Well, Truman State. Here it is. This is your chance to prove to the world your 3-0 start is more than just the lovechild of a walk-through of a first three games.

The Bulldogs head to Warrensburg Thursday night to take on No. 22 Central Missouri on the CBS College Sports national game of the week and free on NCAA.com.

This is your chance to prove, in your final year in the MIAA, that you haven't forgotten the tradition that exists in Kirksville, the 26 conference titles the 537 all-time victories, the 70 winning seasons.

Whether or not you forget, Truman, most MIAA fans have. Losing conference records in 9 of the last 10 years make for a decade of futility, and while many fans can fondly (or not-so-fondly) remember Truman's glory days, many of us have never known the Bulldogs to be anything other than a punching bag for the top tier of the conference.

But could that change this year? Truman's 3-0 start is the best since 1994 when they started 8-0. The Bulldogs rank third in the MIAA in scoring offense and defense and fourth in total offense and defense.

Offensively, Truman's been doing it with a fairly balance attack of the pass and rush. Quarterback Conrad Schottel has been dropping 226 passing yards per game on opponents and running backs Garrett White and Will Mosquera have been sharing the load in the backfield. Each has 4 TDs through the first three games.

The real star has been wide reciever Dallas Grier, who has found the end zone just twice, but is averaging over 100 receiving yards per game.

Truman's been doing some great things on defense, too. They're tops in the MIAA in stopping opponents on third downs and have only been giving up a tad over 80 yards a game on the ground.

Senior safety Richie Schumacher leads the team with 20 tackles and cornerback Michael Elliot has picked off three passes.

I could sit here and rattle off statistics all day long, but the fact remains Truman has yet to be tested. They're not alone though. The Bulldogs join Pittsburg State, Washburn and Missouri Southern as 3-0 MIAA teams who have yet to play a game against a team that has won a game this year. Missouri Western is 3-0 with one of their wins coming against UCM.

Central Missouri, on the other hand, has seen its share of tests. In Week 1, they failed, despite a nice second-half effort. Week 2's test, a 31-21 victory over Northwest Missouri, is one you stick up on the fridge and the Mules passed a tough test last week at Lindenwood.

When you stack up Central's battle-tested team against Truman's cakewalk, I think Truman fans shouldn't be getting their hopes up too high for this game.

To play at Central Missouri on national television, with upwards of 10,000 fans rooting against you, playing a team with one of the best quarterbacks in the league and a new defensive star each week, what can Truman State really hope for?

I'm not one that's really big on moral victories, but I think it might be one if Truman comes in and doesn't get pasted in fromt of a national audience. I wasn't high on Central Missouri earlier this year, but with the play of Colter Smith under center and running back LaVance Taylor exceeding my expectations (which were high to begin with), I think the Mules come into this game as easy double-digit favorites.

How can the Bulldogs pull the upset? They are tied with Lindenwood atop the MIAA leaderboard in sacks, and will need to continue that trend to throw a kink into Smith's game. And Elliot, whose 3 INTs all came in the fourth quarter of the season opener, will need to have another career game.

Prediction: I think this game is tight for about the first half, then UCM pulls away after intermission. Central Missouri 38 Truman State 24