WEEKEND PLANS

After finishing second in the Great West Conference with a record of 2-2, the University of North Dakota will close its 2009 football season on the road against first-time opponent Central Arkansas of the Southland Conference. Kickoff between the Fighting Sioux and the Bears is slated for 1 p.m. (central) at First Security Field at Estes Stadium in Conway, Ark.

Saturday's game will mark the first meeting between North Dakota and Central Arkansas on the football field.

The Bears are the 138th new opponent in program history.

The University of North Dakota has played just two games on November 28. It holds a 0-2 record on that day with one road and one home loss.

The first game played on the 332nd day of the year was on 1901 against Dakota Wesleyan in Grand Forks, N.D. UND lost to the Tigers 27-9.

The last game played on the 23rd of November was in 1935. On that day, North Dakota was shutout by George Washington 0-13 on the road.

UND has scored just nine points on Nov. 23 while its opponents have put up 40.

With the 28-20 Great West Conference championship game loss to UC Davis, head coach Chris Mussman's career record moved to 11-9, his conference record shifted to 3-4, and his record against non-conference still stands to 8-5.

All-time, the Fighting Sioux are 600-358-30 (.607) on the gridiron.

North Dakota heads into its final game of the 2009 season with a knotted 5-5 overall record. A win against Central Arkansas would give the program its seventh-consecutive winning season while a lost would leave UND with the same record tallied in 2002 (5-6), which was the only losing season in a span from 1989 (7-4) to 2008 (6-4).

At UC Davis (Nov. 14) junior quarterback Jake Landry (Grand Forks, N.D.) tossed his third-straight 100-yard game and his ninth of the season with 107 yards on 13-of-24 completions. He has totalled 1,768 yards this season on 162-for-273 passing with a 119.24 pass efficiency rating. He has tossed 10 TDs this season and is averaging 176.8 yards per game ... Backup QB Brent Goska (Wisconsin Rapids, Wis.) tossed one touchdown and ran for a team-high 77 yards against the Aggies ... Redshirt freshman Mitch Sutton (RB, Plover, Wis.) leads UND on the ground with 663 yards on 137 attempts for an average of 66.3 yards per game. Sutton is averaging 4.8 yards per rush and has ran his way to the endzone on six occasions ... Sophomore Ismael Bamba (WR, Montreal, Quebec) leads the UND receiver team with 813 yards on 51 catches with an average of 81.3 yards per game ... Senior wide receiver Ryan Konrath (White Bear Lake, Minn.) led the Sioux in UC Davis with 49 yards on five catches and a touchdown. He is second on the team with 403 yards on 39 catches with four touchdowns and an average of 40.3 yards per game ... Through 10 games, the UND offense has totalled 3,166 yards (1,296 rushing, 1,870 passing) and are averaging 316.6 yards of offense per game.

Junior Joel Schwenzfeier (Hallock, Minn.) and sophomore Dominique Hawkins (Plymouth, Minn.) lead the Fighting Sioux defense with 52 tackles apiece. Schwenzfeier has a team-high 42 unassisted stops and he continues to lead the team with five interceptions ... Junior Ryan Kasowski (Grand Forks, N.D.) has registered a team-high 4.5 sacks for a loss of 33 yards ... Through 10 games, the UND defense has held its opponents to 4.0 yards per rush and 7.7 yards per pass. Opponents are 49 percent on third-down conversions and 33 percent on fourth-down conversions ... Fifty-seven of UND's total 654 tackles have accounted for a loss of 211 yards.

Redshirt freshman Erik Mersereau (Port Washington, Wis.) has recorded 95 yards on punt return, including a career-best 49-yard return against Southern Oregon (Nov. 7) ... Sophomores Dominique Hawkins (Plymouth, Minn.) and Ismael Bamba (Montreal, Quebec) have combined for 697 yards on kick return ... Senior Brandon Hellevang (Fargo, N.D.) is 14-for-17 on field goals and has twice connected from 52 yards out. He is also 25-for-26 in PATs ... Through 10 games the UND return team has totalled over 800 yards with an average of 17.4 yards per kick return and 6.2 yards per punt return ... The kickers are averaging 42.1 yards per punt and 60.5 yards per kickoff.

NOTING THE BEARS

Central Arkansas is on a four-game skid after falling to Southeastern Louisiana (25-21), Texas State (27-24), Sam Houston State (17-14), and No. 8 McNeese State (21-17) ... The Bears are led by Robbie Park who has thrown 184-for-308 for 2,170 yards and 12 touchdowns. He is averaging 197.3 yards per game and holds a 125.94 pass efficiency rating. Park leads the team with 2,222 all-purpose yards ... Brent Grimes is the team's leading rusher with 1,085 yards on 185 attempts, including a season-long 42-yard run. He leads the team with 108 points on 18 touchdowns ... Preston Echols and James Lovett lead the team in receiving yards with 442 and 431 yards, respectively ... Isaiah Jackson and Jackie Hinton are the Bears' top kick returners. They have combined for over 500 yards on kick return this season ... Kicker Eddie Carmona is 13-for-14 on field goals. His season-long is 40-yards ... The defense is led by Jacob Bane who has totalled 85 tackles (52 unassisted) ... Larry Hart tops the team with nine sacks for a loss of 60 yards and four forced fumbles.  

CENTRAL ARKANSAS HEAD COACH CLINT CONQUE

On December 14, 1999 the University of Central Arkansas selected Clint Conque as the man to turn its football program around. Nearly a decade later, Conque has not only turned it around - but turned it up. With the program's success, support and visibility at all-time highs, UCA has rapidly blossomed into a player on the national Division I scene as Conque wraps up his 10th season at the Bears' helm.

Under Conque's guidance, the Bears have successfully made the transition from NCAA Division II to Division I FCS. In 2006 - their first Division I season, the Bears exceeded expectations with an 8-3 record and finished the season ranked in the Top 25. They followed it up in 2007 by finishing in a second-place tie in the tough Southland Conference in their first full year in the league. Their final game of the season against undeafeated McNeese State on the road was for a chance at a co-SLC championship.

In 2008, only the second season in the SLC for UCA, Conque's Bears put together a season for the ages that will go down as one of the greatest in 100 years of UCA football.

The Bears went 10-2 - one of only 12 teams in FCS football to reach double digits - and had the best record in Southland play, finishing the year atop the league with a 6-1 mark after being selected 4th by the league's coaches in the preseason. UCA finished the season ranked No. 11 in the nation - its second time in three years of D-I play to finish in the Top 25 - and Conque was rewarded with the SLC Coach of the Year award and was named the American Football Coaches Association (AFCA) Region 5 FCS Coach of the Year. He was also selected as a finalist for the Eddie Robinson Award - given annually to the nation's top FCS coach.

The 10-2 record marked UCA's highest winning percentage (.833) since 1989 and the fewest losses in a season since 1994. The 10-win plateau has been reached only seven times in UCA history and Conque - one of only two coaches to do so - has now done it twice in the last four seasons.

MEDIA INFORMATION

All UND football games can be heard on 96.1 FM ("TheFox") in Grand Forks and on stations across the Fighting Sioux Radio Network. Dan Hammer calls the play-by-play with former Grand Forks Central High School football coach Mike Berg as his color analyst. Former UND defensive back Kelly Howe provides sideline reports. You can also listen online at www.FightingSioux.com.

Live stats and live audio will be available on FightingSioux.com.

- Go Sioux -

NOTING THE FIGHTING SIOUX