Bison starting quarterback not on MWC injury report

FARGO — The weekly Mountain West Conference availability report on North Dakota State yielded one surprise on the cusp of a Saturday afternoon home game against UTEP. It s not so much who s on it but who s not. Starting quarterback Nathan Hayes, who sprained his ankle last Saturday at New Mexico and whom head coach Tim Polasek called questionable on Tuesday, is nowhere to be found. Otherwise, there were no surprises. Starting guard Griffin Empey is out with a wrist injury while starting left tackle Ryan Babatz and backup running back Nyeoti Punni were upgraded to questionable for the 2:30 p.m. kickoff at Gate City Bank Field at the Fargodome. Babatz (sprained ankle) and Punni (shoulder) did not play in the 21-16 loss at New Mexico. With Babatz, it s a matter of whether he practices well, Polasek said of this week. How healthy is he? A high ankle for a big guy, he s one of our guys in the 315 range and I think you always have to be sensitive to the process and the reha