After a nonconference showdown between Augustana and Minnesota Duluth, that likely will mean as much as any conference game all season long, a crazy week of upsets wins by Mary, Northern, and Upper Iowa, and a wild finish between Minnesota Crookston and Mayville, how will the Northern Sun Conference Opener top the start of the regular season?

What we know: Minnesota Duluth is still the Top Dawg of the NSIC. The Bulldogs proved that by going to Sioux Falls and knocking off Augustana on Saturday, 20-16. But the Dogs can't get too comfortable, because St. Cloud State, sure turned some heads with a commanding 26-3 win at California (PA) who was previously ranked #13 in the country.

Biggest Surprise: I give this a tie, between a nice at home win by the University of Mary, (31-24 over Chadron State) and a shocking home loss by Winona State (23-6).

Standout Performers: St. Cloud State's Phillip Klaphake showed there would be no sophomore slump as he opened the season 20/26 for 201 yards and a touchdown in the air, plus he rushed for 60-yards and two more TD's leading the Huskies past California PA, on the road. He was named the NSIC Offensive Player of the Week for his efforts.

Augustana Defensive Back Nick Andreas recorded a career high 15-tackles in the Vikings 20-16 loss to Minnesota Duluth. Andreas also recorded 2.5 tackles for loss and a half of sack the Vikings defeat. Andreas picked up the NSIC Defensive Player of the Week Award.

Concordia freshman kicker Tom Obarski had himself a day. Obarski kicked two of the three longest field goals in school history in his first collegiate game. Obarski drilled a school record 56-yard field goal in the Golden Bears win in Minot Saturday. He also hit on a 47 yard attempt as well

Winona State (0-1) at MSU Moorhead (1-0)
Last Year: 58-3, Winona State

Kevin Koch threw for four touchdowns and E'Boni Lucious West rushed for 100-yards last week to lead Minnesota State Moorhead to a 28-17 win over Robert Morris. It was the second game in program history for Robert Morris.

While, Winona State struggled, as they ran for just 48-yards on 25-carries, in the game against Michigan Tech. That wasn't the only struggle for the Warrior offense; Jay Adams was eight of 20 for 114-yards and was sacked five times in the game.

Obviously, the Warriors will have to do a better job along the offensive line if they want to win some bigger games in the Northern Sun, but this isn't that big of a game.

Despite Steve Laqua getting a win in his first game as a Division II college football coach, he is going to struggle in his second game against the Warriors, though. Despite a disappointing showing last week against Michigan Tech, look for the Warriors ground game to get going.

In their meeting last year the Warriors rushed for 259 yards against the Dragons, Theo Burkett rushed 13-times for 100-yards and Rayon Simmonds rushed for 89-yards in the game. I'd also expect to see more from the Warriors passing game against the Dragons.

Extra Point: E'Boni Lucious West and the Dragons will have their hands full, if they are going to try and duplicate their performance from last week, their game against Winona last year, Minnesota State Moorhead ran for just 1 yard against the Warriors.

Upper Iowa (1-0) at Minnesota Duluth (1-0)
Last Year: 62-13, Minnesota Duluth

So after losing their three top running backs from last season, and matched up against who some believe might be ready to overtake them at the top of the conference how does the University of Minnesota Duluth respond? How about a 67-yard touchdown run, from Brian Lucas on the fifth play from scrimmage?

That will work, in all he finished the day with 116-yards on 19-carries on the ground to help lead the Bulldogs to a 20-16 win over Augustana on Saturday. Lucas' 67-yarder was the only offensive touchdown of the game for Minnesota Duluth, though, something that may concern some along the North Shore.

On the other side, Upper Iowa came out with a win, in a game they averaged just two yards a carry, against Texas A&M Commerce's defense. The difference in the game, really happened on the first possession when the Lions botched a punt snap, ending in a safety, two pretty critical points in the one point Peacock victory.

The most impressive part about the Peacocks win Saturday was the play of their own defense. They held the Lions to just 239 yards and more importantly just two scores, a big improvement over the 39.2 points per game they gave up last season, and an average of 430 yards per game.

They will get a much bigger test on Saturday against the University of Minnesota Duluth's experienced and powerful offensive line. I can't imagine the Peacocks beating the Bulldogs, under any circumstances, but if Coach Shea and his staff can put together a defensive unit that can slow the Bulldog ground game, even in a loss, that could be a positive sign of growth for this program.

Extra Point: Minnesota Duluth scored touchdowns against the Peacocks on nine of their first 10-possessions of the game last year. The only stop, happened when the first half expired when the Bulldogs gained possession with 37 seconds left, and decided to run the ball to close out the half.

Bemidji State (1-0) at Augustana (0-1)

The Augustana Vikings probably spent a good portion of Sunday and Monday kicking themselves thinking what could have been. The Vikings had their chances in a 20-12 loss at home to Minnesota Duluth.

The Vikings really can look back at the game and find two key mistakes both were turnovers, the first a fumble in the second quarter that thwarted a 13-play 70-yard drive at the Bulldog three yard line. Josh Hanson had just completed a pass to Noah Huisman down to the Bulldog three, when Huisman fumbled the ball, which was recovered by the Bulldog's Matt Wicklund.

The second big mistake happened late in the game, in the fourth, as Augustana trailed 13-12, when Josh Hanson let go of a ball that ended in a pick six, and a 39-yard interception return by Kenny Chowa.

Again, what could have been for the Vikings!

Augustana didn't have as much trouble running the ball against the Bulldogs as it appeared in the stats, they lost a lot of yards on sacks and two fumbles, but Nate Mahone still averaged over four yards a carry, as he rushed for 13-carries for 55 yards in the game.

Establishing the ground game will be a big key this week for the Vikings, and Bemidji State is one of the Northern Sun's top defenses. The Beavers showed their defensive strength in a 27-0 win over Minot State, and holding Minot to just 27-yards on the ground in the shutout win. That's a transitional Minot program who just laid 31-points on Concordia just a week later.

Dustin Kroeplin wasn't expected to play against Minot, and he didn't, but I would be shocked if he's not ready to go against Augustana on Saturday. I don't know though, that he will be able to make the difference against the Vikings.

I expect Augustana to bounce back from their tough loss to Duluth, don't look for the Vikings to have an 0-2 start at home. I like the Vikings to get the win.

Extra Point: Last year this game was a defensive struggle, as Augustana got the better of Bemidji 10-0, Viking fans shouldn't be discouraged though if they struggle on the ground for a second straight week. Last year with Joe Clark in the backfield, Augie managed to rush for just 63 yards on 37 carries as a team.

Wayne State (0-1) at Minnesota Crookston (1-0)
Last Year: 68-6, Wayne State

The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) uses Red Flag warnings, to warn certain regions of the country of extreme fire danger in a specific area.

Most common, those areas are in the country's west, however, they may want to consider issuing such a warning this week in regards to the Wayne State Defense, because there are some major red flags that popped up after Thursday night for the Wildcats.

Yeah, you can add me to the list of people most disappointed in Wayne's loss to Nebraska Kearney on Thursday night, not just that they lost, but how they lost.

The Wildcats gave up an unimaginable 700 yards of total offense in a single game to Nebraska Kearney, including 518-yards on the ground. Those are numbers that are hard to duplicate in a football video game.

Kearney's quarterback Jake Spitzelberger ran for 288-yards and three touchdowns in the game. Moreover, Rustin Dring was over 100-yards on the ground and even Riley Newcomer rushed for 83 on just nine carries.

I think it is clearly safe to say that there was a gaping weakness in something on Thursday night, a big hole in the run defense.

I certainly don't expect Minnesota Crookston to run for over 500-yards against the Wildcats on Saturday, but the Golden Eagles have a junior college transfer at running back by the name of Richard Haley who rushed for 225-yards himself last week against Mayville, he could certainly pose some problems though for the Cats. Additionally, if there's not some drastic improvement in the Wayne run defense, Minnesota Duluth is only two weeks away for the Wildcats and that could get ugly.

Minnesota Crookston is coming off a wild win at Mayville State, in which some clock mismanagement by the Comets coaching staff allowed the Golden Eagles a shot to win the game on a late field goal, and Chris Seacrest connected on a 38-yarder to win the game.

The fact, though that it was that close with Mayville is not a great sign for the Golden Eagles this year, remember last year Crookston beat Mayville 37-6 and still didn't win a Northern Sun game.

I expect the Wildcats to bounce back to 1-1, with a victory over the Golden Eagles, but keep an eye on the scoreboard and on the ground totals for UMC.

Extra Point: It was October the 9th last year before the Wildcats gave up 518-yards on the ground, all season. The same amount of rushing yards they surrendered last week in the opener against Nebraska-Kearney.

Northern State (1-0) at Minnesota State (0-1)
Last Year: 21-14, Minnesota State

After seeing Northern State last week, the Wolves are starting to look like a Tom Dosch team. It's not that the Wolves are super explosive, they aren't, but they are disciplined, they don't make mistakes and hurt themselves, and they found a way to snap a three year losing streak to Southwest Minnesota State.

Nick Wanner finished an efficient 10/12 for the Wolves passing, and although he only threw for 183 yards, he is definitely the center piece to the Wolves offense. They also put a couple of nice young running backs around him, one Kristin James rushed for a pair of touchdowns in the game, the other Aaron Mayo rushed for a touchdown, and looks like he has a chance to be a special player, it just won't happen this year, as he suffered a season ending leg injury against Southwest.

Certainly Northern has taken a few steps forward, but have they come far enough to compete with Minnesota State though is the question.

Jon Daniels made his first start at quarterback of the Minnesota State Mavericks after transferring from Nebraska-Omaha. Daniels will give the Mavericks some needed experience at the quarterback position and he fit in rather nicely throwing for three touchdowns in his first game with the Mavericks against Northern Michigan.

Daniels should give the Maverick offense the balance it needs to go with a few faces to carry the football. LaMark Brown led the attack on the ground for Minnesota State, he rushed for 54-yards on 10 carries in the game, that balance could make the Mavericks tough for the Wolves to handle.

Defensively Northern had a hard time stopping Southwest, the Mustangs put up 407 yards against Northern, while going three of 13 on third down conversions in the game, and just three of five in the red zone. The Mavericks won't have those struggles, in fact, Minnesota State was 11 of 18 on third down against Northern Michigan.

In the sixth meeting between the two programs, I will take the Mavericks to get the win.

Extra Point: Adam Thielen is just 41-yards away from 1,000 in his career, he is the leading receiver that returns to Minnesota State this season. Look for him to top that mark on Saturday, he had 96-yards against the Wolves last year.

Mary (1-0) at SMSU (0-1)
Last Year: 21-14, SMSU

Not many teams in the Northern Sun come into this week riding a four game winning streak, in fact to my knowledge there are just two. Minnesota Duluth and the University of Mary, or "The U" as the Marauders have become known.

The Marauders won three straight to close out the 2010 season, and made it four straight with their victory over Chadron State on Thursday night. That's right NSIC North; look out for the Marauders this year.

North Dakota transfer Josh Murray brought some explosiveness into the Marauders backfield and as coach Myron Schultz said he is still picking things up. Schultz explained that Murray joined the team on their fourth day of fall camp this year. All he did with that little bit of time was rush the ball eight times, for 81-yards and help the Marauders to the stunning victory over Chadron.

There is no question the Mustangs are disappointed after their inability to take advantage of the way they moved the ball against Northern State. Southwest put up 407 yards of offense, but couldn't consistently produce in the red zone, going just three of five; the Mustangs also turned the ball over three times in their loss to the Wolves. Turnovers are not new to Southwest, though in fact since the start of the 2004 football season (78-games) the Mustangs have been even or negative in turnover margin, in 62 of them, including nine times last year alone.

To the game itself, I think Southwest could really struggle to stop the run this week, Murray and Evan Gross are a pretty solid tandem and the Mustangs struggled to get a needed stop against Northern last week.

I look for the Marauders to continue their four game winning streak, with a victory over the Mustangs in Marshall.

Extra Point: The last two times the Mustangs and Marauders have been down to the wire, in fact in each of the last two meetings the game was decided on essentially the last play. Last season, SMSU stopped the Marauders four times inside the Mustang five yard line to preserve a 21-14 victory. In 2007 Blair Sande connected with Mike Williams for an 85-yard touchdown pass as time expired to lift the Marauders over the Mustangs.

Concordia St. Paul (1-0) at St. Cloud State (1-0)
Last Year: 35-10, St. Cloud State

Are we getting a look at the future at the quarterback position in the NSIC in this match up? I think so, as a pair of sophomores are preparing to lead their teams in this weeks' most intriguing game in the NSIC.

On one hand you have St. Cloud's Phil Klaphake, who showed his stuff once again against California PA. He was the NSIC Offensive Player of the Week as he led the Huskies to the victory. Klaphake tossed a touchdown and ran for two more while leading the Huskies to the win.

On the other, you have Concordia's James Peterson. Peterson filling in for the injured Spencer Ohm who missed last week's game with a foot injury he suffered in camp has thrown for over 300-yards in his only two career starts. Last year Peterson threw for 328 yards for the Golden Bears in his first career start as a freshman against Wayne State, then of course there is last week where he tossed for 357 yards and three TD's.

It will be interesting to see both sides of the ball, Concordia certainly can get after the quarterback, they like to bring the heat, everyone around the conference knows that by now, well last week they harassed Minot's offensive front, sacking the quarterback eight times. They certainly have the ability to put pressure on Klaphake, is that a good or bad thing, well you decide. Sometimes, against mobile guys like Klaphake, they are best in chaos, and when you bring a lot of pressure, the Golden Bears are taking a big chance that he won't beat them.

Concordia brought a big strike offense to Minot last week, as Peterson connected on three TD passes, all three were from at least 45-yards out. It will be interesting to see how that matches up with St. Cloud's defense which led the conference in turnover margin last year, and who held the Vulcans to just three points.

If you ask me, this is an interesting one; I will take the Huskies though to edge out the Golden Bears on Saturday.