I've never been one to give one game it's own blog entry (in all four weeks I've been blogging), but we have ourselves a Thursday night game, it's live on CBS Sports and NCAA.com, it's the No. 9 team in the country and the (perhaps most underrated team in the country) No. 25 team in the country, and gosh darn it, I'm giddy for another great Washburn-Western matchup.

Now there have been some good games since I've started covering the MIAA, many of which I've been at, so I'm not going to say the last two games between these teams have been the best in my three years, but they have to be up there.

Two years ago, it was Brad Beckwith's 53-yard field goal as time expired that capped a 17-point fourth quarter for the Griffons and a come-from-behind victory.

Last year, Western came out on top again, when after an 82-minute lightning delay stopped a 26-point run by the Bods, running back Michael Hill caught a late touchdown toss from Drew Newhart for the win.

Now, Washburn, ranked 9th in the D2Football.com poll, hasn't been ranked this high since 2005 when they won their first eight conference games and went into the final game of the season as the No. 5 team in the country.

The Ichabods fell at Missouri Western that week, but still came out on top of the MIAA and earned a first-round bye in the playoffs before losing to Northwest Missouri.

Missouri Western head coach Jerry Partridge has never lost to a ranked Washburn team (3-0) and is 9-5 against the Bods in his career.

So history says Missouri Western wins in a tight one, right?

Maybe, but I think history is boring, and I never did very well with it. I did though enjoy current affairs, and currently, Washburn looks like a darn good football team. So let's get into this week.

No. 25 Missouri Western (2-1, 1-1) at No. 9 Washburn (3-0, 2-0)
Thursday, Sept. 22; 7 p.m.
Yager Stadium; Topeka, KS
TV: CBS Sports | To see if you get CBS Sports, click the link and look at the bottom-right of the page for the box labeled 'Channel Finder'
Free Live Stream: NCAA.com

As I pointed out in my High 5 blog earlier this week, Washburn's opponents haven't done much this year (zero combined DII wins), but at times, Dane Simoneau and company look prolific.

That might be the key phrase here. At times. Remember the infutility they showed in most of the second half in the Sioux Falls game? And how about the first eight drives last week against Missouri Southern, which saw only 165 yards and three points?

Defensively, Washburn is good enough (4th or 5th in every major statistical category) to survive slow stretches like those against some teams; I'm just not sure if Missouri Western is one of those teams.

The Griffons opened up a little bit last week in their 47-0 whooping of NAIA Langston, but Little P Travis Partridge has still thrown for fewer yards and touchdowns than anyone in the conference except Zac Dickey.

Now Partridge, who has improved but hasn't yet earned respite from the nickname I gave him after his awful performance in Week 1, can hurt you on the ground just like Dickey, but his feet strike not nearly the fear in defenders that Dickey, the league's sixth-leading rusher, does.

I'll tell you what, or who, does warrant some fear out of Griffon Country. David Bass and Ben Pister. These two guys are good enough to keep the Griffons in just about any game this year and might be the most valuable combination on any defense in the conference, maybe even country.

Simoneau has only been sacked five times this year, a number Bass and Pister are capable of reaching on their own Thursday night.

Much to their credit, the MoWest defense has not given up a touchdown since 10 seconds before halftime in the season-opener against Pitt State, and no points period since seven minutes into the third quarter against Central Missouri.

But if Little P wants to keep the Griffons' win streak in this series alive, first he'll need to come in and play at a whole new level, and that will include a better showing in the red zone.

Western has scored on a respectable 10 out of 12 trips inside the opponent's 20 yard line, but only five of those scores have been touchdowns, a touchdown-to-score ratio better in the conference than only Truman.

Compare that to Washburn, who has scored on 11 of 13 trips to the red zone, with 10 of those scores being touchdowns.

So in the end, who holds the advantage? Avoiding history and sticking with current events, it's pretty clear that... I'm not really sure.

Even with an improving-every-week run game out of the Griffons (200 yards on the ground in last two games), I like Washburn's offense a lot better, particularly because on top of Simoneau's abilities, the Bods can run the ball with anybody in the MIAA.

But Western's defense is almost too good to pick against right now and the nod on special teams most definitely goes to Missouri Western, with K Greg Zurlein returning after missing two games and coming off a game in which they blocked two kicks.

But in the end, I think Simoneau ends the Griffon defense's scoreless streak, a few times over and finds a way to come out on top.

Prediction: Washburn 27 Missouri Western 23

Agree with what I have to say? 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.