ST. PAUL, Minn. - This Saturday, the Golden Bears (0-7 NSIC, 0-2 North) head to Aberdeen, South Dakota for their first appearance at Northern State's (4-3 NSIC, 1-1 North) Dacotah Bank Stadium for a 6 p.m. night game kickoff against the Wolves.

WEATHER OUTLOOK
Saturday in Aberdeen is headed for a warm and calm afternoon with a high of 71 degrees and a SSW wind of 9 mph with partly to mostly cloudy skies. Saturday evening features a low of 45 degrees, with temperatures expected to remain warmer in the early evening hours, with winds shifting to ENE at 5-10mph overnight.

WATCH ONLINE – NSIC NETWORK
All Golden Bear NSIC football games will be available to watch online, free of charge, powered by the NSIC Network, and 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
 
Saturday's game will feature the audio play-by-play of Ben Root, voice of the Wolves for FOX Sports Aberdeen 1420 AM on the radio call locally in Aberdeen.
 
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.

LISTEN TO THE COACHES SHOW
The Coaches Show with Shannon Currier is back on the Twin Cities airwaves for a fourth season, 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 show airs live on Friday night and features junior wide receiver Nathan Gimza and sophomore defensive tackle Koffi Gbekle.

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!

WEEK 8 GAME CAPTAINS
CSP head coach Shannon Currier and the Golden Bear coaching staff have continued the program's tradition of selecting rotating weekly game captains for the fourth season in a row. Captains are selected by the coaching staff based on performance on the field and as a leader in practice and day-to-day activities.
 
The week seven game captains are to be announced. 

THIRD-RANKED STRENGTH OF SCHEDULE IN DIVISION II
The Golden Bears have had a daunting first half of the season, with a combined opponent record of 37-12 through seven week. All seven of CSP's opponents have a winning record, including the league's top-two teams, Sioux Falls (7-0) and Augustana (6-1).

The Golden Bears add another winning opponent in a tough road tilt at Northern State (4-3).

Entering week eight, CSP holds the 3rd-toughest strength of schedule in Division II football with a past opposition winning percentage of .714 (excluding CSP games).

CSP is closely followed by UMary with the fourth-ranked SOS in DII against a .690 opposition (29-13), with the next closest NSIC team being Minot State with the 25th-ranked strength of schedule (25-17, .595).

While unable to put a positive mark in the win column, the Golden Bears have remained competitive deep into the second half against Augustana (6-1), Southwest Minnesota State (4-3), Minnesota State (5-2) and Bemidji State (5-2).

The good news for the Golden Bears is their future opposition holds a combined 7-21 record (.250), tied with UMary and Minot State for the fifth-lightest strength of schedules in the country down the stretch.

SERIES HISTORY: NORTHERN STATE 9, CONCORDIA 7
After dropping the first two meetings in the series, Concordia responded by winning four straight from 2001 to 2005 amid a 7-2 stretch of football against the Wolves between 2001 and 2011.

The Wolves have responded with a current five game win streak starting in 2012 including CSP's last two trips to Aberdeen in 2012 and 2016. Concordia is 2-5 in seven prior trips to Aberdeen, last winning in 2010.

Head coach Shannon Currier holds a 3-4 record in his career against the Wolves including a 1-3 road record with his lone win in 2002.

LAST MEETING, 2021: NSU 38, CONCORDIA 17
The Golden Bears looked to keep one of the nation's top passing offenses at bay by keeping them off the field, as CSP utilized a 36:03 to 23:57 time of possession advantage to slow down Hunter Trautman and his 24-2 TD-INT ratio and 300-plus passing yard per game average.

In the first quarter, CSP took its first lead when Brian Lankford-Johnson capped a nearly seven minute long scoring drive with an 8-yard TD run for a 7-3 lead late in the first quarter.

CSP extended the lead early in the second quarter when quarterback Abe Schwartz connected with wide receiver Joey Farley for a 6-yard TD for a 14-3 lead.

After the CSP defense came up with a 3-and-out stop to keep the momentum building, NSU executed a fake punt for a 57-yard gain into the CSP red zone when safety Rhett Sheehan intercepted Trautman on the next play, ending the threat and preserving the CSP lead.

While CSP came up empty after the Sheehan INT, the Wolves scored to cut it to 14-10, with CSP responding by driving into NSU territory but stalling on 4th-and-5 from the NSU 39 yard line.

Trautman and the Wolves offense went back to work, completing a 15-yard pass into CSP territory but freshman defensive backs McKinley Egland-Young, Cyrus McClure and Davaris Cheeks converged, forcing and recovering a fumble near midfield with under two minutes to play in the half, still leading 14-10.

Sam Henson converted a 23-yard field goal in the red zone with under 30 seconds to play in the half for a 17-10 lead, but NSU returner Vance Barnes broke loose for a 74-yard return to the CSP 11-yard line.

CSP once again came up with a defining play as Shawn Aarhus blocked the NSU 28-yard field goal as time expired in the half.

In the second quarter, CSP came up with a red zone interception, a fumble recovery in CSP territory and a blocked field goal in the red zone to preserve a 17-10 advantage.

CSP's young secondary limited Trautman and the Wolves passing game to 8-17 for 69 yards and a 1-1 TD-INT ratio in the first half.

But Trautman got right in the third quarter, completing five passes for 110 yards and two TDs, with the NSU defense adding a pick-six for a 31-17 lead. They'd add another score in the fourth.

CSP rushed for 156 yards, setting a new season-high with 42 rushing attempts led by Lankford-Johnson (17-55, TD) while Brandon Marenco rushed for 10-51 and a long of 21.

Schwartz completed 22-37 for 200 yards and added 13-32 rushing. He connected with Farley nine times for 39 yards with Farley racking up 57 yards after the catch.

Trautman finished 18-31 for 225 yards and three TDs and an INT.

CSP out-rushed NSU 156-120 with NSU's leading rusher with just 36 yards.

LAST WEEK: UMD 53, CONCORDIA 7
Concordia-St. Paul dropped a 53-7 home contest to Minnesota Duluth at Sea Foam Stadium.
 
Golden Bear sophomore quarterback Bryce Sievers connected with freshman wide receiver Dion Green to give CSP its lone score of the day, a 42-yard touchdown strike in the third quarter. Sievers finished 5-11 for 78 yards and a touchdown while the touchdown for Green was the first of his career.
 
CSP's ground game was led by sophomore running back Jaylin Richardson (6-21) and freshman wide receiver Troy Ellison (2-17), while Jack Munsterteiger added a 32-yard reception in the third quarter from sophomore quarterback Conner Cordts to round out the top offensive performers.
 
Defensively, junior linebacker Andrew Egnarski had his second-straight double-digit tackle performance with 10, securing nine in the first half on the heels of his 19-tackle effort last week at Bemidji State.
 
Freshman cornerback Zantavious Graham matched Egnarski's 10 tackles, setting a new career-high with nine of his stops being solo tackles.
 
Senior safety Rhett Sheehan added five tackles and a forced fumble and the Golden Bears had six team tackles for loss with El-Osiris Jeudy, Javon Jones, Lucas Becker and Isaac Reed each producing 1.0 TFLs.
 
The Bulldogs were led by running back Wade Sullivan's 100 rushing yards, needing just seven carries and adding a touchdown while quarterback Kyle Walljasper completed 11-16 for 132 yards and two scores while producing 12-67 with a rushing touchdown.
 
UMD had four different players at the quarterback position combine to complete 23-33 for 269 yards while the run game produced a 304-yard day and five touchdowns.

NOTES ABOUT THE WOLVES
The Wolves enter Saturday winners of their last two, beating a 5-2 Winona State team 42-21 two weeks ago in Aberdeen before winning 38-10 at Minot State. They are 3-0 at home in 2022 and are 6-2 at the second-year Dacotah Bank Stadium, opened in 2021.

Northern State boasts the second-ranked run defense in the country, allowing just 58.1 yards per game on the ground. They've piled up 4.14 sacks per game, ranking fourth in the nation along with 9.7 TFLs per game, the fifth-most in the land.

Their total defense is ranked 12th (259.6), scoring defense 22nd with a league-best 16.3 points allowed per game along with the 21st-ranked red zone defense as teams scored on 64.7 percent of trips. hey've allowed just 106 first downs in seven games, ranking 23rd in the country and have the country's 29th-best fourth down defense (33.3%) and 33rd-ranked third down defense (31.4%).

The unit is led up front from the interior by Ian Marshall, who ranks third in the nation in both TFLs (2.6/game, 18.0 total) and sacks (1.43/game, 10.0 total) on a defense that has 13 different players with sacks.

Brennan Kutterer adds a team-high 42 tackles, 9.0 TFLs and 3.5 sacks.

Offensively, four different players have between 180 and 222 rushing yards led by Stanley Haskins (52-222) while QB Will Madler adds 63-186 and a team-high three rushing TDs, completing 92-171 (53.8) for 110 yards and a 10-6 TD-INT ratio. Michael Bonds has also contributed, completing 44-70 (62.9%) for 385 yards and a 3-2 TD-INT mark.

Ben Noland leads the receivers with 29-377 and three TDs while six different targets have 100-plus receiving yards and 11-plus receptions.