ST. PAUL, Minn. - This Saturday marks the 2025 season finale as Concordia-St. Paul (2-8, 2-7 NSIC, 1-4 South) hosts Sioux Falls (6-4, 5-4 NSIC, 2-3 South) with a noon kickoff at Sea Foam Stadium.

SENIOR DAY
Prior to kickoff, the program honors its 23 graduating players for the commitment and effort in the program.

Graduating players from the program include the following: Jared Barden, Jaden Burandt, Jawon Carr, Austin Carrillo, Caydon Christensen, Jackson Compton, Troy Ellison, James Evans IV, Luke Gombert, Michael Hall, Daniel Hornacek, Camden Ludeman, Peyton Nawrocki, Emmitt Peterson, CJ Picazo, Julius Reynolds, Carter Ryan, Evan Scott, Reed Styer, Byron Sweeny, Drake Teal, James Wade, Samuel Yager. 

GAME CAPTAINS VS SIOUX FALLS
CSP head coach Shannon Currier and the coaching staff are continuing the program's tradition of selecting rotating weekly game captains, the seventh year in a row in 2025. Captains are selected by the coaching staff based on performance on the field and as a leader in practices, meetings and day-to-day activities. 

This week's game captains are senior center Caydon Christensen (7x) and senior guard CJ Picazo (5x) on offense, and senior defensive end Drake Teal and graduating junior safety Byron Sweeny on defense.

This week's honorary game captain is former CSP offensive tackle and current St. Paul Saints employee Robert Kraklow.

WEATHER OUTLOOK
Saturday's game is expected to see temperatures ranging from 42 at kickoff to the day's high of 44 by 3pm with cloudy conditions and a 15-20 percent chance of rain during play and a light NNE wind at 6-7 (!) mph. 

TICKETS - PURCHASE IN ADVANCE ONLINE
Fans are highly encouraged to purchase tickets online at cspbears.com/tickets prior to game day. All ticketed events for the 25-26 academic year will utilize the Vivenu online ticket platform found at that link and fans must scan a mobile ticket to enter. Tickets will still be sold on site on game day but purchases are card-only and include additional fees. The best way for fans to make their game day entry as smooth as possible is to purchase tickets online in advance. CSP Students, Faculty and Staff will be able to download their free passes through Vivenu.

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.

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 Hudl (formerly 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

All home games will feature the play-by-play broadcasting provided by Dan Flanagan, the voice of the Golden Bears for over a decade. The St. Paul, Minnesota native studied broadcasting at Fordham University (N.Y.) where he was the voice of the Rams' football and basketball teams in the NCAA Division I Patriot League.

COACHES SHOW RETURNS TO TWIN CITIES RADIO
The Coaches Show with Shannon Currier is back on the Twin Cities airwaves for a sixth 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 guests on the show: running back Joel Lacy and safety Ricky Dixon, both juniors.

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 YouTube podcasts. 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!

SERIES HISTORY: USF 16, CSP 2
The Comets won the first meeting between the programs: Sioux Falls College and Concordia College, in 1971. From there, Sioux Falls went on a 12-game winning streak including 1972-74 and 1982-83 when the teams were still NAIA.

The series went dormant for nearly 30 years, revived in 2012 when USF joined the NSIC and made the move to NCAA Division II, winning seven-straight against CSP in the DII-era.

Concordia struck back with a decisive 41-17 win in 2019, but Sioux Falls has recovered with four-straight wins.

Two of the previous six contests, both losses for CSP, were decided by one score.

Head coach Shannon Currier holds a 1-7 record against the Cougars and is 1-3 against USF at Sea Foam Stadium.

In six trips to Sea Foam Stadium, USF holds a 5-1 record against Concordia. 

LAST MEETING, 2024: USF 35, CSP 21
The Golden Bears looked to win the ball control battle early on, taking its opening drive 16 plays and nearly nine and a half minutes off the clock, converting a pair of third downs and a fourth down on a strong opening drive that resulted in a missed 47-yard FG attempt.

The defense held a strong USF offense to a 3-and-out, and CSP's offense picked up another third down conversion and moved into USF territory, ultimately controlling the clock for 13:16 of the first 15 minutes of play, limiting the Cougars to six yards on four plays in the quarter. 

Another 3-and-out by CSP's defense forced USF to punt, and this time, CSP executed another long drive into the end zone with Jaylin Richardson scoring at the goal line.

CSP's third drive took 7:12 of clock, and Richardson had 22-86 rushing with two touchdowns. 

After CSP's first three and USF's first two possessions, CSP held a 20:28 to 3:21 time of possession margin and a 7-0 lead with 6:11 to play in the half, along with a 133-14 edge in total offense, 87-8 in rushing and 9-0 in first downs.

USF wouldn't pick up a first down until just over five minutes to play in the first half, but that sparked a 49-yard TD run by USF QB Camden Dean to tie the game.

Dean finished the day 17-22 for 225 and a TD passing and 6-74 with two TDs rushing. 

USF started with the ball in the third quarter, and Dean went to work with completions of 17 and 25 yards to set up an 11 yard TD run by Dylan Rudningen and a 14-7 USF lead. 

Although CSP QB Jackson Compton connected with Drew Enke for a 37-yard play on the next CSP drive, the Golden Bears came up empty on downs in USF territory, and the Cougars responded with another TD for a 21-7 lead.

Compton had his breakout performance, completing 22-34 for 267 yards and a TD while adding 5-30 rushing, wasn't sacked and didn't commit any turnovers. 

Down 21-7, he responded with a big drive, completing 3-3 for 47 yards and drew a 15-yard defensive pass interference penalty on a target to Enke, setting up a 12-yard TD run by Richardson to cut the margin back to a 1-score game, 21-14, late in the third quarter. 

With the ball and trailing by a TD, CSP started moving the ball and what appeared to be a big 24-yard run by Richardson to the USF 16-yard line was brought back with a holding penalty near midfield, eventually leading to a missed 44-yard FG attempt.

USF answered with a TD, and CSP turned the ball over on a fumble deep in its own territory, setting up another Cougar score, turning what could have been a red zone opportunity to tie the game at 21 into a 35-14 deficit with 2:08 to play.

Enke finished the game 5-77 receiving, and Jaylon Washington had his top performance at CSP with 8-92 receiving including a late 32-yard TD catch and led CSP with 130 all-purpose yards. 

Ben Rehl led the defense with a TFL, an INT and five tackles.

ABOUT THE COUGARS
The Cougars finished third in the Northern Sun standings in 2024 at 7-3 in league play and went 8-3 overall, the only NSIC program of the four schools who finished 7-3 or better and didn't earn an NCAA Super Region playoff berth. 

Entering 2025, the NSIC Preseason Coaches' Poll tabbed USF fifth, just a point behind Bemidji State in the 14-team NSIC, and the Cougars were picked third in the 7-team NSIC South Division. 

Sioux Falls has already secured its second-straight winning season in head coach Jim Glogowski's third year after a 3-8 start to his USF tenure in 2023.

After a 3-0 start, the Cougars went through a three-game losing streak against the top teams in the NSIC, falling at home to UMD (34-17), at Minnesota State (38-12) and at home to Sioux Falls (29-28). After rebounding with three more wins in a row, USF fell last week 42-13 at Wayne State.

The Cougars have been excellent on third down, converting 50.0%, the ninth-best rate in the nation leading to the country's 10th-most first downs (241), and USF is the least penalized team in the country with just 31.7 yards per game while the 3.6 penalties called against USF per game ranks second in the land. 

It's been the passing attack that has buoyed USF's offense, with 264.1 yards per game to rank 24th in the nation, including a 13.8 average per completion which is fourth-best in the NSIC, and a 154.8 passing efficiency, 28th in the nation and third in the NSIC. 

Despite the passing-first offense, USF is eighth in the country in time of possession (34:02) and 14th in fewest turnovers (10), and ranks 18th in the nation with 438.3 yards of total offense per contest. 

Hank Brown Jr. is third in the country with 8.1 receptions per game, 10th in receiving yards per game (93.5) and 28th in all-purpose yards (112.2). The ground game is led by Bubba Tann III, fifth in the NSIC with 84.2 rushing yards per game and 10th in the NSIC with eight touchdowns. 
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FULL PREVIEW: CSP GAME NOTES
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