TAHLEQUAH, Okla. – The Northeastern State RiverHawks (1-5, 1-5 MIAA) are coming off their first win in 17 games and will look to begin a new streak when they play host to the Missouri Southern State Lions (1-5, 1-5 MIAA). Kickoff is set for 1 p.m. Oct. 17 at Doc Wadley Stadium (8,300) in Tahlequah, Oklahoma.

The Lions are on a three-game losing streak and haven't won on the road this season. The game can be heard live on KEOK 102.1 FM in Tahlequah with Bill Huddleston (play-by-play) and Sean Rowley (color) providing commentary. A free audio broadcast can be found at goriverhawksgo.com. The game will be streamed live on Stretch Internet (http://portal.stretchinternet.com/nsu/, subscription based). A football-only season pass is available for $69.95, and a day pass can be purchased for $9.95.
 
GAME NOTES
THE MATCHUP  .  .  .  Northeastern State and Missouri Southern State have met 19 times since the first meeting between the schools in 1968, and the RiverHawks own a 12-7 all-time advantage in the series . . . NSU won the first six games, and the Lions picked up their first victory of the series in 1988 . . . Northeastern State collected two forfeit wins in the late 90's, and MSSU owns a 6-2 advantage since 1999.
 
Series History (NSU Leads 12-7)

Date	Winner	Score
2014	MSSU	34-7
2013	MSSU	17-14
2012	MSSU	27-21
2003	NSU	15-10
2002	MSSU	38-7
2001	MSSU	24-0
2000	NSU	33-15
1999	MSSU	28-7
1998	NSU	10-0
1997	NSU	forfeit
1996	NSU	forfeit
1987	NSU	21-20
1988	MSSU	22-19
1979	NSU	32-20
1978	NSU	22-20
1971	NSU	28-0
1970	NSU	42-7
1969	NSU	45-0
1968	NSU	45-0

 
THE HEAD COACHES  .  .  .  NSU's ROB ROBINSON (William Jewell, '00) is in his second season as the RiverHawks head coach . . . he was named the 19th head football coach in school history on Dec. 19, 2013 . . . he owns a 1-16 all-time record . . . Robinson spent the previous 12 years under Craig Schurig as a member of the Washburn Ichabod coaching staff, serving as the offensive coordinator for the last four seasons . . . he also directed the running backs from 2007-13 and coached the wide receivers from 2002-06 . . . he served as the recruiting coordinator from 2002-10 and was the academic coordinator from 2010-13 . . . Robinson was an integral member of a Washburn staff that completely turned around the Ichabod program . . . Washburn averaged 3.3 wins from 1989-03 and had just one winning season, but the Ichabods averaged 7.9 wins from 2004-13 and posted 10 straight winning campaigns . . . Robinson is the second former coordinator under Schurig's tutelage to become the head coach of another program, joining Fort Hays State's Chris Brown . . . Robinson spent the 2001 season at Pittsburg State as a graduate assistant, coaching the defensive backs with Ichabod head coach Craig Schurig . . . the Gorillas won the MIAA Championship that year.
            MSSU's DENVER JOHNSON (Tulsa, '81) is in his first season with the Lions . . . he has compiled a 1-5 record during his tenure . . . he was named the 13th head football coach in MSSU history on April 1, 2015 . . . he came to Southern after serving four seasons at the University of Tulsa as the assistant head coach and offensive coordinator . . . Johnson has spent a total of 30 years coaching college football . . . in the summer of 2012, Johnson was awarded the Merv Johnson Integrity in College Coaching Award by the Jim Thorpe Association . . . in his four seasons at Tulsa, four of his offensive linemen earned first-team all-league accolades, including Stetson Burnett (2013), Brian DeShane and Jared Grigg (2012) and Clint Anderson (2011) . . . Tyler Holmes was an honorable mention performer in 2011 and spent the 2012 season with the Minnesota Vikings . . . Johnson coached an offensive line that helped pave the way for a 1,000-yard rusher in two of his final three seasons at Tulsa. In 2012, Tulsa's offense ranked fourth nationally for fewest sacks allowed, ninth for rushing offense, 21st for fewest tackles for lost yardage allowed and 28th for total offense . . . Johnson spent a total of 12 years as a head coach at two Football Championship Subdivision (FCS) schools, including nine years at Illinois State (2000-08) and the three seasons before that at Murray State (1997-99) . . . he compiled an overall 69-66 career head coaching mark.
 
STREAKING NO MORE .  .  . Northeastern State defeated Nebraska-Kearney 31-14 on Oct. 10 to snap what was the nation's fourth-longest active losing streak . . . the RiverHawks had failed to win a game since the end of the 2013 season, but they picked up a decisive triumph over the Lopers to break into the win column for the first time in the Rob Robinson era . . . NSU scored first, last and plenty of times in between to secure the 17-point victory . . . senior running back Joel Rockmore rushed the ball 18 times for a career-high 210 yards, while also scoring touchdowns on runs of 76 and 85 yards . . . junior wideout Matthew Butler also recorded a 74-yard TD reception in the third quarter . . . those were the three longest plays of the season . . . Northeastern State held the Lopers scoreless over the final two quarters and kept them below 200 yards of total offense (199).
 
ROCKMORE'S DAY .  .  . Joel Rockmore was an all-region performer in 2012 and a preseason All-American in 2013 . . . the senior tailback exploded out of the gates in 2013 but suffered a season-ending injury in the second game of the year . . . he returned in 2014 but struggled to regain his elite form, finishing with just 272 yards rushing on 86 carries (3.2 yards per carry) in nine games (30.2 yards per game) . . . he started off well this season - 252 yards through the first three games - but he then erupted for a career-high 210 yards and two touchdowns on just 18 carries this past week in a win over Nebraska-Kearney . . . he busted runs of 85 and 76 yards, which were the two longest rushes of his career . . . the effort lifted him into fifth in the MIAA and 79th in the nation in rushing yards per game (80.3) . . . he is also seventh in the league and 95th in the country in all-purpose yards per game (117.7).
 
SACK PARTY .  .  . Northeastern State has already recorded 17 quarterback sacks through six games in 2015 . . . the RiverHawks had four sacks each against Pittsburg State, Missouri Western State and Nebraska-Kearney, while registering two sacks against Fort Hays State and Northwest Missouri State . . . the last time NSU posted multiple four-sack games in a single season was in 2010, when the team finished with 22 total sacks . . . enjoying the party the most is senior linebacker Irving Steele, who is currently 65th in the country and third in the MIAA with 4.0 sacks . . . he posted 2.5 against MWSU, which was the most in a single game by an NSU defensive player since Travis Boswell registered 3.0 on August 27, 2011 . . . if Steele registers at least one more half sack this season, it will be the most in a single campaign since Boswell finished with 7.0 in 2011.

THE TALE OF TWO SCHEDULES .  .  . Northeastern State competed against the seventh most difficult schedule in all of Division II during the first five weeks of the season . . . all five opponents the RiverHawks faced have been nationally-ranked or received votes in the AFCA poll at some point this season . . . the record of those five teams through the first five weeks of the season stood at 21-4 (.840), and the only losses suffered were against each other . . . the back half of the schedule for NSU is considerably less treacherous, as the final six opponents were a combined 9-21 (.300) through five games . . . the RiverHawks have already taken advantage of the softer schedule, as they defeated Nebraska-Kearney by a 31-14 margin on Oct. 10.
 
TICKETS REQUIRED FOR ENTRY IN 2015-16 .  .  . All fans wishing to attend an NSU home football or basketball contest this season will be required to show a ticket prior to entering the facilities . . . this is the third-straight year ID's have been required at those events . . . NSU students and faculty/staff are allowed free admittance, but NSU ID's are not accepted as a form of entry . . . tickets can be purchased at NSU's ticketing website, goriverhawkstickets.com . . . NSU students and faculty/staff can access goriverhawkstickets.com and secure their free tickets (either printable or downloaded to your smart phone) through their goNSU accounts . . . for questions regarding ticket options, please contact Brynn Hamner at 918.444.3901.
 
GO RIVERHAWKS GEAR .  .  . Northeastern State University Athletics partners with Advanced-Online to bring fans a one-of-a-kind online shopping site, goriverhawksgear.com . . . NSU fans have another avenue for acquiring Northeastern State apparel and accessories . . . the store is loaded with options for fans of all ages, ranging from T-shirts, polos and sweatshirts, to home office supplies, drinkware and kitchen essentials . . . every item is branded with official Northeastern State athletics and university logos, and select RiverHawks gear and accessories are customizable . . . the online store can be accessed by simply visiting www.goriverhawksgear.com . . . the shop can also be viewed by clicking on the shopping cart at the top right of www.goriverhawksgo.com, the static graphic underneath the main picture or the rotating horizontal carousel just above the video player.