After 2 straight injuries, Mathis finding his role

By Jeff Kolpack and Eric Peterson

The Forum Fargo

At 6-foot-6, it’s hard to miss North Dakota State wide receiver Zach Mathis since he’s one of the tallest players on the team. For the longest time, he was most noticeable on the sideline.

Mathis missed the spring season with a meniscus injury to his knee. Then he broke his elbow in the first week of fall practice that caused him to miss the first part of this year. He seems to be making up for lost time.

“It’s a ton of fun to get out there and contribute for this team,” Mathis said. “I just want to expand my role and do everything the team asks from me, whether it’s special teams, or on offense. Just do anything I can to help this team win.”

He has six catches this season but most of those have come in big situations, either for first downs or getting NDSU out of a hole.

Last month at Illinois State, Mathis had a 26-yard reception with 29 seconds left in the first half on thirdand-10 that led to a field goal and a 10-0 Bison lead. Another 26-yarder two weeks later on third-and-8 led to a touchdown against Indiana State.

Mathis had two catches against South Dakota State, including a 14-yarder on second-and-long that led to a field goal.

“Coming back, you’re doing everything you can to be perfect again,” Mathis said. “It doesn’t matter how good you are, if you’re sitting out for months and months, it definitely takes a little to get back into the flow of things.

It’s always tough to be out for so long with injuries and watching from the sideline. Even in practice it kind of eats at you.”

The flow this week is a road game at Youngstown State. NDSU, 8-1 overall and 5-1 in the Missouri Valley Football Conference, can clinch a share of the league title with a win.

“We just gotta keep pushing,” Mathis said. “We’ll bounce back from this week for sure. And we have all of our goals ahead of us and were ready to achieve those goals.”

Bison offensive line ‘up and down’

NDSU’s backs have consistently struggled to find gaps and creases in the run game. The team’s yards-percarry average has consistently gone down since a productive September, granted some of that is competition based. Still, NDSU head coach Matt Entz this week called the play of the offensive line of late “up and down.”

“Individually there are some people that have really good games,” Entz said. “Collectively, there are moments when we don’t play very well. I know we get great effort out of that group. Just some of the other issues, penalties and false starts we would like to eliminate.”

It’s possible NDSU could adjust the rotation. The Bison did it last spring before the University of North Dakota game and responded with one of its best rushing games of that season.

NDSU has for the most part started the same five across the front, with the exception of Brandon Westberg filling in for the injured Jalen Sundell for three games at center.

Last week, NDSU used right tackle Cordell Volson at right guard at various times.

“I’m an advocate of getting different people in at different spots if we think that’s going to help us win football games,” Entz said. “If we’re doing it just to say we did it, then I’m not a big fan of it.”

Phillips wants Youngstown tough Youngstown enters Saturday’s game against NDSU on a three-game losing streak, including a 24-21 loss at North Dakota last weekend.

The Penguins are 2-6 overall with two games remaining on their regular season schedule. However, YSU head coach Doug Phillips said his team has ample motivation, even though it’s no longer in FCS playoff contention.

“There is a lot we’re playing for each and every week and that’s to get this program in the direction that it needs to go,” Phillips said.

The Penguins have a 3-12 record over the past two seasons, including last spring, which was Phillips’ first as head coach.

“I want this team to be tough to resemble our city and our university,” Phillips said. “This community and this university deserves wins. We’re going to constantly work on bringing wins to this program and this community.”

Bison face another top runner

Youngstown State junior running back Jaleel McLaughlin ranks second in the Missouri Valley in rushing, averaging 112.8 yards per game. The 5-foot-9, 175-pound McLaughlin has rushed for 902 yards and nine touchdowns on 139 attempts.

The Bison lead the conference in rushing defense, allowing 86.7 yards per game. NDSU faced the league’s top rusher in South Dakota State running back Pierre Strong Jr. last weekend. Strong rushed for 156 yards and two touchdowns on 23 attempts.

“When you look at their defense, they’ve got eight seniors,” Phillips said.

“Eight seniors that probably each have two national championship rings, maybe three, on their hand. They have played a lot of football for them.”

Phillips is also impressed with NDSU’s physicality.

“They’re going to be big, they’re physical, they’re going to test you,” Phillips said. “They’re going to test your toughness. They don’t mind handing the ball off and getting two yards. What they’re telling you is we’re going to do that for 60-plus minutes, can you withstand that.”

The Bison are coming off their first loss this season so Phillips is expecting a motivated opponent.

“You’ve got a team that is 8-1 coming in here trying to ramp themselves up to get ready to make a playoff run and national championship run,” Phillips said.

Odds and ends

► Phillips called Bison wide receiver Christian Watson the top wide receiver in the Missouri Valley. Although not statistically on top, Watson has 29 receptions average 20.3 yards per catch with six touchdowns.

► The game is the Missouri Valley Game of the Week and is available only on ESPNPlus. Statewide coverage by WDAY-TV in Fargo will return next week against South Dakota.

► Bison kicker Jake Reinholz moved into 10th place on the NDSU all-time list for career field goals made with 17. He’s 11 of 14 this season and is working on a streak of seven straight makes.

► NDSU’s run of conference titles started in 2011 and was the first of nine straight. It was interrupted last spring, but a win against Youngstown would make it 10 in 11 years.

By Craig Haley Stats Perform

To emphasize the depth of Big Sky teams this season, consider fourtime defending champ Weber State is .500 in conference play and tied for seventh place.

Better yet, look at the Stats Perform FCS Top 25, where five of the top 12 ranked teams are from the Big Sky. Montana State (8-1) led the impressive contingent at No. 3 in the national media poll following a top-five win at Eastern Washington. It marked the Bobcats’ highest ranking since they were No. 3 on Sept. 16, 2013.

Only top-ranked and defending FCS champion Sam Houston (8-0) and James Madison (8-1) were ahead of Montana State in the rankings, which included No. 6 UC Davis, No. 7 Eastern Washington, No. 9 Montana and No. 12 Sacramento State from the Big Sky.

Ten different conferences had a ranked team, including the SWAC with two after Prairie View entered at No. 24 - the Panthers’ first appearance since Sept. 17, 2010. Jackson State was No. 18.

A national media panel selects the Stats Perform FCS Top 25. A first-place vote is worth 25 points, a secondplace vote 24 points, all the way down to one point for a 25th-place vote.

Stats Perform FCS Top 25 (Nov. 8)

1. Sam Houston (8-0, 4-0), 1,250 points (50 first-place votes)

Previous Ranking: 1; Week 10

2. James Madison (8-1, 5-1

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