SETTING THE SCENE
No. 5 Minnesota State goes for its seventh win of the season and looking to spoil its second opponent's Homecoming in three weeks, visiting rival Winona State on Saturday at 2 p.m. at Altra Federal Credit Union Stadium.  The Mavericks enter ranked third nationally at 6-0 overall and 5-0 in Northern Sun Intercollegiate Conference play, while Winona State enters at 2-4 overall and 2-3 in league play.  
 
CALLING THE GAME / HOW TO WATCH
Aaron Worm and John Harrington return to the broadcast booth this season and will have the call of Maverick Football on The Fan KFSP 1230 AM and 103.1 FM, the official radio home of Minnesota State football.  Fans can also listen online through Radio Mankato. Saturday's game will be streamed live on Midco Sports Plus, the exclusive streaming home of the Northern Sun Intercollegiate Conference. Every Minnesota State football game during the 2026 season will be available through Midco Sports Plus.
 
THE NEW MIDCO SPORTS PLUS NETWORK
The NSIC enters a new era of digital coverage this season with the launch of Midco Sports Plus.The platform serves as the centralized streaming home for all NSIC athletic events, providing live and on-demand coverage from each of the conference's 16 member institutions. Fans can purchase annual access for less than $7 per month, which includes NSIC and Summit League content. Monthly subscriptions are also available for $15.  The upgraded platform features improved navigation, expanded content access and enhanced viewing capabilities for fans throughout the conference footprint.
 
RECAPPING HOMECOMING 2026
Coming off a 28-14 win at Sioux Falls, the Mavericks opened October with a dominating 49-7 victory on Homecoming over Concordia-St. Paul.  MSU outgained CSP over 2:1 with a 512 to 231 advantage in total yards, while holding CSP to just minus-27 yards rushing for the game on 14 carries. It marked the first time since 2024 MSU had held a team to negative yards rushing (-17 vs. Northwest Missouri State).  The Mavericks had 313 yards on the ground marking the second time this season of over 300 rushing yards.   Junior Sam Backer finished with 11 carries for 95 yards and two touchdowns.  Sophomore quarterback Maximus Sims finished 10 of 15 passing for 131 yards and two touchdowns.  Defensively MSU finished with three sacks for 21 yards, while registering eight tackles for loss for 31 yards.
 
WINONA STATE LAST WEEK
Winona State is coming off a heartbreaking 17-14 loss at Wayne State on Saturday in a game where Winona State held a 14-10 lead at halftime and was held scoreless in the second half.  WSU had a shot at a tying field goal with 34 seconds remaining as Evan Swanstorm's 46-yarder went off the post.  The week before, WSU upset then-No. 20 Augustana 42-41 in overtime.  WSU has won both of its games at home this season with a 28-0 win over Jamestown (Sept. 12) and the win against Augustana (Sept. 26).  
 
HAWKINSON NAMED NSIC DEFENSIVE PLAYER OF THE WEEK
Senior defensive lineman Jack Hawkinson became the second Maverick to earn NSIC Player of the Week honors this season with five total tackles, three tackles for loss for 15 yards and 2.5 sacks for 15 yards in a 49-7 thumping of Concordia-St. Paul.  Hawkinson and the Maverick "D" held CSU to minus-27 yards rushing for the game, while registering three sacks and eight tackles for loss.  Hawkinson has been a force on the defensive line for the Mavericks this season as he is third on the team in tackles (23) and leads the team with 7.5 tackles for loss for 39 yards and 6.5 sacks for 38 yards, along with one pass breakup and one hurry.  
 
INSIDE THE SERIES WITH WINONA STATE
In a series dating back to 1923, the Mavericks own a 40-19-4 record against Winona State over the history of the programs.  The Mavericks have won the last three in the series and are 21-10-2 all-time in Winona.  MSU has won seven of the last ten and 11 of 15.  Winona State's last win came on Nov. 13, 2021, in Winona in an 18-16 victory.  MSU is 12-4 against Winona State this century as the teams rekindled the series on Sept. 28, 2008, in a 35-32 win by MSU in Mankato.  Prior to that, the teams had not played since 1981.  The 40 wins by MSU are the most against any opponent on the Mavericks' schedule this season.  Head coach Todd Hoffner is 10-4 against Winona State.
 
200 COMPLETE
MSU head coach Todd Hoffner won his 200th game of his head coaching career on Saturday.  Now in his 24th season as a head coach, Hoffner owns a career record of 200-69 (.743). In his 17 seasons at Minnesota State, he has compiled a 158-41 (.793) record as this Saturday will be his 200th game coached at MSU. Before arriving in Mankato, Hoffner posted a 42-28 mark at Wisconsin-Eau Claire from 1999-2005.  Hoffner is tied with Ouachita Baptist's Todd Knight for the most career victories (200) among active NCAA Division II head coaches.
 
NEGATIVE RUSHING
The Mavericks held CSP to minus-27 yards rushing on Saturday marking the first time MSU has held a team to negative rushing numbers since holding Northwest Missouri State to minus-17 on Aug. 29, 2024.  Saturday was the sixth time holding a team to negative rushing yards since 2012, as the school-record is minus-44 set on Aug. 30, 2012, against Minot State. 
 
SIMS BACK ON TRACK
Sophomore quarterback Marcus Sims was a season-best 10 of 15 passing for 131 yards and two touchdowns in the win against Concordia-St. Paul on Saturday.  It marked the first time this season of double-digit completions for Sims and his two touchdown passes also marked a season-high.  For the season, Sims is 41 of 76 passing for 626 yards, four touchdowns and three interceptions.  
 
HEY, THE DEFENSE CAN SCORE, TOO
Minnesota State's defense has made an impact on the scoreboard all season. The Mavericks recorded their second defensive touchdown of the year in the win at Sioux Falls (9/26) when senior defensive back Jamal Spiyee returned an interception 69 yards for a touchdown. It marked Spiyee's second pick-six of the season and helped MSU build a 13-0 lead in the second quarter.  Spiyee leads the Mavericks with three interceptions and ranks among the NSIC leaders in the category. His 156 interception return yards lead the conference.  Earlier this season, Spiyee returned an interception 87 yards for a touchdown against Mary, the longest interception return touchdown in NCAA Division II this season.  Against CSP on Saturday, the Mavericks tallied their 12th INT of the season with an interception from junior Antoine Johnson, Jr., for 12 yards and his second interception of the season.  The 12 INTs by MSU are second nationally behind 13 interceptions from UT Permian Basin.  The Mavericks have garnered 297 yards of INT returns this season which is tied for fifth-most all-time in school history (2014) with the school-record being 354 yards set in 2009 on a school-record 29 INTs.  
 
TOP TEN NATIONALLY FOR THE MAVERICKS
Minnesota State continues to rank among the national leaders in several statistical categories.  The Mavericks rank:

No opponent has scored more than 17 points against Minnesota State this season, and all six Maverick victories have come by double-digit margins, while MSU has not scored less than 28 points in a game this season.
 
IN THE POLLS
Minnesota State held steady at No. 5 in this week's AFCA Division II Top 25 Poll and remained No. 3 in the D2Football.com Top 25. Not much change in the top of either poll this week.  Northern State moved into the top 25 in both polls at No. 25 in each this week and 22nd in D2Football as the only other ranked team from the NSIC in both.  Minnesota Duluth is 18th in D2Football.com, while it is receiving votes in the AFCA poll.  Wayne State also is receiving votes in the AFCA poll.  
 
THIS WEEK IN THE NSIC
Week 6 saw the "favored" teams win each matchup last week as MSU had the biggest blowout win (49-7).  Northern State survived a pesky Bemidji State team (16-9), while Augustana pulled away against Sioux Falls for a 37-20 victory in the Key to the City game.  This week sees Northern State traveling to Minnesota Duluth for a key matchup, while Augustana visits Concordia-St. Paul.  Wayne State visits Bemidji State, while University of Mary travels to MSU Moorhead and MSU visits Winona State.  Southwest Minnesota State travels to Sioux Falls and Minot State visits Jamestown to complete the schedule.  
 
ABOUT WINONA STATE
The Warriors return home to host MSU with a 2-4 record overall and a 2-3 mark in NSIC play.  This season, the Warriors are led offensively by Jahmani Muhammad who leads the team with 321 yards on the ground on 73 carries and two touchdowns.  Noah Smith is second in rushing with 203 yards, while AJ Moore leads the team with three rushing scores.  Under center, both Jackson Flottmeyer and Jacob Sampson have each played in four games with Flottmeyer leading the team going 62 of 107 passing for 573 yards and five scores, along with two interceptions.  Sampson is 52 of 85 passing for 530 yards and three scores, while throwing two INTs.  Receiving, Jake Schultz leads the team with 32 catches for 348 yards, while Nolan Ginskey has 172 yards receiving on 17 receptions with a team-high four touchdowns.  Defensively, Brent Jeske leads the team with 40 tackles and 23 solo stops.  He has 5.5 tackles for loss for 12 yards.  Blake Schraufnagel leads the team with two sacks for 25 yards and one fumble return.  He is third on the team in tackles with 34 and has 3.5 tackles for loss for 28 yards.  As a team, the Warriors as one of six teams nationally who have not lost a fumble this season through six games.  The Warriors are ninth nationally in turnovers lost (4) for second in the league behind Concordia-St. Paul, while they are third in the NSIC in scoring defense, allowing just 18.8 points per game behind MSU at 12.0 per contest to lead the league.  Ginskey's four touchdown receptions places him fourth in the NSIC and 31st nationally.  Head coach Brian Curtin is in his second season at the helm of the Warriors and is 8-9 overall.  He is no stranger to Winona State as he has been with the program for over 20 years, joining the staff in 1997.  
 
WHERE THE MAVS RANK INDIVIDUALLY

 
LOOKING AHEAD
Following the games this weekend in the NSIC, all teams will have a bye week (Oct. 17), before resuming play on Oct. 24.  The Mavericks will welcome Wayne State College to Blakeslee Stadium on Oct. 24 at 1 p.m. in what is shaping up to be a key NSIC South Division matchup. 
 
A WIN OVER WINONA STATE WOULD . . .