MIAA freshman fail

Lindenwood doesn't exactly make up for the 0-4 Thursday, but did become the only MIAA newbie to escape Week 1 with a victory in Saturday's only conference game.

After a week, I think we're about where we thought we would be with the newcomers. UNK gave Washburn a game, The Wood took it to Lincoln, Northeastern had some high points in a pretty easy win for Pitt and SBU and UCO were, well, SBU and UCO.

The cream of the crop rises to the top

First person to post a comment or Tweet me with the next line to the song this heading makes me think of wins an extra credit point.

Pitt, Northwest, Missouri Western and Washburn all took care of business on Thursday night. No big suprises in any of the games. Pitt was a bit careless with the ball, Northwest's Adams wasn't all that impressive, Western almost let a huge lead get away from them and Washburn was unspectacular, except when it came to red zone defense. I'm not too concerned about any of those, because I think they're all fixable.

Players of the week?

Here are your contenders:

Offense:
1. Ben Gomez QB Lindenwood - 25 of 41 for 404 yards, 5 TDs
2. John Brown WR Pitt State- 9 catches, 140 yards, 2 TDs. 1 TD passing.
3. Tyler Eckenrode QB Emporia State - 23 of 37 for 414, 2 TDs, 1 TD rushing.
4. Michael Hill RB MWSU - 28 rushes, 169 yards, 2 TDs, 1 catch for 6 yards.

Defense:
1. Brandon Dixon CB NWMSU - 7 tackeles, 2 INTs
2. Arbansas Elliot DT MWSU - 2 sacks, 4 tackles
3. Michael Elliot FS Truman - 7 tackles, 3 INTs (all 3 in fourth quarter)

I think the MIAA gives Eckenrode the OPOW award, if only because Brown might get it on Special Teams. Defensively, it's hard to argue against Elliot's three 4q interceptions.

An unlikely addition to the Top 25?

Let's talk the D2Football.com Top 25. Central should drop out, and we might never see them ranked again this season. Also falling out should be No. 23 Lenoir-Rhyne and No. 24 Shepherd, both losers to unranked teams.

RELATED | How the Top 25 fared

That leaves 3 open slots. I think Humboldt State and Albany State, both ranked in the AFCA preseason poll and coming off Week 1 victories, deserve to hop in, but what about that third team?

Dare I say Emporia State? Now, sure, there's PLENTY of teams that could argue they deserve a spot, and it'd be hard to argue with any of them. But for my money, it's just as hard to argue with throwing ESU into the bottom end of the rankings.

Looking ahead

Northwest's third straight trip to Central Missouri is the game that's going to have the message boards lighting up this week, but I'm actually more-closely watching Emporia State at UNK. The Hornets are coming off a statement victory over Hays and UNK needs a win to stay afloat in this ultra-competitive conference.

I won't lose any sleep if we don't see Emporia in this week's rankings, but if they knock off Kearney next week, I think they deserve a spot.

Feedback

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