The upper midwest should be the focus this weekend, with Top 15 teams squaring off in both Wisconsin and Minnesota. But neither game is necessarily going to wrap up the WIAC and MIAC races. No. 5 St. John’s takes its 6-0 mark to No. 13 Concordia-Moorhead, where both teams could use a little practice hanging onto the ball. St. John’s has turned the ball over 20 times in six games, while Concordia-Moorhead fumbled it 10 times last week alone, losing eight of them. They’re also the top two scoring defenses in the league, allowing 10.8 and 14.0 points per game.
In Wisconsin, No. 10 UW-La Crosse hosts No. 7 UW-Whitewater. This is a rare game for the WIAC in Week 7, two teams that have combined for one loss, and are unbeaten against Division III teams.
Those games are obvious big games, as is the other Top 25 matchup, with No. 22 Carthage at No. 16 North Central. Here’s some others:
Friday Night Audios: Of course, even though we always call this Looking ahead to Saturday, we can’t ignore Friday’s games this time around. Ferrum (6-0) puts its unbeaten record on the line against Methodist (4-1) tonight at Franklin County HS, a home game for Ferrum. And Johns Hopkins (5-0, 2-0 Centennial) hosts Gettysburg (2-3, 1-0) tonight as well. Both games are scheduled to be broadcast online, check our Scoreboard page for links.
Can’t look ahead: No. 3 Hardin-Simmons hosts No. 11 Mary Hardin-Baylor a week from Saturday, but can’t be caught napping on East Texas Baptist this week. Similarly for Ohio Northern against Otterbein in advance of next week’s game at Mount Union.
Playing favorites: Bowdoin is a surprising 3-0 and now hosts Hamilton, a game it would be expected to win even in a normal season. How will the Polar Bears handle success?
This never happens: Kenyon hosts Allegheny this week, and the Lords are actually ahead in the NCAC standings at 2-0 to the Gators 1-1.
Explain this one: When cardiac kids Albright and Delaware Valley play each other, how will it end? Will it end? If it’s boring, does the loser have to go with Susquehanna to the Liberty League? (And yes, this is apparently more than just Post Patterns rumor.)
Didn’t you used to be good? Springfield travels to Plymouth State. These teams have combined for three wins this season, one against first-year program Becker. When this year’s seniors were beign recruited, Plymouth State was in the process of going 7-3. Springfield averaged almost nine wins over the past three seasons.
Words are yummy: Back in our preseason Kickoff special, I predicted that Southern Oregon would be the team that loses to Linfield by the fewest number of points. Hey Raiders, gotta keep it under 15 points. Best of luck with that. Weren’t you supposed to be better than 0-5? Yikes.
But regardless of what happens tonight (I’m heading to Johns Hopkins), my day has already been made. Picked up the local paper and saw D3football.com cited on the front page of the sports section in a story on Frostburg State defensive lineman Kevin Culbert. Of course, it was the Oct. 4 edition, but that’s what was sitting in the lobby of my daughter’s school.
You’re taking a look at the MIAC’s St John’s and Concordia-Moorehead. What about St Olaf?! Their 5-0 and only allowing 18 points a game while scoring 47. Next week’s game, St John’s and St Olaf should be the big hitter. Go Oles!
Heck, Pat, if you want to see how frequently d3football.com gets cited, just click here. 🙂
Here are my two-cents for the thought-o-meter (plink, plink)…
Wish you were here: Remember how I said it was raining last week in Philadelphia? Well, it hasn’t stopped. It’s like the movie “Groundhog Day” where every day has the same slate-grey sky and rain that blows sideways into your face. Ned Reyerson tried to sell me full term life insurance for the eighth day in a row this morning.
Nevertheless, there’s nowhere I’d rather be than Doylestown this weekend for the QB duel between All-American John Port and Del Val senior Adam Knoblauch. Both guys are working their way up the list for Division III all-purpose yards by quarterbacks. Port does the job with great touch and a strong arm while Knoblauch relies more on his legs. It should be fun despite the rain…call this the battle of the Gun-Mud Slingers.
Don’t sleep on this one: When is Defiance a good thing? When it’s playing Hanover for control of the HCAC. After beating MSJ, Hanover could solidify its control of this race by beating the Defiance Yellow Jackets. If DC wins, it’ll be at least tied for first pending the Bluffton-Anderson final. Plus a Defiance win gives Mount St. Joseph new hope since they now need help to leap over Hanover.
Honorable mention goes to Adrian-Olivet. The Comet-kaze offense beat the Bulldogs last year 33-22. Adrian can’t afford another L if they are going to keep pace with MIAA leaders Alma.
Most likely Top 25 Team to Lose: Hey, I got this one right last week, picking Osh Kosh over Stout! Using the self-imposed parameter of not picking games involving two Top 25 squads, let’s go for two in a row – Luther beats Central to move by them in the standings. If you look at the IIAC standings that would mean Luther passes the Dutchies on the left hand side (Copyright, Musical Youth 1982).
Speaking of the IIAC…
First team in the Playoffs!: That would be Coe if they beat Wartburg tomorrow. How can I be so coe-nfident? The Koehawks have wins against Luther, Central and Buena Vista. If they beat Wartburg, they’ll have the tie-breaker over their four closest competitors and finish with Dubuque, Cornell, Loras and Simpson (combined IIAC record of 2-9). Wartburg will be the most popular team in the conference tomorrow since everyone else needs a Knights’ victory to keep Coe close to the pack.
The super ridiculous pick of the night: The playoff-bound Utica Pioneers? UC moves to 5-1 overall with a last-minute win over 4-1 Alfred, who still gets around pretty well for an octogenarian comic book butler. While the NCAA playoffs are not going to happen yet for the Pioneers, they could blaze a trail into the ECAC Postseason this year, which would be a big step forward.
Saturday night’s alright: The most intriguing night game kicks off in 30 minutes when Ferrum takes on Methodist. But maybe SOU will keep it close against #1 Linfield, which you can catch on-line at 9 PM EST.
Ah, who am I kidding…’Cats win by 30. This is a good weekend to go see a movie or something.
BFB,
I’m aware. Doesn’t take the place of picking a newspaper off the table and reading it.
Johnnysuperman — the note that this game won’t wrap up the MIAC was a nod at St. Olaf. However, the game against Gustavus this weekend isn’t exactly Daily Dose fodder.
Ferrum Faithful:
R-E-S-P-E-C-T. That is what you’ll get from me. Sort of. 🙂
Nice job by their offense tonight, which sounds legit. The defense didn’t overwhelm me, but it did enough to win. It should be a fun battle with CNU down the line.