The national media is going to flock like … well, a flock of something … to this Northwestern (Minn.) doubleheader story. Northwestern is in the suburbs of St. Paul, a provisional Division III member in its first year, four years away from being a full member. We’ll cover it, of course, but we’ll keep in mind that there are games that affect playoffs and teams who are actually eligible for them.

To wit:

Under the radar key playoff game: Johns Hopkins hosts Franklin and Marshall. Although most games in the Centennial Conference this season matches up 2004 co-champions (there were five of them, after all) this one is likely to have an impact in the final analysis. Question is whether F&M can score — the Diplomats have scored just 42 points in four games while Johns Hopkins has allowed 27 in four games. The schools were picked 1-2 in the conference’s preseason poll, combining for nine of the 14 first-place votes and separated by one point.

Above the radar key playoff game: Bethel hosts No. 7 St. John’s. You might have heard of these two teams. It’s also by far the most important game taking place in the St. Paul suburbs this weekend. This is an elimination game for Bethel. Winner has to take down St. Olaf and Concordia-Moorhead later.

Long road to go key playoff game: Augustana at No. 13 Carthage. Just the second in a list of games between the top four contenders in the CCIW.

Long road to go key playoff game II: No. 8 UW-Whitewater at UW-Stevens Point. Stevens Point might be out of the running with a loss, leaving just La Crosse, Stout, Eau Claire and Whitewater as serious WIAC title candidates. If Stevens Point wins, it’s still a five-team race, even with River Falls, Oshkosh and Platteville as spoilers.

Who-are-these-guys key playoff game: This game almost didn’t get scheduled — it was on, then off, then on again this offseason. And if you don’t know who Huntingdon is, you should soon enough. Even if they can’t hang with No. 10 Trinity (Texas), this is a program in building mode in fertile football ground in Alabama. Hopefully they don’t bail on D-III like the last program in building mode in fertile football ground in Alabama — Stillman.

Letdown potential key playoff game: Look out, Thiel, Grove City takes the Mercer County rivalry seriously and looks to be better than last year. To borrow an overused phrase from Division I-A, this could be a trap game for the No. 22 Tomcats.

This is their playoff game: Lewis and Clark’s short season comes to an end Saturday night at Claremont-Mudd-Scripps.

Irresistible force/immovable object key playoff game: Alma’s Scot-Gun offense (514.2 yards per game) against Adrian’s defense, led by standouts Mike Lewis and Taz Wallace