Sioux Falls - The No. 2-ranked University of Sioux Falls football team will put its 34-game home winning streak on the line today when it hosts No. 9 Langston University (Okla.) in the second round of the NAIA Football Championship Series at Bob Young Field in Sioux Falls.

Sioux Falls will take on the Lions for the first time.

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

Langston finished the 2008 regular season 9-2 and a perfect 4-0 in the CSFL. 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.) last week and held on for a 20-14 win to upset the Pioneers and advance to the second round.

The Lions are led by fifth-year head coach Greg Johnson, who has led Langston to four-straight winning seasons. 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 - a 55-0 loss to Carroll College (Mont.) in the 2005 NAIA semifinals, a 23-19 NAIA Championship game victory over St. Francis (Ind.) in 2006 and a 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).

St. Thomas More graduate Mike Hartley is a starter on the defensive line for the Cougars.

The Cougar football team is in its eighth consecutive playoff appearance, and the 14th in the last 15 years.

Game time today is 11 a.m. MST.