BILLINGS, Mont. -- The 2017 Rocky Mountain College football season kicks off on Thursday when the Battlin' Bears visit No. 15 Dickinson State. The action will begin at 6 p.m. MT from the Henry Biesiot Activities Center in Dickinson, N.D.
 
The game will be carried live on ESPN 910 AM with Bob Rittierodt calling the action. Live video courtesy Dickinson State will also be available at portal.stretchinternet.com/dsubluehawks.
 
Entering the second season under head coach Jason Petrino, Rocky Mountain is coming off a 4-7 season in 2016. The Bears are looking to snap a run of three straight seasons with a sub-.500 record. Rocky was sitting at 4-3 after seven games last season before dropping the final four games to close out the year.
 
Dickinson State begins its season with a No. 15 national ranking in the NAIA Preseason Coaches' Poll. The Blue Hawks have won back-to-back North Star championships and are coming off a 9-3 season in which they lost to Montana Tech in the NAIA Football Championships Opening Round.
 
Rocky ended the 2016 season averaging 19.6 points per game and gaining 298.8 total yards per game. The Bears earned 101.6 rushing yards per outing with the other 197.2 coming in the passing game. The team converted on 36.9 percent on 3rd-down.
 
Defensively, Rocky allowed 30.5 points and 369.5 yards per game last season. The opposition went for 167.0 yards rushing and 202.5 yards passing. The Bears had a negative-3 turnover margin and recorded 27 sacks.
 
These two teams have met 10 times since 2004 with Rocky owning a 9-1 series lead. The Bears are 4-1 in road games against the Blue Hawks in that time. Rocky has won seven straight in the series and three in-a-row in Dickinson. Over the 10 games, Rocky had outscored the Blue Hawks 361-151.
 
The Battlin' Bears have compiled an 8-2 record during games played in August since 2004. They are 1-0 in games on August 24 during the span.
 
QUOTING PETRINO
On How Prepared the Team is for Thursday
"You never know until you play.  I know our kids want to play a game.  We'll learn quickly what things we did a good job on and what things we should have spent more time on.  Being such a youthful team with not much experience I'm really interested to see how our guys react to the ups and downs of a football game."
 
On Opening Season on a Thursday
"It's two fewer days, plus we have school starting this week so our kids have multiple things going on all while preparing for a team that has been in the NAIA playoffs the last two years."
 
On Challenge Dickinson State Presents
"They are an outstanding football program and have been for years.  They have tough kids and that shows in how successful and how hard they play on defense.  They don't make mistakes and have taken advantage of offense's mistakes.  Offensively they at times played a true freshman at QB last year who is listed as their starter this year.  He is a coaches' kid who was successful in high school.  You can tell by watching film he is prepared well and makes good decisions with the football."