The No. 1 team in the country pulls away in a tight battle through nearly 3 quarters that featured injuries to 5 star position players, the bottom team in the conference barely gets outlasted in double overtime and a perennial power falls to 1-3. It was quite a day Saturday in MIAA football.

Oh, and then there was the play.

On Fort Hays State's opening possession on Family Day at No. 8 Pittsburg State, the Tigers marched to midfield, but stalled. On 3rd and long, QB Treveon Albert dropped back and threw the ball deep down the middle to WR Ed Williams. Running stride for stride with Williams was Pitt defensive back De'Vante Bausby.

What happened next will likely forever be debated among the MIAA (and especially Pitt State) faithful. Bausby got his hands on the ball at the 3-yard-line and appeared to take several steps - while fighting for possession with Williams - toward the end zone. Williams was able to knock the ball out of Bausby's hands right at the goal line. The ball bounced toward the back of the end zone, where Williams fell on it.

The play was ruled an interception by Pitt, a fumble by Pitt and a touchdown for Hays. It would be the Tigers' only score of the game, but it was enough in the end as Fort Hays held on for a 7-6 victory in front of 11,489 fans at Carnie Smith Stadium.

Back to that in a minute.

Elsewhere in the MIAA, No. 1 Northwest Missouri, without running back Phil Jackson and wide receiver Bryce Young, once again overcame first-half miscues - both offensively and on special teams - with a dominating third quarter in a 36-13 road victory over also-depleted Central Oklahoma.

The Bearcats improve to 4-0 on the season. The Bronchos, who were without WR Marquez Clark for a second-straight game and without QB Chas Stallard and RB Jake Gandara (both hurt last week vs Emporia), fall to 3-1.

Emporia State needed two overtimes to get past Northeastern State. The Riverhawks, who had scored just 13 points TOTAL in their first 3 games, put up more than 500 yards of total offense on the Hornets, but couldn't convert in the 2nd overtime and fell 42-35.

Washburn, who has been a constant contender in this league for the past several years, fell to 1-3 after losing 42-21 to Missouri Southern in Joplin. The Ichabods also gained more than 500 yards of total offense, but turned the ball over 5 times. Missouri Southern, without starting QB Jay McDowell, ran for nearly 300 yards on the day.

And in the "boring" game of the day, or at least the only one I can't find a "holy moly" factor too, Central Missouri trailed at the half but used a big second stanza from LaVance Taylor to beat Nebraska-Kearney 45-28.

Back to the play

Some Pitt State fans will probably blame a "bad call" for Saturday's loss to Fort Hays. Who can blame them? I mean, forget the 159 total yards they could muster, the 4 sacks, 4 turnovers and overall inability to get anything going. It was clearly a call on the first drive of the game that cost the Gorillas everything.

Obviously, you can see where I stand here. Good call or bad call (from the choppy video of the play I've seen, I'd say it was the right call), there's no excuse for this game. The Gorillas came into the game averaging nearly 40 points per game and almost 475 yards of total offense. They were at home, in the best atmosphere in all of D2, against a team they SHOULD have beaten.

Coulda, shoulda, woulda. We have to give props to the Fort Hays defense for this one, too. Their defensive line was disrupting both the pass and run games all day long, never allowing QB Anthony Abenjoa, Pitt's all-time leading passer, to get into a groove.

Bottom line: Both defenses played lights out, which made both offenses look pathetic. What a game.

Other thoughts from the crazy day

Northwest Missouri NEEDS to figure themselves out, for a full four quarters. Yep, they're the only unbeaten team left and their defense continues to shine, but I have to think a healthy UCO team COULD have taken advantage of 2 missed FGs, a missed EP and a dropped touchdown pass better than the crew of backup skill players did.

On the other hand, the game highlights Northwest's depth, as missing players like Phil Jackson and Bryce Young would probably spell disaster for most teams in the MIAA.

In an other example of Northwest's dominant defense, UCM running back LaVance Taylor went off once again, finishing the day with 157 yards and 3 scores. That's 9 TDs and nearly 450 rushing yards in the games surrounding UCM's loss to the Bearcats, when he carried the ball just 7 times for 12 yards.

Stick a fork in Washburn. I could probably score on their D, by myself. And I'm fat and slow. The 'Bods have now lost 6 of 7 games dating back to last year.

Speaking of questionable defense... Hey Emporia State, how are you? The Hornets were outgained by Northeastern State and nearly let the Riverhawks, who were penalized for 201 yards on the day, beat them. The ESU defense has arguably looked worse in their victories than it has in their losses.

SOUND OFF

What did you think of "the play?" What are you taking out of Week 4 of MIAA football? Leave me a comment below, hit me up on Twitter @miAARONd2 or drop me a note at www.facebook.com/apheintz.