What Lies Ahead:  The Mavericks concludes the road portion of their schedule Saturday afternoon when it travels to Sioux Falls, S.D., for a 1 p.m., contest against the Vikings of Augustana at Kirkeby-Over Stadium on the campus of Augustana College.

What's in a Win:  A win would give MSU its 373rd win in school history...A victory would be the 25th victory for head coach Todd Hoffner at MSU and the 71st victory of his career...A win would be MSU's first win in Sioux Falls since a 13-10 victory on Nov. 14, 1998 (a span of five games)...A win would also be the 19th win in the series for the Mavericks...A win would give MSU its 45th winning season all-time and it's 11th since 1980...MSU has not posted three consecutive winning seasons since the 1992 (6-5), 1993 (10-3) and 1994 (7-4) campaigns...Finally, a win would be the 24th for the Mavericks as members of the NSIC.

A Little History Lesson: The 2010 season marks the school's 84th season playing football.  The Mavericks are 372-370-28 (.501) in 770 games since their inception as a varsity sport in 1922.  Minnesota State is in its third season in the Northern Sun Intercollegiate Conference and owns a 23-4 record in league action.  Over the course of its history, MSU has claimed 17 conference championships including 15 NIC titles.

Scouting Augustana: Augustana enters the weekend as one of two teams in the Northern Sun Intercollegiate Conference with an undefeated record (8-0, 7-0 NSIC).  Last weekend, the Vikings dug themselves out of a 10-0 hole early and earned a 47-17 win at MSU Moorhead.
   
The Vikings finished the game running 80 plays for 527 yards, 279 of which came on the ground and 248 of which came through the air.  Senior running back Joe Clark rushed 17 times for 102 yards and two touchdowns while catching a team-high five passes for 39 yards.  Sophomore quarterback Josh Hanson was 14-of-26 for 239 yards and three touchdowns in the win despite throwing four interceptions.  Junior wideout Sam Holsen caught four passes for 131 yards and a score. Defensively, sophomore linebacker Austin Luecke finished with nine tackles, six of which were solo.
   
For the year, Augustana is averaging 33 points per game while allowing 14.1  The Vikings are averaging 173.4 yards per game on the ground and 259.8 yards per game in the air for a total of 433.1 yards of total offense.  Clark leads all rushers with 130 carries for 643 yards and seven touchdowns, averaging 80.4 yards per game and 4.9 yards per carry.  Hanson has completed 140-of-233 passes for 2,048 yards, averaging 256 yards per game to go with 19 touchdowns while senior wideout Tyler Schulte has caught a team-high 36 passes for 761 yards and 13 scores.  Schulte is averaging 108.7 yards per game and 21.1 yards per reception.
   
The Vikings are coached by Mike Aldrich, who is in his first season with the program.  The Augustana roster also features former Mankato West standout Alex Hasse, who is a redshirt freshman on the Viking offensive line.

Weather Report:  According to www.weather.com, Saturday's forecast in Sioux Falls calls for a high of 59 degrees, with partly cloudy skies and a 10% chance of rain.

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