The No. 2-ranked University of Sioux Falls football team will face No. 9 Langston University (Okla.) in the second round of the NAIA Football Championship Series, the NAIA announced Sunday.

The game will be played at Bob Young Field in Sioux Falls on Saturday, Nov. 29 beginning at noon at the USF Sanford Health Sports Complex.

Sioux Falls (S.D.), which is riding a 34-game home winning streak, will take on the Lions for the first time.

The Lions are the 2008 champions of the Central States Football League. This season marks their first Football Championship Series appearance since 1994.

They finished the 2008 regular season 9-2 and a perfect 4-0 in the Central States Football League. Langston's only two losses this season have come against NCAA Division I opponents Grambling State University and Stephen F. Austin University.

Langston scored 20 first-quarter points against fourth-seeded MidAmerica Nazarene (Kan.) on Saturday and held on for a 20-14 win to upset the Pioneers and advance to the second round.

Prior to yesterday's victory, their lone postseason win came in 1994 in a 56-42 victory against Arkansas Tech.

The Lions are led by fifth-year head coach Greg Johnson who has led Langston to four-straight winning seasons. Coach Johnson has a 73-52 record as the Lions head coach. In 2005 he was named the Central States Football League Coach of the Year.

Defensively the Lions have one of the top units in the nation. They rank first in Division I in sacks per game (4.3) and sixth in scoring defense, only giving up 13.7 points per game.

USF head coach Kalen DeBoer (49-3 record) is in his fourth year leading the Cougars, and has gotten them to the playoffs the previous three seasons: (55-0 loss to Carroll College (Mont.) in 2005 NAIA semifinals), (23-19 NAIA Championship game victory over St. Francis (Ind.) in 2006, 17-9 NAIA Championship game loss to Carroll College (Mont.) in 2007).

The Cougars have held seven of 11 opponents this year without a point. The national record for shutouts in a season is eight. USF ranks No. 1 in the country in all major defensive statistical categories: scoring defense (5.2 ppg), total defense (97.1 ypg), rushing defense (11.5 ypg) and passing defense (85.6 ypg).

USF finished the regular season undefeated for the third straight year and sixth in the last seven years. Overall, the Cougars have advanced to the semifinal round in each of the past three years, winning the last two.

On Saturday USF defeated No. 15 Saint Ambrose University (Iowa), 28-0, in the first round of the NAIA Championship series playoffs, at Bob Young Field. It was another awesome performance by the Cougar defense, as it allowed only 139 total yards (nine rushing); it also came up with four interceptions.

The Cougar football team is in its eighth consecutive playoff appearance, and the 14th in the last 15 years (1994-1999, 2001-2008).

Catch all the action next Saturday between Langston University and Sioux Falls on ESPN Radio, 1230 KWSN. Tom Frederick and Tim Hiatt will have the call.