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By Jeff Kolpack jkolpack@forumcomm.com

FARGO – North Dakota State needstwo victories in its final three regu-lar-season games to put BrockJensen in some rather elite FCS com-pany. He’s two wins shy from tying

the division’s all-time record formost wins by aquarterback.

Jensen has 41heading intotoday’s home gameagainst Illinois

State. He is tied with Eric Ward of Richmond from 2006-09.

Armanti Edwards of AppalachianState has the record of 43 set in thosesame years.

“Obviously, that’s very humbling,”Jensen said. “It’s an honor to be men-tioned with those guys but you knowwhat, I haven’t though much about it.I’m just worried about these Red-birds and getting prepared for theseguys.”

Jensen is 40-5 as NDSU’s startingquarterback plus another win in 2010when he came off the bench againstMorgan State (Md.). A win today andJensen will tie J.R. Revere of GeorgiaSouthern, who had 42 wins from1998-01.

Jensen is NDSU’s career leader inpass completions, attempts andyards and has the total offenserecord of 8,226 yards.

Unlike last year, he’s maintainedhis efficiency, currently completing67 percent of his passes on 119 of 178.He has 17 touchdowns against justfour interceptions.

“A lot of hard work goes into itwith all the summer workouts thatwe do,” Jensen said. “It’s the timingwith receivers and the tight ends get-

ting into the mix. The backs aredoing a good job running and theoffensive line has done an awesome job giving me the time that I need.”

Minor injury no big deal forBison running back Crockett

NDSU running back John Crockettsaid a strain in his hip was a littleinconvenient last week. At least hedoesn’t have to carry the load for therushing attack.

Senior Sam Ojuri has 109 carriesand Crockett 107 in the two-back tail-back system aimed at keeping bothplayers in better health late in theseason.

“We’re both able to take on theload,” Crockett said. “We also know

when it’s time to take on hits andwhen it’s time to avoid people. Youhave to learn how to play runningback in this league.

South Dakota State’s Zach Zennerleads the Missouri Valley in rushingattempts with 212 – more than 100more than Ojuri and Crockett.Jackrabbits head coach JohnStiegelmeier said a couple of weeksago that the hits are taking a toll onZenner.

“It’s a long grind,” Crockett said.“Every week we’re going againstsome of the top teams in the nation.They’re no jokes. You want to showyour best effort every time you stepon the field and having a two-backsystem makes it where we’re bothready to go.”

Illinois State sophomore backsteps into starting role

Illinois State’s Marshaun Coprichis third in the Missouri Valley intotal carries with 171. He played a lit-

tle bit as a true freshman last year,but has taken over as the main ball-carrier this season.

A little maturity has gone a longway, said Redbirds head coach BrockSpack. Coprich is from Victorville,Calif., and the distance factor isn’talways easy.

“When you deal with a young per-son that comes from far away to go toschool, that’s a part of it,” Spacksaid. “You don’t think about that as afan or even sometimes as a youngercoach, but as an older coach, youknow these guys go through a transi-tion phase.”

Coprich is sixth in the league, aver-aging 81.8 yards per game. He’s theonly one of the top three ISU run-ning backs that is healthy.

“Thank god he’s playing well anddoing a good job,” Spack said. “I’dlike to have a couple more backs.”

Forum reporter Jeff Kolpack can be reached at (701)241-5546.

Kolpack’s NDSU media blog can be found

at www.areavoices.com/bisonmedia

By Jeff Kolpack jkolpack@forumcomm.com

FARGO – An unexpectedrun of five straight losseshas put Northern Iowa outof the FCS playoff picture.Yet, the Panthers still havea say today on how the play-off field could potentiallyshape up.

They host YoungstownState, which is tied for theMissouri Valley FootballConference lead with NorthDakota State at 5-0. UNI rep-resents the first of threenationally ranked oppo-nents that Youngstown willface to close the season.

The Penguins host NDSUnext week and finish theseason with South DakotaState at home.

Whereas a year ago whenYoungstown struggled towin the close game, it hascorrected that this season,evidenced by a 38-34 win atSouth Dakota last week.The winning play came ona touchdown run in thefinal seconds.

For the first time since1999, Youngstown has ralliedfor two fourth-quarter roadcomebacks in one season.

“I think there are twothings,” said YSU headcoach Eric Wolford. “WhenI came in, we lacked depthand couldn’t sustain or fin-ish games. And the secondthing, when you don’t havethe success that you expect-ed, there was a lot of self-ishness and individuals. Wemade a commitment in this

offseason to be a team first.We don’t address any indi-vidual accolades, any rank-ing or anything like that.”

UNI will most likely bewithout its top two play-makers in running backDavid Johnson and quar-terback Sawyer Kollmor-gen because of injuries.

Salukis still have hopesfor FCS playoff spot

It appears a possible thirdplayoff spot from the confer-ence could come down toSDSU or Southern Illinoisbecause both teams have thepotential to reach eight winswhile four-loss Illinois State

is playing just 11 games.The Salukis have Mis-

souri State at home today.“We’re playing for playoff 

hopes so it should be a heat-ed battle,” said SIU headcoach Dale Lennon.

Freshman Ryan West willstart his second game atquarterback in place of injured starter Kory Faulkn-er. The Salukis scored thefirst two times they had theball last week in a 34-28 winat Western Illinois.

Etc. etc. etc. SDSU head coach John

Stiegelmeier on facing Indi-ana State, which is withoutstar running back ShakirBell: “They lost a great

player in Shakir Bell and if we lost (Zach) Zenner, wewould struggle in somephases.”USD steps out of league

play in hosting Montana,the former employer of Coyotes head coach JoeGlenn. “This is where wecan fit them in when we didthe contracts,” he said. “Idon’t make a big deal out of it. We just have to get readyand put the best product wecan on the field and hope tohave a shot to win.”

Forum reporter Jeff Kolpack can bereached at (701) 241-5546.

Kolpack’s NDSU media blog can be found

at www.areavoices.com/bisonmedia

BISON  GAME  DAY4 Saturday, November 9 2013 The Forum

BISON

NOTEBOOK 

MISSOURI VALLEY 

NOTEBOOK 

Big tests facing  Youngstown St.

Elite company Jensen three victories shy of breaking FCS record

Associated Press

Eric Wolford says depthis a big reason Youngstownis winning close games.

Associated Press

Brock Jensen has a 40-5 record as NDSU’s starting quarterback, withanother win coming when he came off the bench in 2010.