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The Minnesota State University Moorhead football team will play its annual Homecoming game on Saturday against No. 24-ranked Sioux Falls. Game time is 2 p.m. at Nemzek Stadium in Moorhead, Minn.

Live audio, with Dragon broadcasters Steve d'Eustachio and Larry Scott on the call, can be heard at msumdragons.com.  Live video can be accessed as well. For those unable to attend the game, it can be found on WDAY'Z XTRA channel. That is available on channel 6.3 over the air, 596 for Midcontinent Communications customers, and on WDAY.com.

MSUM is 1-2 overall and in the NSIC entering the game while Sioux Falls is 3-0 overall and in the conference.

Series history
The Dragons will meet Sioux Falls for a second time with the Cougars winning the previous meeting, 45-10 in 2012 in Sioux Falls, S.D.

The Head Coaches
Steve Laqua is in his fourth season as MSUM's head coach with a record of 8-28 at the school, while Jed Stugart is in his fifth season as the Sioux Falls head coach with a record of 36-12.

About MSUM
The Dragons are coming off of a 40-36 win over Wayne State on Saturday. Junior quarterback Jake Hodge threw for 330 yards and two touchdowns while also rushing for a touchdown. Junior running Zayne Medhaug rushed for 102 yards and a touchdown and also returned a kickoff for a touchdown. Sophomore cornerback Sheldon Jones had an interception, three passes defended and also returned a two-point conversion for two points.

Junior running back Zayne Medhaug leads the Dragons with 341 rushing yards. He has three touchdowns.  Hodge has rushed for 138 yards and a touchdown. Hodge has thrown for 769 yards and five touchdowns. Junior receiver Adam Jiskra has 18 catches for 322 yards and two touchdowns, while sophomore receiver Cory Ambrose has 14 catches. MSUM is averaging 229.3 yards per game on the ground and 284.0 yards per game through the air for a total of 513.3 yards per game of total offense. The Dragons are scoring 29.7 points per game.

Sophomore linebacker Aaron Bohl leads MSUM with 30 tackles, while junior cornerback Chris Binford has 26 tackles along with an interception. Sophomore defensive lineman Ryan Dahleen and redshirt freshman safety Abe Roehrich each have a sack. Sophomore Sheldon Jones has six pass breakups and an interception.

The Dragon defense allows 49.7 points per game and 253.0 yards per game on the ground. Teams are throwing for 359 yards per game against the Dragons, who surrender 612.0 yards per game of total offense.

About Sioux Falls
The University of Sioux Falls enters Saturday's matchup with a 3-0 mark overall and in the conference. The Cougars, who are ranked No. 24 in the latest AFCA Division II poll, are coming off of a 36-0 rout of then-No. 19-ranked St. Cloud State last week. Nephi Garcia rushed for 121 yards and two scores to pace the Cougars.

Garcia leads USF at 344 rushing yards and seven touchdowns, while Luke Papilion has thrown for 499 yards and four scores. Garrett Shutt has 17 catches for 161 yards and a touchdown for the Cougars, who are averaging 43 points per game this season.

The Cougars rush for 200 yards per game and throw for 263.7 yards per game.

On defense, John Batinich has 19 tackles while Cameron Ostrom has 18 tackles, including a sack. He also has an interception and three passes defensed.

The Sioux Falls defense has been stout all year, allowing just 11 points per game. Teams are rushing for 80.0 yards per game against the Cougars while throwing for 165.0.

More about the Dragons
National Rankings
The MSUM football team is ranked 18th in all of Division II in total offense at 513.3 yards per game. The Dragons are ranked 24th in the nation in rushing offense (229.3 yards per game), 34th in the nation in first downs (71) and 36th in the nation in passing offense (284.0).
Sophomore Sheldon Jones is ranked fifth in the nation in passes defended at 2.3 per game.  Hodge is 15th in total offense per game at 329.0, while Jiskra is ranked 22nd in receiving yards at 322. Medhaug is 28th in rushing yards at 341.

Block Party
Redshirt freshman safety Abe Roehrich and freshman defensive lineman Jake Busse both blocked field goals during the Dragons' 40-36 win over Wayne State on Saturday. In a game decided by four points, keeping those six points off the scoreboard proved vital.

Homecoming Under Laqua
The Dragons are 1-2 in homecoming games under Head Coach Steve Laqua. In 2011, the Dragons beat Minnesota Crookston, 29-22 in overtime, and in 2012, fell to Northern State, 45-7. Last season MSUM lost a heartbreaking 36-34 game to Concordia-St. Paul when a potential game-winning field goal was blocked in the final seconds.

Week 4 Under Laqua
MSUM us 1-2 in Week 4 games under Laqua. The Dragons beat Minnesota Crookston 29-22 in overtime in 2011 but fell to Minnesota State, Mankato in 2012. MSUM lost to Concordia 36-34 last year.

All-Purpose Weapon
Junior running back Zayne Medhaug became the first player in the NSIC to return a kickoff for a touchdown in the Dragons' 40-36 win over Wayne State. Medhaug returned a kickoff 98 yards for a score in the fourth quarter to put MSUM up 38-23 in what proved to be the game-winning score. Medhaug leads the NSIC in kick return average at 46.0 yards per return. He is third in the NSIC in all-purpose yardage at 165.3 yards per game, fourth in rushing at 341 yards and seventh in scoring at 24 points.
It was MSUM's first kick return for a touchdown since 2006 when Jabari Taylor accomplished the feat.

Hodge a Double Threat
Hodge continues to be one of the top all-around threats in the NSIC.  He ranks second in the league in total offense per game at 327.3 yards per game.  Hodge also is ranked fifth in the NSIC in passing yards per game at 256.2.

All-NSIC returners
The Dragons had seven players who earned All-Northern Sun Intercollegiate Conference honors a year ago, and all seven return.

That includes junior wide receiver Adam Jiskra, who was a first-team selection a year ago. Also returning for the Dragons are junior quarterback Jake Hodge (All-NSIC second team), junior running back Zayne Medhaug (All-NSIC second team),  sophomore wide receiver Cory Ambrose (All-NSIC second team), junior linebacker Chris Lee (honorable mention), junior offensive lineman Troy Peterson (honorable mention) and defensive lineman Ryan Dahleen (honorable mention).

2014 Captains
MSUM's senior linebacker Lomumba Ismail and sophomore linebacker Aaron Bohl are the Dragons' 2014 team captains.

No Place Like Home
Nearly half of the Dragons' 2014 roster is from Minnesota, as 42 players hail from the Land of 10,000 Lakes.  The next state is neighboring North Dakota with 17 players.

Another 100 for Jiskra
Junior wide receiver Adam Jiskra recorded the ninth 100-yard receiving game of his career the win at Wayne State. Jiskra had six catches for 167 yards. He is now fourth all-time in school history with 117 career receptions.

Stalwarts Up Front
Senior Kasey Groettum and juniors Bennen Bierman and Troy Peterson have each started all 25 games over the past two-plus seasons on the offensive line -- combining for 75 starts during that time. Their play is among the keys to the Dragon offense's growth over the past two seasons. Groettum is in his fourth year as a starter after starting in five games as a freshman in 2011.

Picking Up Where They Left Off...
Offensively, the Dragons set eight records a year ago, and they picked up right where they left off in 2013 in their opening game at Upper Iowa. The Dragons set a new school record with 709 total yards of offense, topping the previous mark of 685 set in 2013 against Minnesota Duluth. MSUM also tied a school record with 100 offensive plays, tying the mark set against Southwest State in 1971.

Hodge and Jiskra Climbing the Charts
Hodge is now ranked second in Dragon school history with 4,710 career passing yards and trails career leader Dustin Long, who has 5,748 career yards. Jiskra is now ranked fifth all-time in career receptions with 126.