NORTHEASTERN STATE (1-2, 1-2 MIAA)
at LINCOLN (0-2, 0-2 MIAA)
Saturday, September 25 -- 2 p.m.
Dwight T. Reed Stadium (Jefferson City, Mo.)
All-Time Series: Northeastern State trails 1-2

TAHLEQUAH -- Northeastern State will look to get their first win against the Blue Tigers in Jefferson City Saturday, where they will face Lincoln for just the fourth time in program history.

TOP STORYLINES

1 | Northeastern State is looking to win back-to-back road contests for the first time since the conclusion of the 2012 season.

2 | The Blue Tigers' last win came against the RiverHawks (27-9) in Jefferson City on Oct. 19, 2019.  Lincoln has won both meetings with NSU on their home turf. 

3 | Marques Williams leads the MIAA in overall tackles (30), his 21 solo tackles are first with the MIAA, and he also had the first interception for the NSU defense this season. 

4 | Mark Wheeland has caught touchdown passes in the last two games and ten receptions for 125 yards this season.  He is second in the MIAA in touchdown receptions, with three and nine in his career at Northeastern State.  

5 | There will be a bit of fall in the air Saturday, with a kickoff temperature of 76 expected in Jefferson City.  This season, it will be the coolest kickoff temperature so far with light winds and a near-zero percent chance for rain.

NSU QUICK HITS
>> Madison Wrather has started 25 consecutive games on the RiverHawks' offensive line with is the longest streak among student-athletes on the NSU roster.  

>> Dashawn Williams leads the NSU receiving core with 15 receptions and is averaging six yards per catch.

>> Redshirt freshman Grant Elerick has started the last two games for RiverHawks throwing two touchdown passes and catching the game winner at Missouri Southern.  Elerick has completed 38-of-64 passes for a QB rating of 103.3. 

>> Jacob Frazier made his debut in the second half last week at Pitt State completing 7-for-8 passes, with a touchdown.  The graduate student had 58 passing yards and 29 rushing yards.He comes to NSU from Alabama State via Kilgore College, where he played for head coach J.J. Eckert.  Frazier at Magnolia HS (Texas) tied a Texas state football record for throwing ten touchdown passes in one game. 

>> Northeastern State's defense is tied for third in the MIAA with six sacks this season, at Missouri Southern, they had three.  On the interception side, picked off their first two of the season against Pitt State in week three action.  Dawandrick Crockett was a First Team NAIA All-American in the spring of 2021 and led the nation with 17 passes defended and had six interceptions.   He blocked one pass early in the game at Missouri Southern. 

>> Isaiah Davis gave the RiverHawks their first 100 yard rushing game since 2019 with 111 yards at Missouri Southern.   Davis has 30 carries this season and is averaging 5.2 yards per rush. 

>> Tim Davis is a sixth-year member for the RiverHawks and averaged 39.1 yards per punt through the first three weeks.  The graduate student forced six fair catches, with a 57 yard punt good for sixth longest in the MIAA this season so far. 

>> Tyler Crawford is NSU's starting kicker, was a late addition to the team after transferring from Nebraska at the start of camp.  A Broken Arrow native, Crawford played three games for the Cornhuskers in 2020 and was their starting punter to finish the season. 

>> Being a freshman for some on the NSU roster will seem like the movie Groundhog Day with a handful of student-athletes who used the 2019 season as a redshirt year, then progressed to redshirt-freshman in the non-season last fall.  Now they will move to being 'COVID'-freshman with student-athletes in football, not losing a year of eligibility because of the loss of the NCAA Fall Championships.  

>> Two Northeastern State coaches have won a national championship as a player or as a staff member. Michael Conrad (Texas A&M-Commerce) won an NCAA Division II National Title, and Head Coach J.J. Eckert was a member of the 1994 NAIA Championship at NSU. 

THE SERIES WITH THE BLUE TIGERS
>> The series is one of the newest for the RiverHawks and dates back to 2012.
>> Third straight trip to Lincoln for Northeastern State.

ABOUT THE BLUE TIGERS
>> At the time of this publication, the Blue Tigers have roughly half the player-personal compared to Northeastern State, with 63 listed on their website.
>> Lincoln has had one game canceled this season due to COVID-19 protocols, with a road contest at Northwest Missouri being scrubbed. 
>> Hosea Franklin has been limited to 31 carries for 27 rushing yards this season.  In 2019 he led the MIAA in rushing yards with 1,359 on 226 carries and was a Don Hansen All-American Honorable Mention selection. 
>> The Lincoln defense has allowed at least 70 points in their first two outings this season, while their offense has only entered the red zone once.  Teams are 72% on third downs and 3-for-4 on fourth down against the Blue Tigers defense.  
>> LU is last in the MIAA on both sides of the ball, averaging 185 yards of offense and allowing 581 yards on the defensive side.
>> The Blue Tigers opened the season young with 35 freshmen on their roster but were limited on the line with seven on the offensive side and ten on the defensive side. 
>> Head Coach Malik Hoskins is familiar with the Tahlequah area and was in charge of the Bacone football program in Muskogee in 2016.

Opponent scout information is written by Zac Cahill, a member of the NSU strategic communications office and a former MIAA football student-athlete at Emporia State.