What Lies Ahead:  The Mavericks opens a two-game homestand this Saturday against Southwest Minnesota State which will close out the regular season portion of its schedule.  Kick is set for 1 p.m., in Blakeslee Stadium.

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 victory would move MSU to 9-0 all-time against Southwest Minnesota State and 5-0 all-time against the Mustangs in Mankato...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 372-371-28 (.501) in 771 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 Southwest Minnesota State: Southwest Minnesota State enters the week with a 4-5 record and is 3-5 in the NSIC.  Last weekend, the Mustangs fell at home to Winona State, 44-19.  Southwest Minnesota State rushed 27 times for 108 yards and passed 45 times for 214 yards for 322 yards on 72 plays.   Sophomore running back Warren Matthews led the Mustangs with 14 carries for 144 yards while senior quarterback Ryan Ratekin completed 14-of-28 passes for 128 yards and a touchdown while senior Bret Ballantine caught five passes for 71 yards, including a 27-yard touchdown.
   
For the season, the Mustangs are averaging 24.2 points per game while giving up 30.6.  SMSU has averaged 102.6 yards per game on the ground and 241.3 yards per game in the air for an average of 343.9 yards per game.  Matthews leads the team in rushing with 63 carries for 464 yards and five touchdowns, averaging 66.3 yards per game on the ground and 7.4 yards per carry.  Ratekin has completed 169-of-294 passes for 1,966 yards.  Ratekin has thrown 18 touchdowns to 11 interceptions and is averaging 218.4 yards per game in the air.  Ballantine has caught a team-high 356 passes for a team-high 470 yards and is averaging 58.8 yards per game and 13.1 yards per catch. Sophomore wideout Lewis Lester has caught a team-high seven touchdowns.  Defensively junior linebacker John Kersbergen leads the team with 75 tackles – 36 of which are solo – to go with three tackles for a loss, a sack and two interceptions.  
   
Cory Sauter is in his first season as SMSU's coach.

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