ST. PAUL, Minn. - This Saturday at noon, the Concordia-St. Paul football team (1-5 NSIC, 0-1 North) faces its first NSIC North Division road game against #18 Minnesota Duluth (5-1 NSIC, 2-0 North) as the Golden Bears play in their third-straight homecoming game at Malosky Stadium.

WEATHER
Temperatures will grow from around 50 degrees at kickoff to a high of 58 in the afternoon with sunny conditions expected and a 15 mile per hour WNW wind that may reach 20mph.

FULL PREVIEW
Get the full preview of Saturday's matchup in this week's game notes [ pdf ].

For the Golden Bears, its their third-straight homecoming game and second straight road game against a nationally-ranked opponent, also facing Minnesota State when the Mavericks were ranked #17 for their homecoming game on October 2 in Mankato.

Concordia's pass defense continues to lead the Northern Sun, issuing just 183.0 yards per game through the air as the Bulldogs enter play with uncertainty under center with three different signal-callers seeing time at the position since week 4.

WATCH ONLINE – NSIC NETWORK
All Golden Bear football games will be available to watch online, free of charge, powered by the NSIC Network, supported by BlueFrame Technology. Visit nsicnetwork.com/cspbears on a laptop or desktop computer, download the NSIC Network app on your mobile device or watch on your supported OTT provider such as Roku, Apple TV, Amazon Fire TV and Android TV. Search "NSIC Network" and download the app for the league's full sport and team lineups. NSIC NETWORK FAQ
 
This week's game will be simulcast in Duluth on MY9 locally in the Duluth area and also have a radio feed in the greater Duluth area available on KDAL 610 AM. WATCH | LISTEN | LIVE STATS
 
DOWNLOAD THE APP
Fans can download the CSP Bears fan app, free of charge and available in the App Store or on Google Play. The app contains rosters, schedules, scores, stats, news, social media and more! Customize your options to get notifications to your favorite teams, as well. Search "CSP Bears" in the app store to stay up-to-date on Golden Bear athletics.

COACHES SHOW RETURNS TO TWIN CITIES RADIO IN 2021
The Coaches Show with Shannon Currier is back for a third year, once again hosted by Wally Langfellow of Minnesota Score. The show airs following the Minnesota high school football game of the week, typically on Friday evenings in the 9 p.m. to 10 p.m. hour on KYCR 1440 AM radio, available in the Twin Cities metro area. This week's guests include junior running back Lajuan Preston and junior safety Rhett Sheehan.

For fans who miss the show or are outside of the radio station's Twin Cities reach, the entire show is accessible via the CSP Bears Podcast, available in Spotify, Apple Podcasts, Stitcher and Google Play Music. It will typically be uploaded late Friday night (after the initial air time) or Saturday morning prior to the game. Search 'CSP Bears' into your favorite podcast provider! CSP BEARS PODCAST ONLINE

2021 TEAM CAPTAINS
CSP head coach Shannon Currier features rotating team captains each week for the third year in a row in 2021. Captains are selected by the coaching staff based on performance on the field and as a leader in practice, meetings and day-to-day activities.

This week's game captains are defensive players: senior cornerback Preston Piltoff (5x), junior safety Rhett Sheehan (2x) from the secondary, junior linebacker Foster Conzet and junior nose tackle Mel Jeudy. 

SHEPLEY VERSUS SHEPLEY
Junior wide receiver Jake Shepley will have a chance to play on the same field as his younger brother this Saturday as UMD sophomore defensive back Marcus Shepley is a defensive back for the Bulldogs.

Jake is in his fifth year at Concordia-St. Paul, but used a redshirt in 2019 and was not able to compete in 2020 due to COVID-19. In his career at CSP, he's played in 21 games with 14 catches for 236 yards and five TDs.

He also served as the team's primary punter for part of the 2018 season, punting 31 times for a 39.3 average with nine inside the 20, eight punts of 50-plus yards, four fair catches and a long of 66 yards.

Marcus is in his third year as a Bulldog, redshirting in 2019 before the cancelled 2020 season. He had his top defensive performance in week 6 at UMary with four total tackles.

Like his older brother, Marcus also has handled some punting responsibility as a college player, serving as the team's punter in the first two weeks with 10 punts for a 39.0 average, a long of 52 among two punts of 50-plus yards with five inside the 20 and a pair of fair catches.

The two brothers, playing opposite sides of the ball, have a chance to go head-to-head this Saturday.

They have two other older brothers, with Brett Shepley playing football at Augustana University in the NSIC from 2015-19 where he played 41 games, recording 86 catches for 1,239 ayrds and 11 total TDs including a career-best 2018 junior year with 46-674 and six TDs.

Tucker Shepley was a college basketball player, suiting up for Northwestern-St. Paul where he made his debut in 2017-18 for an Eagles team that went 11-5 in the UMAC.

They are the sons of Tom and Deb Shepley of Burnsville, Minnesota.

KORAN & CONZET FACE FORMER TEAM
A pair of Golden Bears have strong seasons, juniors Isaiah Koran and Foster Conzet, both came to Concordia-St. Paul from UMD and are both originally from the Twin Cities metro area and they both spent the 2016 season at UMD as redshirts.

The 2016 Bulldogs went 10-1 to finish second overall in the NSIC and won the NSIC North with a 7-0 record. UMD qualified for the NCAA Division II Playoffs, with the 13th-ranked Bulldogs falling 59-26 at #9 Emporia State in the first round of the super regional.

Koran is a North St. Paul High School graduate and joined Concordia's roster for 2019, playing in 10 games as a versatile special teams and offensive player, leading the team's kick returning efforts with 10-212 (21.2).

In 2021, Koran is second on the team with 252 all-purpose yards and leads the team with 19 receptions for the second-most yards (185). His top game was a 9-catch, 78-yard performance against SMSU, finishing with 149 all-purpose yards in the game.

Conzet, a Wayzata High School graduate, came to Concordia for the 2018 season and was a two-time Scout Team Player of the Week in his first year before earning a reserve and special teams role in 2019, picking up 31 tackles in 11 games.

In 2021, Conzet leads the Golden Bears with 37 tackles including a career-high nine tackles in two games, first at Sioux Falls with eight solos and again last week against Bemidji State. He's made at least three tackles in every game this season and ranks 17th in the Northern Sun.

QUARTERBACK SHUFFLE ON BOTH SIDELINES
Each team has played three quarterbacks entering play this weekend with CSP featuring three different QBs under center last Saturday and four different players completing passes in the game, while UMD's signal caller the past two weeks is not listed on the team's official two-deep ahead of week 7's game.

For Concordia, freshman Conner Cordts left the game in the first quarter following an apparent injury and did not return. The seventh freshman starting quarterback since 1999 when CSP moved to NCAA Division II, Cordts completed 58.2 percent (82-141) of his passes for 857 yards with six touchdowns and just one interception. He's not listed on the team's week 7 two-deep. Backup quarterback Abe Schwartz remains the listed backup. Like Cordts, Schwartz also left the game early with an apparent injury and did not return. On the year, Schwartz is 7-14 passing for 44 yards. Enter freshman Bryce Sievers, who finished the game and is listed in the top spot on the team's depth chart. In his first extended action and second college appearance, Sievers completed 9-16 for 83 yards including a long pass of 33 yards.

The Bulldogs are led by fifth year veteran John Larson who was injured in week 4 against Wayne State and has not returned. He is now elevated to the top of the two-deep and on the year has passed for 952 yards, nine touchdowns and two interceptions with two more scores on the ground. His career has been impacted by injuries throughout, playing in 28 games across parts of four seasons, passing for 5,194 yards, 55 touchdowns and 17 interceptions while the dual-threat also has rushed for 1,132 yards and 14 combined touchdowns (12 rushing, 2 receiving).

The UMD listed backup is Garrett Olson, also a redshirt senior, who completed 9-12 for 114 yards and two touchdowns with one INT and 7-33 rushing in the 26-21 week 5 win at MSU Moorhead. 

The starter at QB for the Bulldogs the last two weeks, redshirt freshman NDSU transfer Logan Graetz, is not listed on the two-deep despite four touchdown passes and no interceptions with 150 yards last week in a 31-27 win at UMary. In parts of three games, Graetz is 23-43 passing for 288 yards with five touchdowns and no interceptions.