You had to wonder how MIAA football was going to stack up after the craziness we saw in a wet Week 7, but I think we did alright in our follow-up performance.

A little shock factor, anyone?

No. 13 Missouri Western silenced a record crowd of 11,910 people in the Jungle (more attendance numbers below), scoring 28 second quarter points en route to a 63-14 victory over No. 8 Pittsburg State.

Nebraska-Kearney turned the ball over six times (ironically that's how many QBs they've used this year) but still found a way to knock off Southwest Baptist for their first win of the season.

In an even bigger shocker, Northeastern State, also winless coming into the day, turned the ball over five times but came back from a 23-7 deficit to hand No. 21 Central Missouri their third loss of the season.

And doubt them all you want, but Emporia State is 8-0, still chilling on the top of the conference standings and is one of just nine remaining unbeaten Division II teams.

That's gotta be a typo?

I spent the day away from MIAA football Saturday, spending time with a friend from Saginaw Valley I hadn't seen in more than five years. My couch ate my phone so I was entirely out of the loop.

When I returned home, I hopped on TweetDeck to get caught up and rolled over to my #miaafb column. Northwest wins, duh. Washburn needs a last-minute drive to win at Lindenwood. Cool. Missouri Western BLOWS OUT Pitt. Wow. But there was no score. Just a mention of a blowout. So I keep looking, and finally get to the 63-14 final.

I had to double and triple check the score before I could be sure it was accurate. That just isn't supposed to happen, is it?

I picked Pitt in a close one, but I can't say I'm entirely shocked Missouri Western won the game. But to go and do that in Carnie Smith Stadium is about the biggest shocker we've seen in MIAA football in recent memory.

The Griffons were firing on all cylinders and while most of the game consisted of the Gorillas getting beat down, early on was a bit different.

Michael Hill started the game with a 16-yard run for Missouri Western, but they couldn't get anything else going and punted after four plays. Pitt's first drive was a methodic 11-play march that spanned 87 yards and ended with a 7-0 lead for the Gorillas.

But Western got things going, scoring touchdowns on eight of their final 11 drives (plus a TD by superstar DE David Bass on an interception return) while the Gorillas stumbled, sputtered and sucked their way through the rest of the game. Pitt had three turnovers, three more turnover on downs and a botched FG attempt that went wrong on a bad snap (maybe now we know why Beck went for it last week?).

This was a good mix of one team doing everything right, and the other doing it all wrong. Pitt's lines were dominated on both sides of the ball; They allowed 5 sacks and only managed 3.6 yards a carry while allowing 7.1 yards a carry for MoWest (Pitt did manage to get to QB Travis Partridge twice).

You gotta give credit to the Missouri Western defensive secondary, who found a way to limit the damage done by Pitt WR/KR John Brown. For the second straight game, his stats were nice-looking (13 catches, 153 yards and a TD), but his production came, also for the second straight week, early on and too late for Pitt to do anything with it.

Griffon QB Travis Partridge finished a modest 9 of 14, but piled up 213 yards and 4 TDs on those 9 completions, extending his MIAA-leading tally to 21 on the season. Hill had 117 yards on 17 carries, including 3 second-half rushing touchdowns and a 48-yard pass from Partridge for Western's first score.

In the end, we knew one of these teams would bounce back after a big loss, but I don't think anybody could have expected a game like this. It sets up an interesting stretch run to MIAA title between the 7-1 Griffons and 7-1 Northwest Missouri, who face the same 2 opponents over the next 2 weeks and then finish the season against each other in MIAA "Rivalry Week."

Am I forgetting anyone?Bearcats and 'Bods are right there, too

Everybody is talking about No. 3 Northwest Missouri, who made relatively easy work of wildcard Missouri Southern on Saturday, and No. 20 Washburn is more sneaking in the back door, coming off a nice little win over Lindenwood that took a bit of a miracle from QB Mitch Buhler and company.

I'm not sure anyone would have thought these teams would be where they are right now just four or five weeks ago, and while the Bearcats, on paper, have done so in a more fascinating way, it's always fun to see these two teams play, especially with so much on the line.

The two get to duke it out next week in Topeka.

There's a first time for everything

Sorry to the UCM and SBU fans, but you gotta be happy for NSU and UNK. NSU has been so close a few times to pulling off the upset, and afetr a couple beatdowns, it's nice to see them sneak away with a W. And UNK's well-chronicled transition from a No. 2 seed playoff team in the RMAC to the bottom of the barrel in the MIAA has been an amazing thing to watch, but the Lopers can finally celebrate their first conference victory.

Dont' look now

But we might have ourselves another wild card. Okay, not really, but Hays, after a 28-26 victory over Lincoln on MIAA TV on Saturday, is two winnable games (SD Mines, UNK) and an upset over UCM (obviously beatable) from a winning season. Their start to the season was about as hard as anybody's in the country, but they're feeling some love from the schedule makers now.


Your thoughts?

What do you take away from the first eight weeks of MIAA football? What do you see happening to 'pretty girl' Emporia State? How bad is Pittsburg State right now? How good is Missouri Western? Can Washburn make some noise after quietly hanging around in the top of the conference this long?

I want to hear your thoughts. Leave me a comment below, get at me on Twitter @miAARONd2, friend/message me on www.facebook.com/apheintz or drop me a note in my inbox at [email protected].

Saturday's MIAA attendance:

MWSU @ PSU 11,910
ESU @ TSU 3,789
WU @ Lwood 3,296
LU @ HAYS 2207
NWMSU @ MSSU 2,178
SBU @ UNK 1,950
UCM @ NSU 1,772