With the Missouri Valley crown all wrapped up, the North Dakota State football team cap off the regular season Saturday as they host the Southern Illinois Salukis.

The Bison will be coming off their latest win against the Missouri State Bears where they won in dominant fashion. The 48-7 victory was largely attributed to Easton Stick’s five passing touchdowns, which all came in the first half.

On the other side of the ball, the Salukis are coming off a fresh home loss at the hands of the South Dakota State Jackrabbits. The 57-38 loss was a highly offensive shootout in which Southern Illinois allowed 656 total yards, while also putting up 541 yards themselves.

The Salukis’ starting quarterback, Matt DeSomer ran the game with four rushing touchdowns. However, his defense was unable to stop the Jackrabbits from several huge drives late in the game.

The last time the Herd met with Southern Illinois was back in 2015. The Halloween day game was Stick’s second career start and a close 35-29 win for the Bison. The Bison dominated on the ground, picking up 297 rushing yards. Former Bison running back King Frazier accounted for 178 of those yards, but 138 also came from Stick. Current safety Robbie Grimsley also recorded 10 tackles in that game.

“We’re preparing to go play the No. 1 team in the country on the road. We have to give them our best,” Southern Illinois head coach Nick Hill said about this weekend’s game in Fargo.

It seems the Salukis are playing their best football down the stretch. SIU picked up their first win in the Valley three weeks ago at Missouri State. Since shootout losses to Western Illinois and SDSU show that the offense is clicking.

The bad news: most of that clicking has been in the ground game. The Salukis average 227 yards on the ground this season. Getting to that mark will be a tough task against a stout Bison front.

On the other side of the ball, the SIU defense is susceptible to being carved up. The Bison stable of offensive weapons can put up yards in bunches. NDSU showed against Northern Iowa their ability to put up points in a high-paced game.

This weekend’s game also marks NDSU football’s senior day, which honors the team’s seniors for all their years in the program. This year’s senior class is NDSU’s largest with 24 seniors playing their last regular season game Saturday. 

The senior class has compiled an overall record of 49-5 in the past four years. Included in that total is the 16-game win streak the Bison are currently on.

Attention from the game will quickly turn toward the television Sunday. The selection show for the FCS Playoffs is scheduled to air 11:30 a.m. Sunday on ESPNU.

With an undefeated season, the reigning champs have already secured a spot in this year’s playoffs, making it NDSU’s ninth consecutive season making it to the playoffs.