Week 4: Northeastern State (0-3) at #18 Fort Hays State (3-0) | 2 p.m.
Hays, Kan.  | Lewis Field Stadium
 

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

All-Time Series
Northeastern State has a short history with Fort Hays State with three of the five meetings coming in the last three years.  The RiverHawks won the first two meetings between the two programs winning 16-14 in 1989, and 37-7 in the following year.  This will be the second visit to Hays, Kan. for Northeastern State in the NCAA Division II era.  In 2015, the RiverHawks lost to the Tigers 27-13 at Lewis Field Stadium.  

On this Date
This will be the eighth time that Northeastern State will be playing on Sept. 23 and the first time since the 2006 season. Northeastern State's last game on Sept. 23 was also against a ranked opponent at #7 West Texas A&M, in Canyon, Texas.  In seven contests, NSU is 2-5 with their last win coming in 1995 against Oklahoma Panhandle State (27-25); Northeastern State that season reached the NAIA Championship game.

Coaching Matchup
Rob Robinson (5-31) is in his fourth season as head coach at Northeastern State.  In three seasons at NSU, Robinson has 25 student-athletes who have been named All-MIAA, and 46 who where named to the MIAA Academic Honor Roll.  Robinson was named the 19th head football coach in school history on Dec. 19, 2013 and spending previous 12 years under Craig Schurig as a member of the Washburn Ichabod coaching staff, serving as the offensive coordinator for his last four seasons at WU. 

Chris Brown (39-30) enters his seventh season as head coach at Fort Hays State in 2017. He has guided FHSU to 38 wins in six years and led Fort Hays State to back-to-back bowl appearances in 2015 and 2016 with an 8-4 mark each year, tying the school record for wins in a season twice. Under Brown's guidance, Fort Hays State claimed its first-ever postseason game win, bowl or playoffs, by defeating Eastern New Mexico University in the Heart of Texas Bowl by a score of 45-12.  

Against Ranked Teams
This Saturday's match up will be the first this season for the RiverHawks to face a team in the AFCA Top- 25 with Fort Hays coming in at number-18 this week.  In 2016, Northeastern State averaged 25.6 points per game in three contests against ranked opponents.

Good Knight
NSU senior Gary McKnight Jr. caught seven passes for 200 yards on Saturday, Sept. 16 at home against Pittsburg State.  McKnight's performance was the fourth highest for a receiver in NCAA Division II football in week three, and the most since 2011 for the RiverHawks.  Additionally, he caught two touchdown passes, and 254 all-purpose yards which was the most this season in the MIAA. 

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.

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 six touchdown passes away from breaking the NSU NCAA Division II era career record (37), and needs 940 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.  

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.