Bison Game Day October 7, 2023

Presents

BISON GAME DAY MISSOURI STATE

SATURDAY, OCT. 7, 2023

►When: 2 p.m., Plaster Field, Springfield, Mo. ►TV: ESPN-Plus

NORTH DAKOTA STATE

►Radio: 1660-AM, 107.9-FM

BISON GAME DAY NORTH DAKOTA STATE AT MISSOURI STATE

G2 | SPORTS | Saturday, OctOber 7, 2023 | tHe FOrum

inFOrum.cOm

Submitted photo

Fernando Crosa and his son Griffin share a moment of celebration after North Dakota State won at Indiana State in 2022.

FROM URUGUAY TO NDSU IT’S BEEN A LEGACY OF KICKS FOR THE CROSAS Bison senior kicker Griffin Crosa traces his standout right leg to the soccer prowess of his father, grandfather

BY JEFF KOLPACK The Forum FARGO ernando Crosa was 2 years old when the family moved from Uruguay to New Hampshire and when they got there in January, they were greeted by high snow drifts and cold temperatures. Their native country is known for its oceanlined beaches and beautiful weather.

It was quite the adjustment.

A textile mill worker, Raul Crosa, Fernando’s father, was friends with a family that was branching out internationally with a new facility in New Hampshire. Looking for a Spanishspeaking manager to get it going, Raul was offered the job and the family packed up and headed for the United States in 1970.

Raul wasn’t a fan of the weather and wanted to head back to his beach community in South America. Miryam Crosa, his wife, had other ideas. She wanted to stay, citing the opportunity to better provide for their two kids.

Over 50 years later, Raul and Miryam’s grandson, senior Griffin Crosa, is providing the North Dakota State football program with one of the best place kicking careers in school history.

The Crosas have a long family history of being good kickers, just not all with football, or at least the American version of the sport. Raul was as good as it gets in Uruguay soccer playing professionally for Danubio Futbol Club.

“He was a defender and very aggressive,” Fernando said. “Soccer is something very special out there. They have fencing and

F

Alyssa Goelzer / The Forum

North Dakota State’s Griffin Crosa kicks for the extra point after a touchdown against Central Arkansas on Sept. 16 at the Fargodome. barbed wire around the field to protect the players and referees.”

Fernando was no slouch, either. He led the state of New Hampshire in scoring in high school and played Division I soccer at Syracuse University.

Fernando never was much into football, although he was friends with a couple of players who kicked for the high school football team. It was enough for him to pay attention to the trade.

Sam Crosa, Griffin’s older brother, started the football tree as a standout kicker at Dublin Scioto High School in Ohio, being

successful on 30 of 36 field goal attempts in his career. He started his career at FBS Bowling Green and redshirted in 2015 before transferring to Western Illinois.

He was the Leathernecks’ kicker for two seasons — he was 20 of 24 on field goals — and then graduate transferred to the University of Cincinnati. Sam finished his career on a successful note in 2019 kicking 14 field goals and being an honorable mention allAmerican Athletic Conference pick.

Griffin, meanwhile, is a oneschool guy and has already declared that he will use his

COVID-19 year of eligibility next season, meaning six years in Fargo. He already has his finance degree and is working on his MBA, which means it will be six years that Fernando will have made trips from Ohio to North Dakota.

“I’ve always said part of the reason I came here is that Fargo reminds me of home,” Griffin said. “It’s definitely my home now. I’ve enjoyed being up here but seeing other places, too.”

Like his brother, father and grandfather, it’s been a nice run.

Crosa on G5

BISON GAME DAY NORTH DAKOTA STATE AT MISSOURI STATE inforum.com

THE forum | Saturday, OctOber 7, 2023

| SPORTS | G3

SPONSORED BY BISON MEDIA ZONE

Pick your teams for a chance to win weekly prizes!

BISON GAME DAY NORTH DAKOTA STATE AT MISSOURI STATE

G4 | SPORTS | Saturday, OctOber 7, 2023 | tHe FOrum

inFOrum.cOm

USA Today Sports

Missouri State Bears head coach Ryan Beard adjusts his head set during the first half against the Kansas Jayhawks at David Booth Kansas Memorial Stadium.

MISSOURI STATE RUN DEFENSE STATISTICALLY BAD, BUT IS IT? Inexperienced Missouri State appears to be gaining ground on the defensive side

BY JEFF KOLPACK The Forum FARGO issouri State will host North Dakota State on Saturday afternoon with statistically one of the worst rush defenses in Division I FCS football.

Yet the Bears held Southern Illinois to minus yardage in the second half last week.

So which is it: a sieve front seven or a run-stuffing defense?

“We run a complicated defense so it’s kind of hard for the young guys to be in this position,” said MSU defensive end Jalen Williams. “But I think we’re getting better every week and I see us growing even more. Once you start getting those jitters out of the way you start to see players really performing and living up to their potential.”

The Bears are indeed young on defense with no seniors in the two-deep chart. They start six redshirt freshmen or sophomores and will go into the Bison game 112th in the FCS in rushing defense, although they appeared to improve as the Southern Illinois game wore on last Saturday.

The key for the Bears will be if they can carry that second half performance over to stopping the Bison.

“It was pretty simple things, tackling the ball carrier, fitting your proper gaps,” said head coach Ryan Beard. “Doing the things that high quality football teams do consistently. The Bison are no joke, they’ve been national contenders since I’ve been alive.”

SIU finished with 122 total yards rushing, with 64 of it on the third play of the game — a touchdown by running back Ro Elliott.

M

David Samson / The Forum

North Dakota State head coach Matt Entz chats with South Dakota head coach Bob Nielson after the game at the Fargodome on Saturday, Sept.

30, 2023.

“It’s frustrating, they have a play like that … and the rest of the game they have 40 total yards,” Beard said. “We have a good offense and we can’t start them behind the 8-ball giving up 14 points before you even blink.”

The Bears gave up 245 yards rushing to Kansas and a whopping 405 in a 38-31 loss at Tennessee Martin. Things have calmed down since with Utah Tech getting 127 yards. NDSU comes in averaging 256.2 yards per game.

“The top priority all week is to stop the run,” Beard said. “We have to make them one-dimensional to even have a

chance.”

Beard didn’t rule out making lineup changes to find players to stop the run. He called this week an open competition in practice.

“We’re already young, if we need to go younger to get talented guys out there, we’re looking for 11 guys who want to do things right consistently,” he said. “If we need to shake up the lineup a little bit, that’s what we’ll do.”

Entz: No searching for excuses After being masters of the bye week for so many years, NDSU suddenly finds itself with two straight defeats after an

open week. The first dates back to the FCS national championship game against South Dakota State, a game in which the Jackrabbits were the superior team in giving the Bison their first loss in Frisco, Texas.

The second came last week, and explanations weren’t so easy when it came to a slow start in the first half. Head coach Matt Entz said it wasn’t because of the off week.

“If it was, then we’re searching for excuses,” he said.

Entz said about a couple dozen players stopped in his office on Sunday.

Certainly, not turning one defeat into two was a

topic.

“At the same time, we can’t have guys continually beat themselves up,” he said. “We need to make sure we are thorough in our evaluation of it, thorough in our preparation so we can eliminate the opportunity for this to happen again. If we don’t learn from it, then shame on us.”

NDSU has shown the ability to bounce back in the Division I era going 16-0 after regular season losses since 2010. It happened twice last year: a 24-7 win over Illinois State after losing to South Dakota State and a 34-17 victory at South Dakota a week after dropping a

31-28 game at the University of Arizona.

Bison in search of more QB sacks Bison defensive linemen are looking to up their quarterback sacks total, which is four combined after four games. NDSU’s other three sacks were by linebackers.

“Yeah it’s been frustrating,” said defensive end Dylan Hendricks. “We haven’t performed the way that we wanted to and the way we expected to. All week we’ve been working as hard as we can to try and figure out more ways that we can be successful. Our success

Defense on G5

BISON GAME DAY NORTH DAKOTA STATE AT MISSOURI STATE THE forum | Saturday, OctOber 7, 2023

inforum.com

CROSA CONTINUED from G2 Griffin is 28 of 33 on field goals in 35 career games and is working on a streak of 108 straight PAT kicks. He’s fifth all-time at NDSU with 152 and his 152 of 153 for his career is second only behind Jake Reinholz, who was 87 of 87 in his career from 2018-21.

Crosa’s 28 field goals is seventh on the Bison alltime list, but he’s currently first in accuracy making 85% of his attempts.

“It’s hard to believe but he’s put 25 pounds on since he’s been here,” said NDSU head coach Matt Entz. “He’s definitely improved his leg strength and consistency.

He’s had an unbelievable career. Griff and his entire family are Bison through and through.

Dad’s here every week.”

When both boys were growing up, Fernando gave them the option of

DEFENSE

Both, however, became a small percentage of football players that moved on to the Division I level.

“I love it,” Fernando said. “I’ll turn 55 later this month and I’ve had sports either playing them myself or even better yet watching my kids compete all my life. I enjoy it more than I enjoyed when I played and I don’t think Griffin understands that watching him compete and being out there with his brothers means more to me than when I played.”

The travel schedule of Michael Vosburg / The Forum Fernando and his wife North Dakota State’s Griffin Crosa watches his kick sail Lauren back up those through the uprights against South Dakota on Sept. 24, words. Fernando, the 2022, in Vermillion, South Dakota.

CEO of an environmental soccer or football. Griffin team in seventh grade. company called U.S. Tank “You get them into and Sam, for instance, Alliance in Dublin, Ohio, sports and they’re so were high-level soccer doesn’t miss a game and players before concentrat- much better than I was as puts in the miles of an an athlete,” Fernando ing on football and airplane pilot to make it attending kicking camps. said. “I exposed them to work. The usual travel everything. Griffin is a Griffin said he always itinerary for home games tremendous basketball wanted to play college is to leave Columbus, player and very soccer until he started Ohio, around 7 a.m., competitive.” kicking for a football through Minneapolis and

Another son of Hall of Famer

CONTINUED from G4 will lead to success with other units on the defense, as well.”

The output is about half of what the defensive linemen contributed to last year’s sack total, which was 26 in 15 games. The defense had a total of 37.

Hendricks said teams have been scheming the d-line a little differently from last year.

“But at the end of the day, it comes down to us, how we prepare and get ready for every game,” he said. “We just need to produce more. It’s not effort, we just have to find ways.”

For the second time this season, the Bison will be facing the son of a famous NFL Hall of Fame receiver. Against Maine, it was Montigo Moss, the son of former Minnesota Vikings receiver Randy Moss, who was inducted in 2018.

On Saturday, Missouri State receiver Terique Owens is the son of Terrell Owens, who was also inducted in 2018. Like his father, Terique goes by the “TO” nickname.

“I don’t think there’s any reason to back away from that nickname,” he said this week in MSU player availability. “It’s my initials at the end of the day. I’ve always gotten questions about him, I’m

used to it.”

Etc. etc. etc.

• The game at Missouri State is the latest the Bison have played a true road game since losing 7-6 at Morningside College (Iowa) on Oct. 7, 1961.

NDSU opened against Eastern Washington at neutral-site U.S. Bank Stadium in Minneapolis.

• It’s the 15th meeting between the Bears and the Bison with NDSU holding a 12-2 series lead.

The Bison have won 11 straight. The teams didn’t play last year because of the Valley schedule rotation.

getting to Fargo around noon.

“He travels all the time and I appreciate how much he wants to be here,” Griffin said. “All the effort and time and money he puts into doing that. It’s awesome always having him there.”

Starting in November, with a home in Naples, Fla., the flights get even longer from Fort Myers, Fla., to Minneapolis to Fargo. Because of a meeting in Birmingham, Ala., the trip to Missouri State this weekend involves driving to Memphis on Thursday and flying to Springfield, Mo., on Friday.

“I’d have to be hospitalized to miss a Bison game,” Fernando said.

The Crosas, by the way, still follow Raul’s old club that was established in 1932 through social media, mostly via X, formerly known as Twitter.

The home stadium, incidentally, carries a capacity of 18,000, about the

| SPORTS | G5

same as Gate City Bank Field at the Fargodome.

They have family in Uruguay.

Griffin was asked in their prime who was the best soccer player in the family: Raul, Fernando, Sam or himself. Raul was the winner.

“I never saw my grandfather play but I’ve heard stories,” he said, “of him pulling up in a soccer field in his old dress shoes, guys laughing at him. He would say it’s not the shoes but what’s in the shoes. That’s a pretty legit story right there.

We’re all kind of different players. My brother was a lot faster. I wasn’t as fast as him but more defensive minded. But I would say my grandfather. My dad was all-state multiple times and the top player in the state so he was great, too.”

Readers can reach Forum reporter Jeff Kolpack at jkolpack@forumcomm.com.

Twitter@KolpackInForum

North Dakota State’s Dylan Hendricks reaches up to block a pass from Central Arkansas’ Will McElvain on Sept. 16 at the Fargodome.

Alyssa Goelzer / The Forum

Readers can reach Forum reporter Jeff Kolpack at jkolpack@forumcomm.com.

Twitter@KolpackInForum

SCORE BISON FOOTBALL ACTION!

Catch complete live game coverage plus in-depth Bison news, interviews, insights & more.

Your #1 Bison news source.

INFORUM.COM/SPORTS/BISON-MEDIA-ZONE

G6 | Saturday, OctOber 7, 2023 | tHe FOrum

inFOrum.cOm