NOTEBOOK

From Page F4

Bison OL Mauch

credits 9-man roots

NDSI senior offensive lineman Cody Mauch accepted an invitation to the Senior Bowl earlier this week and also gave a shoutout to North Dakota 9-man football.

Former Bison offensive lineman Cordell Volson, from Balfour, N.D., was drafted in the fourth round of the 2022 NFL Draft by the Cincinnati Bengals. Volson played 9-man football for DrakeAnamoose.

The 6-foot-6, 303-pound Mauch also played 9-man football for Hankinson. He was a recruited as a walkon to NDSU to play tight end.

“It’s wild,” Mauch said. “It goes to show there’s some pretty good football in North Dakota, especially at the 9-man level. I get in arguments all the time with guys.”

Mauch said playing at a smaller school has its advantages.

“The thing about smalltown North Dakota, let alone the entire state, but the whole southeast corner of the state … you’ve got so much support,” Mauch said.

Bison fullback Hunter Luepke also received an invitation to the Senior Bowl, which is a college all-star game for NFL Draft prospects who have completed their college eligibility.

“It’s an awesome feeling to be able to see Cody and Hunter,” Bison running back TaMerik Williams said of the Senior Bowl accolades.

“Those are special guys. I feel like they would have the same feeling if it was to be me in that position.”

SIU suffered two home heart-breaking losses

The Bison will be running into a hot quarterback in

Baker, who set a school record for passing yards in one game with 485 against Northern Iowa — the Salukis’ last game before a bye week. UNI overcame SIU 37-36.

As Mike Reis, the veteran play-by-play radio voice for SIU in his 44th year put it, “If it’s 486, Southern wins the game.” A last-second Hail Mary pass from Baker came up one yard short. Baker’s heave to receiver Jay Jones was downed at the 1-yard line. “It’s crazy,” Baker told Reis after the game. “It was short, I wish it was a couple of yards farther. It’s just tough.”

Ironically, SIU head coach Nick Hill when he was a quarterback at Southern passed for 436 yards in a 2007 loss at Northern Iowa, which at the time set the school record. “It’s kind of like deja vu, I think I had this same headset on and you asked me that same question as a player,” Hill told Reis. “I think Nic will probably tell you the same thing, it stings, it hurts.”

It was the second tough loss at home for SIU, which at 5-4 overall needs to win its last two games to have a legitimate shot at the FCS playoffs. The Salukis had their chances late in the game in a 34-31 loss to Southeast Missouri State in the second game of the season. “We’ve had two of them at home, pretty gut-wrenching ways to lose the game to come down to the last play like that,” Hill said. “We’ve been on the losing side both times. I’m proud of our guys’ resolve and fight. I feel like we have a good team but we find ourselves here losing two in a row. That was just a good college football game where we came up a yard short.” Etc. etc. etc.

► NDSU rushed for a season-high 453 yards in last weekend’s road victory against Western Illinois.

► Southern Illinois ranks fourth in FCS with 3.56 sacks per game and No. 9 in rushing defense, limiting opponents to 100.1 yards per game.

► Bison safety Michael Tutsie ranks fourth at NDSU in career unassisted tackles with 157. He is three solo tackles from moving to No. 2 on the list ahead of Jabril Cox (158, 2017-2019), Robbie Grimsley (159, 2015-2018) and Joe Mays (159, 20042007). Colten Heagle (20102014) is the career leader with 191 solo tackles.