Entering the third week of the season following a 39-17 loss to Mississippi State, Arizona (1-1) will look to regain traction hoping to secure a win when it faces North Dakota State (2-0) on Saturday night. The defending FCS champion heads to Tucson for the first time ever with plenty of confidence against Power Five opponents.

Here is a look at what you should be paying attention to when the two teams take the field at Arizona Stadium this weekend.

• The impact of Eli Mostaert’s absence for NDSU

Despite beating North Carolina A&T last week, the Bison now have a hole in the middle of their defense after starting defensive tackle Eli Mostaert suffered a broken fibula in the 43-3 win. While no team wants to see an opponent injured, the loss for NDSU should be beneficial for the Wildcats' running game.

Although no official timeline for a return has come out yet, Mostaert is expected to miss a good chunk of the season recovering from the injury. He has already been removed from the depth chart for this week's game.

“He’s gonna be out for some time,” NDSU head coach Matt Entz said this week. “So, we’ll get him as healthy as we can hopefully, knock on wood, get him back for this season.”

NDSU will use multiple players to replace Mostaert with his twin brother, Will, and redshirt freshman Kody Huisman rotating as the top two contributors on the inside in the interim.

• Will the Wildcats keep adding to the turnover sword?

After only having six turnovers all of last season, the Wildcats enter Week Three tied for No. 16 nationally with five turnovers through two games. That's good enough for second in the Pac-12 behind USC, which has generated eight turnovers this season.

After getting two turnovers against SDSU, the Cats were able to add on three more against Mississippi State with two fumble recoveries and an interception. To help build some confidence about creating turnovers this season, defensive coordinator Johnny Nansen has introduced the turnover sword. Shaped like a cactus, footballs are deflated on the sword after each UA takeaway when the team comes to the sideline.

It has become a source of pride for UA through the first two games and gets the players excited.

“It’s an identity,” Nansen said. “We have a big chair up in our meeting room that whoever the player of the day is sits there. Well, we have a difficult time taking that on the road so I came up with the idea of the sword and the boys just took it over.”

Playing a team like NDSU that relies more on its defense and running game to win will prove to be a good test for the Wildcats in seeing if they are able to get turnovers against the Bison offense.