December 3, 2007

[complete 2008 schedule]

BEMIDJI, Minn. - Bemidji State University head football coach Jeff Tesch today unveiled the Beavers' 2008 football schedule, an 11-game slate featuring six home contests and head-to-head match ups with three of the four new members institutions in the Northern Sun Intercollegiate Conference.

Bemidji State lifts the lid on the 2008 season Thursday, Aug. 28 versus Minot State University in a rare 7:00 p.m. kickoff under the lights at Chet Anderson Stadium. The BSU/MSU match up marks a continuation of the "Beaver Bash" pitting the Beavers of Bemidji State against a Minot State team of the same nickname for the 10th consecutive season--longest consecutive non-conference series in BSU’s football history. BSU season-opening draw marks the fifth time Bemidji State has opened the season versus the Beavers as BSU will be opening its season at home for only the fifth time in 13 seasons under head coach Jeff Tesch.

Bemidji State follows the opener with a Sept. 6th home game versus NSIC newcomer and long-time rival Minnesota State University, Mankato to begin the 74th NSIC season. The contest rekindles a series dating back to the 1933 campaign. Since then, the teams have met on 42 occasions but it has been three decades since the the Beavers and Mavericks last met under the umbrella of a common conference.

September 13, the Beavers set out on their first road swing of the 2008 season. The Beavers first travel to defending NSIC regular-season champion Winona State University in a game set for a 1 p.m. kickoff. BSU will remain on the road Sept. 20 when it renews one of the most storied trophy rivalries in NCAA Division II history when it visits Minnesota State University-Moorhead in the "Battle for the Axe." The Beavers and Dragons have been dueling for the Battle Axe every year since 1948. BSU will look to extend its series-best streak of nine consecutive victories in the Battle Axe rivalry.

A brief stint at home features the Beavers looking to continue another long-standing tradition at BSU when the team hosts Northern State University in the annual homecoming game (Sept. 27)-marking the second straight season in which the Beavers have played its homecoming contest versus the Wolves.

Following homecoming, BSU takes to the road for three of its next four games including contests at new league members St. Cloud State University (Oct. 4) and University of Minnesota Duluth (Oct. 25) sandwiched around a trip to Wayne State College (Oct. 11) and a home tilt versus University of Minnesota, Crookston (Oct. 18). The Oct. 4th match up at SCSU marks the first time the Beavers have visited the Granite City since a 1981 non-conference tilt. BSU has played UMD twice since the Bulldogs fled the NSIC for the NCC in 2004, but the 2008 contest with be the first time the teams have met in NSIC competition since 2003.

BSU tackles University of Mary (N.D.) Nov. 1st in the first half of a two-game homestand to close out the regular season. The last 2008 regular-season game for the Beavers falls Nov. 8 against Concordia University-St. Paul. The Beavers' Nov. 8th home game versus the Golden Bears marks just the third time since 1990 BSU has hosted a game after Nov. 7th.

The 2008 season will bring with it new challenges. With the league's expansion for 10 teams to 14, the NSIC will be broken into two divisions--the North and South Divisions. The North Division will be comprised of Bemidji State, U-Mary, Minnesota, Crookston, Minnesota Duluth, Minnesota State-Moorhead, Northern State and St. Cloud State while Augustana, Concordia-St. Paul, Minnesota State Mankato, Southwest Minnesota State, Upper Iowa, Wayne State and Winona State would call the South Division home.

Each team will have 10 conference games every season. Those 10 games will be made up of six games versus divisional opponents while the remaining four games will be played against teams from the opposite division on a rotating basis with a natural rival from the opposite division appearing on a team's schedule each year. The Beavers cap the 2008 season with their natural rival CSP.

Every year the NSIC will crown a champion from each division as well as an overall conference champion based on records within the division and the league respectively.

Bemidji State (7-4 overall / 6-3 NSIC) wrapped up its 2007 campaign with a 56-28 over Upper Iowa University in the final NSIC Metrodome Classic to claim its eighth season of seven or more wins in the last ten seasons and its school-record tenth consecutive winning season under head coach Jeff Tesch. Tesch's teams own 10 of BSU's 29 winning seasons since the program began in 1926.

--bsu--