Seniors look to flip the script in Bemidji State's search for first win over Mavericks in 10 years
· Yahoo Sports
Sep. 9—BEMIDJI — Nah'Shawn Keith has never faced Minnesota State as a Beaver. Even he has beef with one of the Bemidji State football team's biggest rivals.
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Before transferring to BSU, Keith played for Colorado State Pueblo, which made the NCAA Division II playoffs in 2024.
Its opponent in the first round? None other than Minnesota State, which scored 20 points in the fourth quarter to beat them 26-23. Two weeks later, the Mavericks would defeat BSU, ending its deepest playoff run in school history.
"I lost to them in the playoffs the same year that (BSU) lost to them in the playoffs here, so it is a big rivalry for me," Keith said. "I do want to beat them."
Keith and the rest of the Beavers will have a chance to do just that on Saturday, Sept. 12, as they travel to Mankato to take on the No. 4/3 Mavericks at 6 p.m.
CSU Pueblo's three-point loss to the Mavericks is a familiar result that Bemidji State fans have seen in recent years. Since 2022, BSU has played the Mavericks four times, losing by four points or less in each contest.
Each loss was seemingly more soul-crushing than the next. In 2022, a sure interception was snatched out of a Bemidji State defender's hands for a game-sealing MSU touchdown. A game-tying field goal was blocked by MSU in 2023, while a game-winning field goal as time expired clinched the Mavericks' win in the 2024 regular season, on the Beavers' homecoming no less.
Then there was the 2024 playoffs, when Bemidji State was down by four points and driving downfield to the MSU 4-yard line. But the Beavers offense couldn't find the end zone, a defensive stand that sent the Mavericks moving on.
"I've been on the team since '22, and I've seen or played in all those games," said linebacker Caden Bolte. "It always comes down to the final drive against these guys, and so that kind of builds a contempt for them. It's a big rivalry week for us and that's how we view it. I'm sure that's how they view it, too, so it's always a little extra motivation going down and playing them."
What makes all those close losses hurt the most is that the Beavers haven't defeated MSU in 10 years. Their last win dates back to a 45-17 trouncing of the Mavericks in 2016, when they were ranked No. 6 in the country.
As for the eldest Beaver on the roster, sixth-year offensive lineman Zach Ott recognizes how big a win in Mankato would be for the program.
"I mean, it'd be huge," Ott said. "There's a lot of alumni that'll reach out and every year we're just chomping at the bit, and those single-point losses, they're heartbreaking. So to finally get one over them, it'd be huge for the program."
Minnesota State (2-0), as expected, will be a tough test for the Beavers (1-1). MSU is ranked No. 4 in the AFCA poll and No. 3 in the D2Football.com poll coming off of a Week 2 48-7 win against U-Mary.
"We know it's going to be a difficult challenge," head coach Brent Bolte said. "But at the end of the day, that's why you get into coaching — for games like that."
The Beavers have been playing good football entering the week, particularly on the defensive side. The Gang Green Defense has only given up eight points and 130 total yards ever since the start of the second half against Michigan Tech.
Caden Bolte, one of the defensive captains, believes that the group is starting to play to its potential.
"We knew going into the season that we could be a really special unit," he said, "and I think it just was knocking the dust off for a couple of guys. (Keith) missed basically all last year; it was my first game back in a while, and it took a little bit to get the engine rolling."
On the offensive side of the ball, interest early on this season has been toward the BSU signal callers. After using three different quarterbacks against the Huskies — all of whom contributed to scoring drives — Bart McAninch was primarily under center against SMSU last week. He went 13-for-20 with 191 passing yards while throwing and running in a touchdown.
Ott and the Beavers' offense enter this week with unabashed confidence, hoping to lead BSU to its first win over MSU in a decade.
"They kind of think they're big brother — and you could argue that they might be — but we're the Beavers," Ott said. "We show up. It doesn't matter who lines up across from us. We're going to give it our best shot. We're going to give it our all and we're just going to physically dominate the game."