Boy, did I pick a poor night to skip out on MIAA football?

When I left for Worlds of Fun in Kansas City late Saturday afternoon, Washburn WR Matt Kobbeman had just gotten the 'Bods on the board with an acrobatic grab in the back of the end zone with 12 seconds before halftime to take a 7-6 lead into the inermission.

Surely, WU had found their groove and would cruise their way to a victory over the winless Central Oklahoma Bronchos, right?

Had I stuck around to watch more, I would have felt pretty good in my prediction as Washburn marched 63 yards in eight plays for another score and a 14-6 lead on their first possession of the second half.

But boy, things sure did go downhill from there for the Sticky Ickies, who dropped to No. 24 with the 35-20 loss.

Adrian Nelson goes 92 yards to Marquis Walters on the ensuing drive and the offensive struggles that plagued Washburn in the first half came back in full force for the rest of the game.

Washburn's defense, which can be credited for their victories over UNK and NSU, kept them in the ballgame until late, but with a consistent nothing coming out of the offensive side of the ball, the D eventually wore down, allowing TDs in consecutive drives late in the game to seal the victory.

Is it shocking an 0-3 team beat a 3-0? A bit, but I can't say I'm too terribly shocked the 0-3 team to do it was UCO and the 3-0 team to lose was Washburn.

You can only rely on your defense so long in this league, until eventually you need to show up on the other side of the ball.

And the Bronchs had been in some ballgames this year, but just hadn't found a way to eek out a victory.

So what, you might ask, does Washburn's loss do to my infamous High 5? Last week I didn't put in any order the five teams I thought could realistically win the conference (PSU, WU, MWSU, UCM, ESU) and the week before, I threw everyone for a loop by putting Emporia on the top.

In order to evaluate where the teams stand now, based simply on what we've seen this year (not on history or expectations), first let us take a look at what else happened in the MIAA this week.

-- Central Missouri got the week rolling with a very unspectacular beating of Truman State on national television. The UCM receivers might need to wear flashing red lights or something, because Mule QB Colt Smith was throwing to the wrong team all night. Add a lost fumble to his four INTs, and it was not a pretty night for Smith.

Lindenwood played the first Friday night game in school history, and just moments after they fell down 24-7 and I tweeted something like "I'm not sure how good Glenville State is, but this is a poor performance by Lindenwood," the Lions started a furious comeback to win the game 28-24 on a late touchdown. I stand corrected Lindenwood. That was a heck of a ballgame.

No. 1 Pitt State beat Lincoln. By a lot. That's been known to happen.

No. 5 Missouri Western used the legs of RB Michael Hill to run past Fort Hays for a 21-3 victory. Hill's 198 yards moved him on top of the nation's rushing list (737 yards).

No. 11 Northwest Missouri's quarterback carousel outlasted Nebraska-Kearney's debacle under center to pull away late for a 37-13 victory. It was a 13-7 ballgame with 6 and change to play in the third before the Bearcats got going.

Southwest Baptist deserves a bit of a shout out. The 'other' Bearcats got their first victory in what I'm sure was a thrilling 16-13 victory at Missouri Southern. I kid, kind of, but the game actually sounds like it was pretty exciting. A punt return touchdown, big turnovers and defensive stands and MSSU d-lineman Brandon Williams doing his thing to the tune of 11 tackles, 3 TFL, 2 sacks, 2 forced fumbles and a QB hurry.

And finally, Emporia took care of business against Northeastern State with a 30-20 victory in Tahlequah. For the first time this season, it wasn't QB Tyler Eckenrode lighting up the scoreboard the for the Hornets, but instead the ESU ground game putting in work. Running backs Derwin Hall and Iwuagwa,Dozie had 85 and 80 yards, respectively, with three touchdowns between the two of them. Eckenrode did come up with a big late touchdown toss to Shjuan Richardson (D2's top TD-grabbing WR and third-leading receiver) to secure the victory.

Alright, so I throw all of this into a bowl, mix it up, add a bit of my Heintzelman High 5 sauce, and here's what I get.

High 5 Heading into Week 5

1. Missouri Western (4-0, 4-0) - A couple of weeks ago, I was blasting the Griffons for who they had (and hadn't) played, and while that hasn't changed much, the way of the MIAA schedule right now is nobody has really played anybody. With Hill running the ball, Travis Partridge taking snaps and David Bass and Ben Pister on the defensive line, this team really does have it all.

2. Pittsburg State (4-0, 4-0) - It's not the victory over Lincoln that moves puts them this high, I promise. But a couple of victories by a combined score of 111-26 is a nice showing, and their dominance is beginning to peak its head. Let's talk Gorillas again after the upcoming bye week and their game against Central Missouri.

3. Emporia State (4-0, 4-0) - This is not me falling off the bandwagon. I'm still driving; Believe me. And I'm starting to wonder if the Hornets have to knock off Alabama to get a slot in the D2 or coaches' poll.

4. Northwest Missouri (3-1, 2-1) - It's still going to be tough for the Bearcats to win the conference, so I stand by leaving them off my list last week, but they've played well since the loss at UCM and have been able to overcome problems at quarterback.

5. Central Missouri (3-1, 2-1) - You'd think the head-to-head would get them ahead of Northwest, but I've always been a "what have you done for me lately" kind of guy, and while UCM keeps winning, it wasn't that pretty on Thursday.

Agree? Disagree? Good, now tell me why. Leave a comment below, hit me up on Twitter @miAARONd2, message/friend me on Facebook.com/apheintz or drop me a note at [email protected]