total offense (486 avg/g); 10th in rushing offense (245 avg/g) and turnover margin (+1.67 avg/g); 17th in kickoff returns (24.25 avg/r) and 24th in punt returns (12.73 avg/r)) ... With a 78-31 record, NDSU head coach Craig Bohl is No. 2 on the school’s all-time win list behind Rocky Hager (91-25-1, 1987-95) ... Bohl is one of three Bison coaches with 60 wins ... North Dakota State Director of Athletics Gene Taylor is in his second year of a four-year term on the Division I Football Championship Subdivision Athletics Directors Association (FCS ADA) Executive Committee.

JENSEN ON TARGET: North Dakota State quarterback Brock Jensen is No. 3 all-time at NDSU in completions (324) and passing yards (4,072), passing Kevin Feeney in completions (304, 1995-98) and Ryan Johnson in passing yards (3,806, 1997-00) ... Jensen completed 13 of 15 passes for 192 yards and three TDs in the first half against Prairie View A&M (9-22-12) ... The three TD passes tie a career-high for Jensen, set three times previously ... The 69-yard TD pass to Zach Vraa was the longest in his career.  ... Jensen completed 18 of 29 passes for 189 yards and one touchdown at Colorado State on Sept. 8 ... He also rushed 10 times for 42 yards ... Jensen directed an offense that ran 81 plays for 366 yards of total offense and held a 39:52-20:08 advantage in time of possession ... That included scoring drives of 12 plays for 67 yards (5:21), 10 plays for 53 yards (1:44) and 16 plays for 71 yards (9:29) ... He completed passes to seven different receivers ... Jensen completed 16 of 23 passes for 217 yards and three TDs vs. Robert Morris  (9-1-12) ... Jensen has six career 200-yard passing games ... He completed a career-high 22 of 25 passes for 204 yards and one TD vs. 2nd-ranked UNI (10-29-11) ... Jensen threw four interceptions last season ... Following an interception at Southern Illinois, Jensen attempted 142 passes without a pick – adding to his NDSU record ... The old record was 110 set by Steve Walker in 2005-06 ... Jensen had a career-high 30 attempts at Indiana State (11-5-11, 18 completions) ... Jensen completed his first 15 passes vs. Missouri State (10-15-11) to break the school record of 10 in a row set three times previously ... Including the Southern Illinois game, he had completed 19 passes in a row to top the school record of 16 set by Steve Walker in 2004.

TOUGH GOING: After limiting Prairie View A&M to 192 yards on Sept. 22, North Dakota State has held four straight opponents to under 250 yards of total offense, dating back to the 2011 Division I FCS Championship game victory over Sam Houston State ... The Bison allowed 88 yards of total offense against Robert Morris on Sept. 1 and 243 at Colorado State on Sept. 8 ... Robert Morris only had three snaps inside NDSU territory with the 48-yardline as the farthest advancement ... The 88 yards vs. Robert Morris was the lowest total offense yardage allowed since Angelo State was limited to 80 (-9 rushing, 89 passing) in 2001 ... The 22 rushing yards were the lowest yielded since Ball State was limited to 14 in 2006, and the 66 passing yards were the lowest allowed since Austin Peay was limited to 35 in 2008.

BALANCED OFFENSE: North Dakota State had a season-high 597 yards of total offense vs. Prairie View A&M on Sept. 22, the most since 1996 when the Bison had 618 yards vs. Minnesota State Mankato ... The 312 rushing yards are the most since NDSU had 314 in the 2011 NCAA FCS semifinal win over Georgia Southern ... The 285 passing yards are the most since the 2009 season when the Bison had 308 against UNI ... North Dakota State’s 66 points against Prairie View A&M are the most since the Bison defeated Division II Concordia St. Paul 66-7 on Aug. 31, 2006 ... The 45 points in the first half against Prairie View are the most since NDSU led Western State (Colo.) 45-3 at halftime on Sept. 8, 2001 ... The halftime margin was the widest since the 63-0 advantage against Minnesota State Moorhead on Sept. 9, 2000.

BISON IN THE POLLS: North Dakota State has been ranked in the top five for 33 weeks in program history including 16 weeks at No. 1 (Aug. 22, Sept. 3, Sept. 10, Sept. 17, Sept. 24; Jan. 9, 2012 / Oct. 31, Nov. 7, 2011 / Sept. 1-8, 2008 / Oct. 8-15-22-29, Nov. 5-12, 2007) ... NDSU was No. 1 in both the 2012 FCS Coaches and The Sports Network FCS Top Polls this week ... North Dakota State was ranked No. 1 in both the final FCS Coaches Poll and The Sports Network/Fathead.com Top 25 polls released Jan. 9, 2012.

AGAINST THE NATIONALLY-RANKED: NDSU is 16-8 against nationally-ranked opponents entering the 2012 season (2011: W vs. Sam Houston State; W vs. Georgia Southern; W vs. Lehigh; W vs. James Madison; W at Indiana State; W vs. Northern Iowa; W at Southern Illinois; 2010: L at Eastern Washington; W at Montana State, W vs. South Dakota; L at UNI; 2009: L at Southern Illinois, L vs. UNI; 2008, L at South Dakota State; L at Youngstown State, W at Southern Illinois, L vs. Western Illinois; L at UNI; 2007: W at Cal Poly, W at Western Illinois, W vs. Sam Houston State, 2006: W at Georgia Southern, W vs. Cal Poly, W vs. South Dakota State).