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That's right. Northwest will be selling Mel Tjeerdsma Bobbleheads as part of Mel and Carol Tjeerdsma Day, a two-day event celebrating the illustrious career of arguably the greatest coach to ever grace a D2 sideline.
What a day Saturday is sure to be. The emotion will be high, as on top of everyone's minds will be Tjeerdsma's friend and successor Scott Bostwick, who died in June before he ever got a chance to lead the Bearcats onto the field. Adam Dorrel, who joined the Bearcats as a redshirt walk-on a year before Tjeerdsma's arrival and was with Coach T through the early years, will be there as well, in his first home game as Northwest's head coach.
Thousands of Tjeerdsma fans will line Bearcat Stadium to honor a legend, one we may never see the likes of again. And amid all the familiarity and the tradition we'll see, Northwest welcomes a bit of an unknown into Maryville.
Sioux Falls comes to town in just their second game as a D2 member. In their first game last week against Washburn, the Bods torched them for four early TDs as Dane Simoneau came out on fire, but the Coo got things under control and turned it into a ballgame.
But this week, second-year coach Jed Stugart and company take a road trip, and it's to one of the toughest places to play in all of Division II, and for the reasons listed above, it's going to be a packed house full of rowdy fans.
Now, what should be a fun game to watch in Maryville isn't the only thing we need to talk about. We've got a battle of new QBs in St. Joseph, Week 1's biggest over-performer and an under-performer going head-to-head in Pittsburg and a matchup of Cats and Dogs in Kirksville.
But since we're already on the topic, we'll begin this week's previews in Maryville.
Sioux Falls (0-1) at No. 4 Northwest Missouri (1-0)
Saturday, Sept 10; 6 p.m. CDT
Bearcat Stadium; Maryville, Mo.
Can Blake Christopher keep it going from Week 1? It didn't take long for the long-time backup to find his groove against Truman State, and besides a lost fumble on a pitch on the first possession, there wasn't much wrong with his game. He only got to play through the first drive of the second half, and while I can't argue with the decision to pull him, I have to wonder if a new quarterback could have used the reps under center.
Any way you look at it, this Northwest team, on paper, is going to be explosive this year, ESPECIALLY if Christopher can continue the success he saw in the first game. But there's something about this Sioux team that has me wondering if they might just give the Bearcats a game.
Sioux QB Carrington Hanna was impressive at times in the game against Washburn, but three bad throws turned into interceptions. Three picks against the Bearcats and the Coo won't even be in this game. Hanna is going to need to keep his accuracy under tabs to stay in this game. It also wouldn't hurt to get more than nine rushing yards out of your backs. Granted, Sioux Falls fell down big early, and Hanna was forced to pass a lot in the comeback bid, but a state like that isn't very appealing as you head into Bearcat Stadium.
Defensively for the Coo, look for junior linebacker Eric Anderson (#45). He had a game high 11 tackles last week against Washburn, plus an interception, a forced fumble and a pass breakup.
Now, back to the Bearcats, for some reason, I want to be worried. I'd be a little more concerned if they hadn't made such a statement last week against Truman, but I still can't shake the thoughts of an upset in the making. If Christopher struggles, more pressure gets put onto an inexperienced defense (though one that performed very well a week ago).
Still though, Northwest's rushing attack is good enough to get them by even if Christopher doesn't put up a repeat of last week.
I think the Bearcats pull through in a game that will be more competitive than the final score will indicate
Prediction: Northwest Missouri 41 Sioux Falls 24
No. 9 Central Missouri (1-0) at Missouri Western (0-1)
Saturday, Sept. 10; 6 p.m. CDT
Spratt Stadium; St. Jospeh, MO
MIAA Network http://bit.ly/nrLERD
This was supposed to be the day's headliner, but a basic no-show from Missouri Western in their season opener against Pitt State has dropped the Griffons out of the D2Football.com Top 25. I inferred above that Emporia State was Week 1's biggest under-performer, but depending on what Pitt State ends up being this year, Missouri Western's performance, or lack thereof, could definitely make a case for that title and has many wondering how, or if they're going to recover.
The first thing that needs to happen is Travis Partridge needs to wake up. 10 for 20 for 70 yards? Come on man, you've got big shoes to fill, we get that, but my 5-month-old daughter fits better into Drew Newhart's shoes than Little P did in his first game as a starter.
Now, he goes up against Central Missouri, who has, in my opinion, the league's best defender in cornerback Marlon Douglas. Voice of the Mules Shawn Jones told me this week he's never seen a defender with such an 'eye for the ball.' Here's my entire interview with Jones, as we talk about quarterback Tommy Corwin's first game, the week ahead, Douglas and what makes Jim Svoboda so special.
Like Jones and I talked about, it took some serious juevos for Corwin to bounce back from a shaky start and a 7-0 deficit to have the kind of game he had, but then again, that's how Coach Boda likes to roll I guess. Now, it's entirely possible Corwin had the best game he'll ever have as a Mule in his very first start, but while it can't get much better, it's certainly not a bad thing to kick things off like that.
Heck, would you rather be Travis Partridge after his first start?
I would like to see a little more production out of the UCM running game, and if that can happen, I'm not so sure this game will be close. And it could happen. Pitt State ran ALL OVER Western.
On the other hand, we ARE just one week removed from my prediction that Missouri Western would drop 40-something on Pitt State, so let's not get too down on MoWest just yet. But they NEED guys like David Bass to step up and make some plays. Bass, a preseason All-American according to some (not D2Football.com though) had just one tackle in the first game of the season.
This is going to be an interesting game, but I think the Mules have the upper hand.
Prediction: Central Missouri 35 Missouri Western 21
Emporia State (0-1) at No. 25 Pittsburg State (1-0)
Saturday, Sept. 10; 7 p.m. CDT
Carnie Smith Stadium; Pittsburg, KS
Man the Gorillas looked good last week! In his column this week, Bob Eblen says "Pitt State is back." I'm not so sure I'm ready to confirm that though. The Gorillas have some work to do, and it starts in their home opener against Emporia.
If the Hornets can learn to hold onto the ball and quarterback Tyler Eckenrode can put up numbers like he did last week, this could STILL be a scary team in the MIAA. You might think after my break-up letter earlier this week that I'm just trying to smooth-talk my way into a reconciliation, and that might be true, but don't give up on ESU just yet, even if I did.
The big question about Pitt State is whether or not they can ride the legs of Zac Dickey into the promised land. Here's my obligatory once a week 'you have to pass the ball in this conference' rant. YOU HAVE TO PASS THE BALL IN THIS CONFERENCE. Plain and simple. Dickey showed a bit of life in the passing game last week, particularly in his long completion to Jon Brown after a Little P fumble, which set up the Gorillas' second score of the game, but most of what we saw from him came on the ground.
I"m not going to lie. This is a tough game to call. My head says Pitt wins in a runway, but my heart keeps wanting to jump back into bed with Emporia. If the Hornets are hosting, it's a different story, but I'll go with PSU and their insane 92% winning percentage at home since 1986.
Prediction: Pitt State 27 Emporia 21
Fort Hays State (1-0) at Truman State (0-1)
Saturday, Sept. 10; 1 p.m. CDT
Stokes Stadium; Kirksville, MO
Well, it can't get any worse for Truman State. If you were the Bulldogs heading into this year, you had to feel good about your chances. Realistically you didn't have much hope of winning the Hickory Stick, but against a tragedy-stricken and defensively-depleted Bearcat team, I think there was some in Truman country thinking they could at least hang with Northwest Missouri.
Well, that didn't work out so well. Now, quarterback J.B. Clark and company face Fort Hays, who kicked off the Chris Brown era with a victory last week over Emporia. Good things out of Hays last week included two running backs (Edward Smith and Andre Smith) who had almost 100 yards rushing and two guys on defense, linebacker Alex Whitehill (15) and DB Korey Allison (10) with 10+ tackles. Both also had a forced fumble and a fumble recovery, while Allison added an interception late in the fourth quarter that he returned 55 yards to the ESU 2-yard line that helped ice the game.
Hays' first-time starter at quarterback, Blake McAhren, was good enough for Chris Brown to stray from his pregame strategy of using a two-quarterback system, but Brown says he still hopes to use JuCo transfer Anthony Sheperd some in this game.
Bottom line here is Truman has a big hill to climb after last week's debacle. They're not up against one of the conference powerhouses, so it will be interesting to see how they respond, but the Tigers looked good enough last week to knock off the Bulldogs.
Prediction: Fort Hays 24 Truman 10
Agree with my predictions? Disagree? Good, now tell me why. Leave a comment below, e-mail me at [email protected], @ me on twitter @miAARONd2 or message me at Facebook.com/apheintz.