Morningside opens its seventh straight appearance in the NAIA national playoffs at home on Saturday against Dickinson State. The Mustangs are seventh ranked nationally and finished the regular season 9-1. This game will feature Morningside’s defense, which is ranked second nationally against Dickinson State’s third ranked defense.

Morningside coach Steve Ryan says Dickinson State plays good defense and wants to control the clock with its running game and limit the number of possessions. He says they like to try and create turnovers.

Ryan says the Morningside offense made dramatic improvement towards the end of the regular season after graduating almost everyone on offense last year. He says it took some time to get everyone up to speed and once they did that, things started to come together.