Week 3: Northeastern State (0-2) vs. Pittsburg State (1-1) at 7 p.m.
Tahlequah, Okla. | Gable Field at Doc Wadley Stadium
 

Live Stats	sidearmstats.com/nsuok/football/
Live Stats for Media	sidearmstats.com/nsuok/football/media
Live Audio	Billy Country 96.3 FM, KTLQ 1350 AM
Live Streaming Audio	portal.stretchinternet.com/nsu/
Play-by-Play	Bill Huddleston
Commentary	Sean Rowley
Live Streaming Video	TheMIAANetwork.com ($)
	Northeastern State Game Notes

Premium Ticketing for Saturday
Please take note that the Sept. 16 contest against Pittsburg State is under the premium pricing model and adult general admission tickets cost $20 and no group tickets will be sold for the contest.  Family four packs will be for sale for $40 and includes two adults and two children.

All-Time Series
This will be sixth straight season that the RiverHawks will face Pittsburg State in a series that dates back to 1912.  Northeastern State does hold a narrow 6-5-1 lead in Tahlequah but has not won on their home turf since the 1969 season.  Pittsburg State has won the last six meetings with the RiverHawks nearly knocking off PSU on the road in overtime (38-37), had NSU won it would have been their first since 1968.  Northeastern State has faced the Gorillas once in the NAIA Postseason in 1987 but fell 57-0 at PSU.

On this Date
This will be the eighth time that Northeastern State will be playing on Sept. 16 and the first time since the 2006 season. Four of the contests on this date landed between 1960 and 1972 which coincided with the opening weekend of football season.

Coaching Matchup
Head Coach Rob Robinson is winless in his first three meetings with Pitt State.  However, in his last outing Robinson nearly upended PSU on the road but fell in overtime 38-37.  Robinson (5-30) in three seasons at NSU has 25 student-athletes who have been named All-MIAA, and 46 who where named to the MIAA Academic Honor Roll. 

Tim Beck is in his eighth season as head coach at Pitt State. He has compiled a 60-24 (.714) career record.   Beck led his alma mater (PSU, '88) to the 2011 NCAA Division II National Championship three seasons ago, earning national coach of the year honors from Liberty Mutual, the Don Hansen Football Committee and FieldTurf™. Beck became the school's 14th all-time head football coach in December 2009, after serving for 23 seasons as an assistant coach for the Gorillas including 16 years as the team's offensive coordinator from 1994-2009.

Season 20 
The 2017 season is Northeastern State's 20th as a member of NCAA Division II and the 104th season overall.  Northeastern State is in their sixth season of MIAA membership with one year as an independent, and 13 as a member of the Lone Star Conference.

From Pitt to NSU
Rashad Pittman who is in his first season at Northeastern State as the team's defensive line coach was a Pitt State All-MIAA performer and was a two-time team captain.  During the 2014 and 2015 seasons he served as a graduate assistant for PSU working with the offensive line.  Pittman's interior linemen helped lead the MIAA in total offensive and first downs.  Additionally, RiverHawks' defensive coordinator Josh Lattimer began his coaching career at Pittsburg State as a student assistant from 2005-07. He helped coach the linebackers, and the 2006 squad finished the season with a Mineral Water Bowl victory over Bemidji State.  Lattimer was a two-time NCAA Division II All-American linebacker at Pitt State and also a two-time All-Southwest Region defensive player and landed on the All-MIAA team three times.  Head Coach Rob 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.  

NFL Hall of Fame heritage 
Freshman Nick So'oto a two-time All-District, All-Parish, and All-City Selection at Parkway High School (Bossier City, La.) is the nephew of 10-time NFL All-Pro Junior Seau who was a member of the NFL Class of 2015 Hall of Fame, and had his number retired with Los Angeles (San Diego) Chargers.  Additionally, So'oto has a cousin Vic (So'oto) who played in the NFL for four seasons and is presently a Defensive Line Coach at the University of Virginia.

Herd gets NFL shot
Steffon Herd, a four year letterwinner and three time All-MIAA selection was invited to the Los Angeles Rams' rookie mini camp during the summer. The former RiverHawks Defensive Back played in 43 career games and recorded 290 total tackles, mostly from the last three years.   This last season, Herd led Northeastern State with 101 overall tackles, with 71 being solo which was fourth highest in the MIAA.

McKinzy record book watch
In his first season at Northeastern State, junior quarterback Dom McKinzy broke an overall program record with 2,767 passing yards and tied the record books with 26 touchdown passes in 2016.  McKinzy is nine touchdown passes away from breaking the NSU NCAA Division II era career record (37), and needs 1,263 passing yards to set the NCAA Division II era record which is 4,405.  In the Redmen/RiverHawks program record books he holds season bests in passing yards per game (251.5) and total season offensive average (266.9).

Roy Burk (1968-70) holds the overall Northeastern State record for touchdown passes with 53 and Lynn Pattillo (1979-81) is the career passing yards leader with 5,799 yards.