After the offseason Northwest Missouri had, surely there'd be some on-field ramificiations, right? I mean no way they can lose two icnoic coaches in a matter of months and still come out as the dominant team in the MIAA, right?

And even if they do, there's no way they can survive losing their starting quarterback to a broken bone in his hand, right?

Wrong. Now, I'm not sitting here trying to tell you anybody in their right mind thought the Bearcats would be 0-4, but didn't we all expect some kind of struggles out of the gate? But instead they breezed by Truman without a hiccup other than a fumble on the opening drive, then cruised past Sioux Falls as they honored the first of two longtime coaches they'll be without this year.

And when Blake Christopher went out with a broken hand, sure, maybe it was decent timing in Trevor Adams got to start his first game against Lincoln, but in two games without their starting QB, the Bearcats have barely missed a beat, knocking off the Blue Tigers 73-7 last week and Fort Hays 70-17 on Saturday.

Again, I'm not surprised they're 4-0, it's the matter in which they're doing it. Sixty-five points a game!? Really? Through just four games, they are already more than 40 percent of way to their record-setting point total of 632, which they set in their championship season in 2009, when they played FIFTEEN games!

So anyway, for anybody, including me, who thought Northwest might feel the affects of their offseason, they've shown us all just how much Mel Tjeerdsma and Scott Bostwick did in their 17 years in Maryville.

It makes for an interesting Fall Classic, with Northwest and Pittsburg State both being 4-0 after the Gorillas' dismantling of William Jewell College, a D2 independent who will join the GLVC next season.

Elsewhere in the league, Thursday night proved Washburn means business as they overcame a lackluster first half to a not-as-bad-as-the-score 41-20 victory over Missouri Western. Props to Dane Simoneau for not letting a wild first quarter get under his skin and coming through with a big time game.

The Griffons have their advantages, but Travis Partridge continues to struggle finding an identity, and if you watched Thursday night, you could have texted the Washburn defense to let them know which way he was throwing as soon as he dropped back to pass. At 2-2, it might look bad in St. Joseph, but the Griffons now get an easy stretch after a tough start to the season in which, if they can avoid a letdown, they can build some confidence before their Senior Day (Nov. 5) matchup with Northwest Missouri.

Central Missouri got what they needed - A healthy dose of the worst run-stopping defense in the conference to get their ground game off the...ground. Props to true freshman LaVance Taylor for his 110 yards and touchdown on just 13 carries, and even bigger props to Tommy Corwin, who tied Simoneau for a league-high 360 yards through the air this week, connecting with 10 different recievers in doing so.

Emporia State got themselves into the win column for the first time this year with a nice victory over NAIA Langston. It's funny, Tyler Eckenrode had some really good games in their three early losses, then comes through with a rather pedestrian 157 yards through the air and the Hornets come out on top. Two touchdowns against no interceptions and zero sacks will help that out, for sure.

Missouri Southern also picked up their first win of the season, a 56-14 thumping of Lincoln. Lions RB Steven Sumpter had himself a heck of a day, with 162 yards and three touchdowns on just 13 carries, while WR Landon Zerkel added three scores through the air, with 193 yards on eight catches.

Another week, anothe reason why the message D2 message board is blowing up with "what is Lincoln doing here" chatter. Their sole victory, a 35-3 victory over Avila, came against an NAIA opponent who in three games since has been outscored by fellow NAIA teams a combined 120-7.

Here's a look at my picks for this week's MIAA players of the week:

Offense: Landon Zerkek - WR - MSSU - 8 catches, 193 yards, 3 TDs
Defense: Jahmil Taylor - LB - WU - 13 tackles, 2 TFL, 1 forced fumble
Special Teams - Tyler Chilson - P - ESU - 7 punts, 45.1 avg, 4 inside the 20

This week's box scores:

http://www.emporia.edu/athletics/foo...s/11fbes04.htm

http://www.ucmo.edu/athletics/footba...s/11fbcm04.htm

http://www.mssulions.com/sports/fbal...10924_tpv9.xml

http://www.nwmissouri.edu/sports/football/index.htm

http://www.pittstategorillas.com/hom...011/11fb04.htm

http://www.wusports.com/custompages/...s/11fbwu04.htm