The Herd hit the road for the first of two straight road games

The NDSU football team hits the road for the first time this season as they will travel to Carbondale, Illinois to take on Southern Illinois.

The Bison are coming off a 25-7 win over Youngstown State, extending their winning streak to 39 games. Meanwhile, the Salukis will look to bounce back after a 44-21 loss to North Dakota.

This will be the 13^th meeting between the two schools, as the Herd has won eight straight and own a 9-3 series lead.

The Bison defense will have to set their sights on Saluki wideout Avante Cox. He collected seven catches for 107 yards in their loss to North Dakota last week. Southern Illinois doesn’t have a high-powered offense, so keying in on Cox will be NDSU’s main objective.

On offense, the Bison will once again look to lean on the ground game. They ran for 243 yards against Youngstown State, as sophomore Kobe Johnson led the way with 114 yards on 16 carries.

The Salukis will have to sure up their run defense as they gave up 231 yards rushing to North Dakota.

This week could be a good chance to let new starting quarterback Zeb Noland throw it a little bit. He was more of a game manager for the Herd last week, which makes sense since it was his first career start for NDSU. Now that he has a game under his belt, it would be a good opportunity to let him throw it around a little bit.

NDSU’s new-look offensive line had a solid debut against Youngstown State, as they didn’t allow a sack and were great in the run game. They will look to build on that success against a weak Southern Illinois defensive line.

One player the Bison have to be on the lookout for, however, is outside linebacker, Makel Calhoun. He led the Salukis in sacks last season with seven while finishing second on the team in tackles for loss with 11.5. Calhoun has already collected two tackles for loss this season and is a player who can wreak havoc on the edge.

Kickoff is at 11:30 CT Saturday at Saluki Stadium in Carbondale, Ill.