Augustana draws Minnesota State in NCAA Championship
Nov 17, 2024
SIOUX FALLS, S.D. (KELO) -- The Augustana football team learned its NCAA Championship draw Sunday evening. The Vikings will host NSIC foe Minnesota State Saturday in the first round for a second straight year.
The Vikes claimed a No. 4 seed in the 28-team field. The winner of the game will a travel to the region's top-seed CSU Pueblo in the second round.
Augie won its second straight NSIC championship on Saturday. That marked the first time since the 1940s that the Vikings claimed consecutive league titles.
AU won the regular season meeting with the Mavericks 34-16 on the road back on Oct. 26.
WATCH AUGUSTANA HEAD COACH JERRY OLSZEWSKI'S REACTION IN THE VIDEO PLAYER BELOW
Augustana is 8-3 on the season and a perfect 5-0 at home. Prior to falling the regular-season finale, the Vikes won six straight contests. They have scored at least 20 points in all but two games this season.
"Feels pretty good. It's a lot of hard work that went into it. And any game we get at this point is a blessing," Augustana senior defensive back Peyton Buckley said.
"First goal is to get to Game 12, and the next one is to try to make it a home game. So it's awesome that we got to do that again. And so we'll just attack this week and see how Saturday shakes out," Augustana senior linebacker Haden Wallace said.
Last season, the Vikings finished 11-2 with a win in the first round of the playoffs over Minnesota State before falling to Colorado School of Mines in the second round.