MANKATO, Minn. – The Minot State University faced the next level opponent when they put their 3-0 record up against the Minnesota State University, Mankato’s 3-0 record on Saturday, September 21, and the Mavericks sent the Beavers home with the first loss of the 2024 season.

That 40-6 loss comes down to the tale of two games.

Game one – the rushing game.

Minot State’s rushing attack amassed ten first downs compared to Minnesota State’s nine first downs. The Beavers had 221 total rushing yards compared to the Mavericks 219 yards. Minot State did have 29 yards in loss compared to 15 yards for Minnesota State, but much of those were on a sack for each team as both teams only had one sack each.

Minnesota State had two rushing touchdowns while Minot State had one. All rushing data reviewed, the game was a 12-6 slobber-knocker win for Minnesota State that might have gone either way as the Beavers did win the time of possession 33 minutes to 27 minutes for the Mavericks.

Game two – the passing game.

Minot State’s passing attack gave the Beavers two first downs compared to Minnesota State’s 14 first downs. Minot State had 40 yards through the air on 4-8 passing with one interception and no touchdowns. Minnesota State had 299 yards on 18-28 passing with no interceptions but four touchdowns. The Beavers averaged ten yards per completion while the Mavericks were at 16.6 yards per completion.

The outcome of game two was a 28-0 win for Minnesota State that was the difference in the actual game that was played that resulted in the 40-6 win for the Mavericks over the visiting Beavers.

In the punting game, Minot State averaged 42.8 yards per punt compared to 49 for Minnesota State while the Beavers averaged 55 yards per kickoff compared to 59.3 for the Mavericks. Minot State averaged 29 yards per kickoff return while Minnesota State averaged 22.5 yards per return.

The only two other areas with variance was an interception – turnover – that the Beavers gave up to the Mavericks and Minot State had three penalties for 35 yards while Minnesota State had only two for 20 yards.

One of head football coach Ian Shields core principles is to eliminate ‘SIN’ or ‘Self Inflicted Negatives’ and having more penalties for more yards and losing the turnover battle are two of those SIN areas. It was also the first game this season that the Beavers were not the winner in those two categories.

In an otherwise very evenly played game, Minot State had two negative areas and were not able to eliminate or weaken the passing attack of the Minnesota State University, Mankato Mavericks in their first loss of the season.

The next game will be Saturday, September 28, at Herb Parker Stadium as Minot State University hosts the Northern Sun Intercollegiate Conference (NSIC) foes from University of Sioux Falls when the Cougars come to town.