Garrick Hodge/MDN MSU cornerback Justin Gonzalez (31) chases down a U-Mary running back during a college football game Saturday in Bismarck.

Minot State football will find itself in unfamiliar territory tonight.

The Beavers will host Northern State at 7 p.m. at Herb Parker Stadium, forcing MSU to prepare for an opponent on a short week. Normally, the Beavers have film sessions Sunday and are given Mondays off, but MSU was back on the practice field Sunday night and Monday.

“Our schedule altered pretty drastically this week,” MSU coach Mike Aldrich said. “We had our Tuesday practice on Sunday night and we were just in helmets but I thought we were really crisp. We had no time to enjoy our victory Saturday, we didn’t watch the game film and we didn’t grade it. We just moved right on to Northern State.”

The Beavers (1-4) are coming off their first victory of the season, a 29-17 road victory over the University of Mary. Northern State (2-3) has home victories against MSU Moorhead and Wayne State, but has been outscored 73-7 in two road games this season.

“I think ideally to have a short week in this situation works out really well,” Aldrich said. “We’re coming off a win so we have that type of confidence going for us. We’re also playing at home. If we had to have a short week on the road, that would be a lot tougher.”

Northern State has had plenty of problems offensively across the board. The Wolves have allowed the most sacks in the Northern Sun Intercollegiate Conference (22), are second to last in rushing (100.8) and passing (146.4) yards per game and are 14th in scoring offense with 14.4 points per game.

Last week the Beavers had to run a specialized defense to counter U-Mary’s triple-option, but Aldrich said MSU will return to its base defense against the Wolves. NSU likes to use plenty of run-pass options in its offense.

“I’m a defensive guy, so when teams run what everyone calls RPOs, I don’t think that’s conventional,” Aldrich said. “If they’re in two-back ISO, that to me is conventional. Nobody wants to run that anymore, but RPOs is something we are seeing a lot more of. We’re used to the zone game and the screen game that come off of it. It allows us to get back to our regular defense and progress.”

Aldrich said the Wolves are known to blitz and bring pressure defensively. But it hasn’t been too effective yet for NSU. Northern State has only accumulated eight sacks this season.

“Defensively they’re going to be high-pressure team. They hang their hat on that so we have to handle the pressure,” Aldrich said. “The biggest thing for us is we have to identify where it’s coming from. They bring the pressure from a lot of different areas.”

Nicholas Truen leads the Wolves in rushing with 295 yards on 58 carries and three touchdowns, while redshirt freshman Hunter Trautman is expected to start at quarterback. Trautman has appeared in three games this season and has completed 15 of 31 passes for 177 yards and one touchdown.

Garrick Hodge covers Minot State athletics, the Minot Minotauros and high school sports. Follow him on Twitter @Garrick_Hodge.