Keith McMillan and I and a guest each week run down the games to watch in several categories — some you may recognize, some we just made up last night. But this is just the start of the conversation, as we open up the Daily Dose for your thoughts and comments.

This week’s guest is Jason Bowen, who covered the ACFC for D3football.com’s Kickoff 2007 and has a lot of experience with the four Top 10 teams squaring off this week: UW-Whitewater, Mary Hardin-Baylor, Salisbury and Wesley.

Continue along with us here on the blog and on the message boards on game day, especially if you can’t make it to a game yourself, and then we’ll be back Monday with our weekly podcast, wrapping up the previous weekend’s action.

Game of the Week
Pat’s take: Principia vs. Trinity Bible at the Metrodome. This will be over before this blog gets posted, most likely, since it starts at 9 a.m. ET, but this game literally makes the season for someone. Trinity Bible is 0-8 and not a Division III member, while Principia is 1-7, came into the season ranked last in our Kickoff ranking of all Division III teams. Principia’s only win is against Trinity Bible. In fact, Principia’s only wins in its past 24 games are against Trinity Bible. You get the picture. This is their championship game, even if it’s for ninth place in the Upper Midwest Athletic Conference.

Keith’s take: No. 2 Mary Hardin-Baylor at No. 3 UW-Whitewater. How kind of you, Pat. I, however, can’t look past a pair of top-three teams in a non-conference game this late in the season, with the nation’s top rushing attack taking on perhaps the best rusher. The winner here becomes my favorite to appear in the Stagg Bowl against Mount Union, although I fully recognize that someone else might have a remarkable postseason run in them, or that injuries could change things.

Jason’s Take: No. 9 Salisbury at No. 10 Wesley. No game this week has bigger ramifications for Pool B and possibly Pool C playoff bids than this one. Salisbury can virtually wrap up a bid and the ACFC championship with a win in this one. For Wesley, this game is a must win, since a second regional loss leaves the Wolverines on the bubble. Having watched every game in the series since 1993, the stakes have never been higher. Wesley has defended Salisbury’s option run-game, which ranks second nationally this season, well over the past five seasons. If the Wolverines tackle well, the Sea Gulls are going to have to make some plays down the field in the pass game to keep rolling up the points. Salisbury ‘s pass game, when they use it, has been very efficient (just one interception and six touchdowns in 71 attempts) this season. Gull backup quarterback Bobby Sheahin, a Maryland transfer, could play a big factor if Salisbury gets down early. After turning the ball over 16 times in the first four games, the Wesley offense has given it up just four times in their last four. Wesley’s run game is probably better than it was during the past two seasons ,when they advance to the semifinals, behind a rapidly improving offensive line and Mike Pennewell. Quarterback Jason Schatz continues to mature and is managing games well and making big plays more down the field to burners Larry Beavers and Michael Clarke. Salisbury’s 3-5-3 defense gave the Wolverine offensive some problems last year, holding them to a regular season low 13 points. Rain is in the forecast in Dover, so turnovers could tip the scales in this one.

Surprisingly close game
Pat’s take: Wilkes at King’s. Sure, Wilkes was in the MAC title hunt six days ago, and King’s is winless, but King’s can’t stay winless forever, right? Right? The Monarchs have been on the doorstep the past three weeks and will break through against their crosstown rivals.

Keith’s take: Loras at Dubuque. I took a crosstown rivalry too, and not because Pat and I misunderstood “surprisingly close.” The Spartans, after losing to Central last week in three overtimes, losing IIAC championship and playoff hopes in the process, could come out flat before putting up the winning score late.

Jason’s Take: No. 1 Mount Union at No. 12 Capital. Nobody has seen the Purple Raiders more in the past couple of seasons than the Crusaders, who have been dropped by their OAC rival four times during the past two seasons. The regular season games have been blow outs, but the Crusaders have lost by just three in both playoff losses. After a tough loss to Otterbein last week, Maybe Capital bounces back when least expected.

Most likely Top 25 team to get upset
Pat’s take: No. 11 Alfred. This shouldn’t be taken as a huge knock on Alfred. Hobart just seems to be firing on all cylinders this month. They’ve scored 41 or more the past four games — against admittedly lesser competition, but at least they have seen the north side of 40 before, which they may well need against Alfred’s 42.7 points per game.

Keith’s take: No. 14 Occidental. The Tigers like to flirt with disaster a couple times a season on the way to the playoffs, and one of these days that habit might bite them. They’ve already done it this year, blocking a PAT with 4:38 left to hold off Claremont-Mudd-Scripps (now 1-5) and they trailed Pomona-Pitzer (2-4) at halftime last week. Cal Lutheran’s shown signs of getting it together, so maybe this is the week. And if it isn’t, well heck, three-fifths of the top 25 are playing ranked opponents or someone against whom a loss might not be considered an upset, so there wasn’t much to choose from.

Jason’s take: No. 20 Muhlenberg vs. Dickinson. The Mules have been impressive on defense this season posting four shutouts and seven straight wins, but this is the time things usually get crazy in the Centennial Conference. Dickinson (6-1) is well-coached fundamental football team with some playmakers back from last year’s playoff team with their only loss coming to Hopkins by three.

They’ll be on your radar
Pat’s take: Dickinson. This gets harder and harder each week — I mean, shoot, how can a team get onto the radar in Week 9? By winning at an undefeated team’s home field, I’m guessing. Dickinson’s performance last year in the playoffs — even in a 49-21 loss at Wesley — was the Centennial’s best NCAA playoff performance since 2003, when Muhlenberg scored 20 points at Christoper Newport, then a third-year program.

Keith’s take: Washington U. The Bears control their playoff destiny and are a major factor in Pool B, but with a showdown against unbeaten Case Western Reserve looming next weekend, they’d better not get caught looking ahead. Carnegie Mellon, 11-1 and UAA champ last season, won’t go down easily. Three of their four losses are by three points or fewer, and they shut out Chicago on the road in their UAA opener last weekend. Given that Wash. U. has three road games to get them to 9-1 and into the postseason (most likely), I’ll be watching how they start the stretch run.

Jason’s take: The winner of the Delaware Valley/Widener game. Both teams stumbled early, but have rebounded to post unbeaten records in the MAC. The winner will get a shot at the conference crown in the coming weeks against Albright.

Total rushing yards and score in the UMHB/UWW game
Pat’s take: 580 and 31. There’s lots of focus on last year’s performance by the UWW defensive line but not a lot of attention paid to the fact that UMHB returns every offensive lineman from that game’s two-deep while the Warhawks’ defensive front lost three of its four starters, including the D3football.com Defensive Player of the Year, Ryan Kleppe. UMHB will be able to get its yards, about 360 of them, while UWW will garner the other 220. And 14 of the points.

Keith’s take: 500 and 45. I can’t expect defenses of this caliber to each give up 300 yards rushing, so I aimed a little lower than Pat. The focus here will clearly be on the rushing offenses, but I don’t see a defensive battle like last season. If Josh Welch or Danny Jones can make plays for his team in the passing game, we could see one or the other open up the scoring. 45 points could come in many forms. I doubt we’ll see 42-3, but 31-14 is just as possible as 24-21.

Jason’s Take: 400 and 38. I’ll have to credit two good defenses in holding down the rushing totals a bit here. Justin Beaver will get his yards and so will Thrasher and Daniels. I have to agree with Keith that the key will be big plays in the passing game. UMHB’s defense will attack, attack, attack, like no other. The Warhawks will have to attack right back. The pressure is on Danny Jones. He will have to stand up against the pressure and get the ball down field to Neil Mrkvicka on the post off of play action like Wesley did the last couple years with Chris Warrick. I understand the Crusaders have a big receiver at 6-foot-7 now, but I still think they are in trouble if they have to play catch up with that run, run, run offense. I like the balance in the Whitewater offense and the fact that the are at home. Should be a great game.

Least interesting game between Top 25 teams
Pat’s take: No. 1 Mount Union at No. 12 Capital. I just don’t see it being anything other than a blowout. Hard to believe otherwise.

Keith’s take: No. 25 Cortland State at No. 18 TCNJ. Not because it won’t be close, but because these two teams might settle for a grind, and unless you appreciate the finer points of defense or a field-position game, ‘least interesting’ might end up describing the 13-9 slugfest it becomes.

Jason’s take: No. 19 Trinity at No. 24 Millsaps. Just because I had to pick one. I haven’t seen Trinity play since the late 90’s at Lycoming and I don’t know that much about Millsaps except that they got beat by three touchdowns by Carnegie Melon in last year’s first round. Both probably won’t fare well in a first round match against Mary Hardin-Baylor in the playoffs.

Keith McMillan and I and a guest each week run down the games to watch in several categories — some standard, some off the wall. But this is just the start of the conversation, as we open up the Daily Dose for your thoughts and comments.

This week’s guest is back to the top of the rotation, as Gordon Mann, D3sports.com’s deputy managing editor, rejoins us.

Continue along with us here on the blog and on the message boards on game day, especially if you can’t make it to a game yourself, and then we’ll be back Monday with our weekly podcast, wrapping up the previous weekend’s action.

Game of the week
Gordon’s take: Last week we had “de facto championship games,” but this week we have a team who can actually clinch a playoff spot when St. Norbert hosts Ripon. If the Green Knights win, they are MWC champions and the first team officially into the 2007 playoffs. A Red Hawks’ victory wouldn’t be quite as definitive but it would give them first place with games against Grinnell (2-5) and Lawrence (2-4) remaining. If last year’s game was any indication, this also has the potential to be a very entertaining game. In 2006 the teams had a see-saw battle swing in favor of St. Norbert when Zach Behnke returned a blocked punt to give the Green Knights the lead for good.

Keith’s take: Pacific Lutheran (5-1) at Linfield (3-2). It’s among a handful of games Saturday with conference title and playoff implications. I like this game best because of the rivalry that’s developed between the two recent national champions (Lutes, 1999; Wildcats, 2004) and the fact that the “Catdome” should be rocking for this one. Northwest Conference teams are behind the 8-ball in the Pool B picture, so the loser here is virtually eliminated from playoff contention.

Pat’s take: Bridgewater (5-1, 1-1) at Emory and Henry (4-2, 1-1). What could be better than a league’s old guard and new guard playing for their playoff lives in front of an unbelievable number of fans? Emory and Henry lost at Randolph-Macon last week but faces Washington and Lee, Catholic and Guilford to close the season. If the Wasps can get by this game, they still have a shot at the automatic bid. Bridgewater just held Guilford 23 points below its season average, but then again, Emory and Henry doesn’t pass nearly as often.

Surprisingly close
Gordon’s take: No. 7 Central at Dubuque is interesting, but we can’t be surprised when the Dutch play a close game. So I’ll go with the Rhine River Cup battle where No. 5 Capital travels to Otterbein. This has all the makings of a trap game — rivalry game, favored team on the road with a huge match-up next week, injury plagued-offense. Capital is 27-5 since the beginning of the 2005 season, with four losses to Mount Union and one to Otterbein. Maybe quarterback Wade Bartholomew has a bit of a let down coming off last week’s three touchdown showing against Ohio Northern. Maybe the Cardinals keep it close early and gain confidence as the game goes on. That doesn’t mean the Crusaders won’t win. But I don’t think they do so by more than two scores against a .500 team.

Keith’s take: Mt. St. Joseph at Manchester. When your season points toward one game, as the Lions’ has, and you lose it, a hangover is difficult to avoid. The 3-3 Spartans are in the midst of a good season, but this is a game 5-1 Mt. St. Joseph shouldn’t lose. They won’t, but it might take a few quarters to realize this is an opportunity to get back on track and stay near the top of the conference in case Franklin stumbles rather than a meaningless game.

Pat’s take: No. 2 Mary Hardin-Baylor at Mississippi College. Admittedly, the Choctaws have given up a fair amount of points to the good offenses they’ve seen, and the Crusaders have more than just a good offense. And yes, Mary Hardin-Baylor has won 18 consecutive American Southwest Conference games. And they only allowed 14 points to Hardin-Simmons, on the road, while MC allowed 45 at home. So before I talk myself out of it, yes, this is a game that might actually be worth the $8.95 to watch it on the Web. After you get done watching the Springfield/St. John Fisher game on D3Cast for free, of course.

Most likely Top 25 team to lose
Gordon’s take: No. 22 New Jersey has held every opponent to 15 points or less this year, but they’ll have their hands full with Western Connecticut. The Colonials are scoring 26.7 per game this year including showings with 44, 41, 27 and 26 points and running back Wayne Neal leads the NJAC in rushing yards per game. If Western Connecticut turns this into shoot-out can the Lions’ offense keep up?

Keith’s take: It’s hard to go against No. 8 St. John Fisher in a game that looked like it would be much bigger than it’s turned out to be, but Springfield is still dangerous, especially on its home turf. With the Pride and the Cardinals joining Hartwick a loss behind Alfred in the Empire 8 race, it’s do-or-die for both teams here. If the Pride, who played five of their first six on the road, have any, this could be a toss-up.

Pat’s take: St. Olaf. Maybe the Oles have slid a bit high, at No. 13, after the losses around them the past couple of weeks. Bethel is hardly reduced to playing spoiler at this point — after all, the Royals (Bethies?) are still unbeaten in the MIAC and host St. John’s at the end of the season. This league has three-way tie potential still — and by the way, that’s what we projected in Kickoff.

They’ll be on your radar
Gordon’s take: Albright, who has barely registered a blip on the national radar at 5-1. On one hand, the Lions haven’t beaten anyone with a record better than 2-4. On the other, they were unlikely to be in this situation after last year’s 2-8 performance. Sophomore quarterback Tanner Kelly seems like an All-American in the making (1,561 yards, 13 interceptions) after his stellar freshman campaign. But he and Albright will have the toughest test of this year against All-American in the present Kyle Follweiler and a Wilkes defense that is still very good.

Keith’s take: The IIAC top four. Finally some clarity in one of the nation’s most muddled conference races. Central goes to Dubuque, after both teams beat Coe by a touchdown, while the Kohawks attempt to save face at Wartburg, who has already beaten Dubuque. We could emerge from Saturday with a three-way tie at the top of the conference, or we could emerge with a clear leader, with Central at Wartburg still looming Nov. 10. Montclair State at Cortland State is also worth watching for the help it’ll provide in figuring out the NJAC race.

Pat’s take: Illinois Wesleyan. The Titans face three serious tests in their final four games, though facing Elmhurst at home might be the least painful of the three. (The others: at North Central and home against Wheaton.) If they don’t win this game, it could be a painful downward spiral and a .500 finish, but a win, followed by a presumptive win at North Park, puts IWU at 6-2, 5-0 heading to Naperville on Nov. 3.

Smallest margin of victory — Mount Union, Mary Hardin-Baylor or UW-Whitewater?
Gordon’s take: I picked Baldwin-Wallace as the team most likely to keep No. 1 Mount Union in check in the preseason but the Purple Juggernaut’s offense has me thinking otherwise now. Mississippi College gave up 42 and 34 to Hardin-Simmons and Louisiana College, both of whom got stomped by Mary Hardin-Baylor. So I guess that leaves me with the Warhawks for the smallest margin of victory.

Keith’s take: On paper, the nation’s three top-ranked teams face tough conference tests. Before giving up 62 points to Heidelberg and Muskingum the past two weeks, Baldwin-Wallace looked like a defensive juggernaut that might give Mount Union some trouble. Looking at the margins of victory for the three teams, using their average score (60-4 for MUC, 55-13 or UMHB and 30.5-14.5 for Whitewater) and the Warhawks are the only pick here, especially since they play No. 20 UW-Stevens Point.

Pat’s take: Mary Hardin-Baylor. UW-Stevens Point has had a great season so far but their three non-conference opponents (Webber International, Iowa Wesleyan and Waldorf) are a combined 3-18, and their three conference wins are each by three points against 2-4 teams. That game won’t be as close as the previous three UWSP conference games.

Playoff hopeful who sees its bubble burst
Gordon’s take: Springfield still has a faint chance at the postseason, despite its 3-3 record. But the combination of a Pride defense that’s giving up lots of points and a St. John Fisher offense that’s scoring them doesn’t bode well. They’ll join UW-La Crosse as a team ranked in the preseason Top 10 who will the playoffs. I also give No. 13 St. Olaf the edge at home in a game that would end Bethel’s chances at postseason return.

Keith’s take: Plymouth State. With the Panthers and NEFC heavyweight Curry each undefeated heading into Saturday’s game, the loser falls behind in the Boyd Division and will likely miss out on an invite to play Coast Guard in the NEFC title game. The winner of that game gets the NCAA bid, while no NEFC team has been an at-large selection.

Pat’s take: Wilkes. Despite being 2-4 overall, the Colonels are 2-1 in the MAC. It’s just not clear what kind of team is going to show up for Wilkes this weekend.

Winless team most likely to change fortune
Gordon’s take: King’s (0-6) had a nice comeback against Albright last week when third-string quarterback Blaine Fox gave the Monarchs a spark. Lebanon Valley (1-5) has to be pretty disappointed with how 2007 has shaped up, considering the Flying Dutchmen hoped to build on last year’s 6-4 finish with at least an ECAC appearance. King’s has been close to a W three times this year and I think they break through here.

Keith’s take: Hiram (0-6) goes to Denison (1-5) coming off an encouraging performance at Wooster, where the Terriers lost 24-17. I also like 0-6 Bluffton to get over the hump against Anderson (1-5) after a pair of 7-point road losses.

Pat’s take: Averett (0-6, 0-3 USA South). The Cougars travel to Greensboro (1-5, 0-3), who might be more fired up than they were in a 33-7 loss at Shenandoah. Regardless, it’s hard to believe Averett, even losing as much as it did from last year’s team, is still winless.

Keith McMillan and I and a guest each week run down the games to watch in several categories — some standard, some off the wall. But this is just the start of the conversation, as we open up the Daily Dose for your thoughts and comments.

Continue along with us here on the blog and on the message boards on game day (we’ll be in Chicagoland), especially if you can’t make it to a game yourself, and then we’ll be back Monday with our weekly podcast, wrapping up the previous weekend’s action.

Kevin LaForest, a former Brockport State broadcaster and occasional postseason live score tracker for us here at D3football.com, known as pg04 on the message boards, is our special guest analyst for this week.

Game of the Week
Keith’s take: Franklin at Mt. St. Joseph. We’ve never seen the Heartland earn two playoff bids, even after Franklin lost 21-14 to automatic qualifier and finished 9-1 last season. So if tradition holds, only one of these teams will make the field of 32, via the AQ. It’s basically a single-elimination playoff game, especially for the Grizzlies, who lost 35-33 at Wabash earlier this year. It could be more of the same from the Lions, a three-time reigning conference champ, or a historic day for the Grizzlies, who haven’t won a conference title since 1981 and have never made the playoffs.

Kevin’s take: No. 11 Ohio Northern at No. 7 Capital. This match-up is the only between two top 25 teams this week, and will probably decide which team gets what could be considered the automatic Pool C bid for the OAC runner-up. The Polar bears were crushed at home last weekend by Mount Union but can make that disappear with a victory this weekend. ONU quarterback Jeff Pankratz will need a better performance after going 13-for-31 for 133 yards last week, while the running game will attempt to get back on the plus side. The crusaders are coming in on an exact opposite feeling after crushing the Blue Streaks of John Carroll 37-13 last week. Their defense was monstrous getting nine sacks and by holding the Blue Streaks to negative yards rushing. The team (if either) that gets out to a quick start will have a great opportunity to win the game.

Pat’s take: Wittenberg at No. 14 Wabash. Wittenberg seems to desperately want to be a factor again in the North Region and has pounded Earlham and Wooster (combined 2-8) to the tune of 131-7. A 13-0 loss to Capital in Week 1 raised eyebrows at the time but seems more reasonable now given what Capital has done since. The Tigers haven’t won a postseason game since 2002, and that was against the Heartland Conference, 1-8 in the playoffs in the automatic bid era. Wabash settled on Matt Hudson at quarterback last week, though he threw for just 129 yards on 23 attempts at Allegheny. Should be a bitter battle.

Surprisingly close
Keith’s take: Concordia-Moorhead at St. Olaf; Hardin-Simmons at East Texas Baptist. The Oles have to get over the hangover from losing a one-point game at conference power St. John’s. If the Oles don’t make it happen right away, the Cobbers could lure them into a shootout: They’ve scored 34 or more in five of six games in their 4-2 season so far. Meanwhile, Hardin-Simmons must get past the idea of being out of the playoff picture and likely the ASC race for the first time in a decade. ETBU is in first place at 4-0, 4-2, but the 2-1, 2-3 Cowboys have the superior talent and should eke one out after they get on board with the idea of playing out the rest of the season as hard as possible. Teams that have taken beatings at their hands for years will be looking for payback if they don’t.

Kevin’s take: No. 3 UW-Whitewater vs. UW-Oshkosh. Well we all know how wild the wild, wild WIAC can be. It appears that any team in the top 4 of the conference has a legitimate shot of making a real run. Whitewater’s lone loss came to an out of division opponent, while Oshkosh lost, but only by 1, to UW-Eau Claire. Justin Beaver of the Warhawks, one of the best in Division III at the running back position, will certainly make it difficult at home. It’s also UW-W’s homecoming game. All this aside, Oshkosh has a fairly potent back of their own. Andy Moriarty has rushed for 10 touchdowns and 721 yards in 5 games this season and could give the Warhawks fits. In the end, though, Whitewater will probably extend their 17 game WIAC winning streak.

Pat’s take: Concordia (Wis.) at Concordia (Ill.). The homestanding Cougars already have more wins than in any season since D3football.com’s inception in 1999. While beating the Falcons is a long shot, this should be a tighter ballgame.

Most likely top 25 team to get upset
Keith’s take: No. 6 Central. Not that losing to visiting Coe would be a major stunner in Iowa. What’s stunning is how the banged-up Dutch keep getting it done. They were outgained for the fourth time this season last week but beat Simpson by a touchdown. Their scores aren’t of the typical dominant top 10 variety, but that’s Central’s m.o.; they aren’t simply playing down to the level of their competition. We wouldn’t have to worry about that with the Kohawks anyway, since they’re among the IIAC’s more talented teams, especially defensively, where they hadn’t allowed more than 10 points in a game until a 28-21 OT loss vs. Dubuque last week.

Kevin’s take: No. 5 Wheaton. Pat picked them last week, and I’m going to pick them again this week. They kind of feel like Wisconsin did last week in the No. 5 position of the Football Bowl Subdivision (or I-A to normal people). Wheaton was able to squeak by the challenge of North Central last week after being down 17-0 at the half. Though they do have being at home on their side, Augustana challenged Illinois Wesleyan to a 22-19 loss on the road. If Augustana can keep it close and withstand the first half homecoming charge, I believe they’ll have a good shot at pulling the upset and making a mess of the CCIW. Also, not many other Top 25 teams are actually playing unranked teams that threaten them in the manner that I feel Augustana does to the Thunder.

Pat’s take: No. 22 UW-Stevens Point. Maybe taking a WIAC team to pull an upset is like picking the low-hanging fruit, but those three NAIA opponents the Pointers started the season with are a combined 3-16, and one of those wins came when two of the opponents faced off. UW-Stout is “just” 2-3, but the Blue Devils’ game at Whitworth was a bigger challenge than anything UW-Stevens Point has seen to date.

They’ll be on your radar
Keith’s take: Illinois Wesleyan. Pat and I will be in CCIW country this weekend and will see four of the conference’s top teams. The Titans aren’t among them, but they are among the conference leaders at 3-2, 2-0 (the non-conference losses were to Coe and MSJ). With wins over Augustana and Carthage already, and Wheaton — the only other team unbeaten in CCIW play — not on the schedule until Nov. 10, the Titans, 3-7 the past three seasons, could make an interesting run, starting Saturday against Millikin.

Kevin’s take: Rowan. Ah-ha. Finally time to mention an eastern team. Perennial eastern powerhouse Rowan is smarting after a disappointing 10-7 conference loss in which their opponent, The College of New Jersey, didn’t score an offensive touchdown. This week, they take on the Buffalo State Bengals in an important NJAC tilt. Rowan is currently 3-2 (1-1 in NJAC) with close losses to Christopher Newport and the previously mentioned TCNJ Lions. However, their wins over Western Connecticut, Wilkes, and Widener have been fairly impressive. The Profs must get back on the winning track if they want any chance at winning the conference and getting into the playoffs to once again become “beasts of the east.” As it is right now, they are essentially 2 games behind TCNJ due to last week’s loss. The question is: Will they fold up, or will the young team show some heart and play out the rest of the season hard?

Pat’s take: Case Western Reserve. At 5-0 but untested, the Spartans have a shot at leaving Carnegie Mellon on the ropes for even an ECAC postseason game. After winning their first 11 games last year, the Tartans are currently 2-3. For Case, this is one of only two chances to impress the playoff committee all season. (They host Wash U in Week 10.) Case’s opponents so far: Oberlin, Denison, Kenyon, Wooster and Gallaudet.

Which conference race will clear up the most?
Keith’s take: The ODAC, but only because it eventually has to. All seven conference teams have at least two more overall wins than losses, and six go head-to-head Saturday, led by Randolph-Macon (2-0, 5-1) hosting Emory and Henry (1-0, 4-1). It’s just like old times for the Yellow Jackets and Wasps, who used to battle for the conference title yearly in the 90s. It’s also the middle of a four-game homestretch for R-MC. One of those two teams will be the last undefeated in ODAC play after Saturday, while four teams who might have more talent than either of them will battle to keep pace. Washington and Lee, 1-1, 3-1 and the defending conference champ, heads to 2-1, 4-2 Hampden-Sydney, while Guilford and Bridgewater meet in Virginia with identical 0-1, 4-1 records.

Kevin’s take: The NCAC. The conference championship is for all intents and purposes up for grabs as Wabash (5-0) and Wittenberg (4-1) go at it Little Giant Stadium in Crawfordsville, Indiana. Both teams are undefeated in the conference and while Oberlin is also undefeated, they will probably not end up being a serious threat. None of the one-loss teams seem poised to make a run either. Should be a pretty fun game between the two teams.

Pat’s take: The CCIW. With four of the top five teams in the league standings facing each other (Augustana at Wheaton, North Central at Elmhurst), some things should begin to take shape. At the very least, Keith and I will get a clearer picture since we’ll be at both games. Surprising Illinois Wesleyan faces Millikin, which has its win against North Park but not much else.

Which non-Division III team is most likely to win this weekend, Trinity Bible at Principia, Faulkner at Huntingdon, or Southern Virginia at Frostburg State?
Keith’s take: I don’t particularly like any of the non-D3s’ chances this week, especially given that Trinity Bible beat Principia twice last year in overtime. The 0-6 Panthers’ misfortune against its most beatable opponent can’t continue … can it?

Kevin’s take: Southern Virginia. Isn’t Trinity Bible the team that lost by 105 points? Otherwise, I think both Faulkner and Southern Virginia will win. However, Southern Virginia is the team that is most likely to win as Frostburg State has not be able to do anything on offense, and has not been able to stop anyone on defense. The Bobcats’ troubles don’t end this week.

Pat’s take: I can’t take Southern Oregon over struggling Linfield, so I’m going with Southern Virginia as well.