Clearly, peeps can’t wait to start being chatterboxes about this Saturday’s games, and rightfully so.
Therefore, in the absence of a well-thought-out Gordon Mann blog post to kick things off (although one is probably coming), here’s the ATN five games to watch and others to peek at with your peripheral vision:
Five games to watch
Skimming the schedule, I got about halfway down, seeing a few that intrigued me and the best game looking like Lycoming at Wilkes. And then we hit the mother lode. This is the week. Enough with the tune-ups against creampuffs and out-of-conference/out-of-division games. Some conference races are about to get ugly.
No. 10 Ohio Northern at No. 1 Mount Union
The Polar Bears are looking crazy-good right now, averaging a 29-10 win in four games, having given up single digits in the past three and coming off a 26-0 shutout of Otterbein. They’re giving up fewer than 150 yards per game as the nation’s No. 2 defense. And the Purple Raiders dwarf all of that. Their average win is 66-7, they’ve got two consecutive shutouts and the nation’s No. 4 defense, along with the No. 1 offense. And the game is in Alliance for the second consecutive season. The Polar Bears’ trump card, despite having fewer players back from last season, is that they won there last year 21-14.
No. 5 Hardin-Simmons at No. 12 Mary Hardin-Baylor
Here’s defacto title game No. 1 this week, and it’s never an easy one to predict. The Cowboys can come in riding high, like last season, and get chumped 38-7. Two seasons ago Hardin-Simmons won the midseason matchup 49-22, only to lose 42-28 to UMHB in the playoffs. The American Southwest title is likely on the line in a game that could have a ripple effect throughout Division III. If the Crusaders and Cowboys each make the postseason and Trinity (Texas) wins the SCAC, a Texas team will play an out-of-state team in the first round (there are no more byes to help avoid this) for the first time since HSU played Wittenberg in 2001.
No. 4 St. John’s at St. Olaf
A pair of 5-0s meet in a possible defacto title game, although there are MIAC challenges a plenty the rest of the way for the Oles. St. Olaf brought a 7-0 record into the game last year, lost 63-9 and let its playoff chances go the following week in a 49-35 loss to Concordia-Moorhead. They do get the Johnnies in Northfield this time, and St. John’s hasn’t overwhelmed in either of its MIAC games.
Washington & Jefferson at Thiel
This is the third game on the list that will likely decide a conference title, and because of the PAC’s Pool B status and each team’s early-season loss, the playoff implications are grand. Conference-title-wise, Thiel is 2-0 in PAC games already while it’s the Presidents’ opener, but since these are the only two conference teams with winning records, it’s safe to say the winner is in good shape.
Monmouth at St. Norbert
The fourth defacto title game, and I promise it’s the last time I’ll use that word this week. This one is more like an elimination game than any of the others, however, because the NCAA committee has never taken two Midwest Conference teams in the same season. Monmouth’s loss to Wartburg hurts its Pool C chances with a loss, and hurts the league’s profile (and therefore, St. Norbert’s chances) if the Scots win. The Green Knights haven’t lost since a 28-20 defeat in this game last year, and have only played one close game since, two weeks ago against Lake Forest. Oddly, like the ONU-MUC game, this one is at St. Norbert for the second year in a row.
Also keep an eye on — No. 3 Capital at John Carroll, UW-Platteville at No. 7 UW-La Crosse, No. 11 Occidental at Redlands, No. 13 Central at Luther, No. 15 St. John Fisher at Brockport State, Lycoming at No. 16 Wilkes, North Central at No. 20 Wheaton, Augustana at Elmhurst, Texas Lutheran at Howard Payne, Trinity (Texas) at Huntingdon, UW-Oshkosh at UW-Stout.