It has been a topsy turvey start to the 2013 football season in the Northern Sun, but today we continue to look at the league, and its already week four.

On the surface there appears to be more balance in the Northern Sun this year than in past. That's not to say that there aren't favorites, because there are, still Minnesota State Mankato and Minnesota Duluth look to be a step ahead. But it appears that there is at least the threat now that teams can pull upsets, see Minot State beating Augustana, then Augie turning around and shuttiout out Bemdiji State, after Bemidji State rallied to beat traditional NSIC Powerhouse Winona State.

While I think more balance makes a better league, it is making it tougher to try and forecast what is going to happen each Saturday.


Mary (2-1) at Upper Iowa (2-1)

Upper Iowa picked up a quality road win on Saturday in Aberdeen against Northern State. Chris Smith dashed into the endzone with :35-seconds left to go and gave the Peacocks the victory.

Smith rushed for 202 yards on his way to being the Northern Sun Offensive Player of the Week. Smith, missed last season with an injury, but the speedy back makes gives Upper Iowa's already dangerous offense balance.

Smith will give the Marauder defense something to pay attention to though because even though they shutdown Sioux Fall's passing attack if they don't imrpove against the run its going to be a long day in Fayette. The Marauder's gave up ovre 200 yards on the ground last week at home against the Cougars, seeing a back like Smith come in this week, has to be a concern for Coach Myron Schultz's defense.

Still though, it could be an historic day for Coach Schultz, he is in search of win number 100 after their victory last week. If the Marauders have a chance on the road to get him there, it starts with their quarterback Craig Bagnell can toss the ball around the yard as well as anyone in the conference. Bagnell threw for 323 yards last week in Mary's win over Sioux Falls.

These two teams like to play offense, the Marauders ran 85 plays last week, the Peacocks ran 82. Look for a lot of offense, and a lot of points, as long as the weather cooperates in Fayette, but I like the Peacocks to win at home.


Southwest Minnesota State (2-1) at Bemidji State (1-2)

Some will call me a homer (probably well deserved after 12 years of calling Mustang games), but I think this is the most intriguing game in the Northern Sun this week.

First off, its Homecoming in Bemidji, and we all know that a Bemidji victory means, that the Beavers are going swimming following the game in Lake Bemidji. And if history is on their side, the Beavers will be swimming, Bemidji has won 12 straight in the series, which goes all the way back to 1997.

But the Mustangs and Beavers have played twice in history on September 28th, both were Southwest wins, and the last time the Mustangs beat Bemidji State the game was in Bemidji.

The game itself on Saturday is a battle of a strong offense against a strong defense, the Mustang offense led by the NSIC's leading rusher Tyler Tonderum is averaging 90-plays a game. It is face paced and will test Bemidji's stamina defensively. Bemidij's defensive front seven though will test the Mustangs like they haven't been tested this year, and I expect it not to be a thing of beauty for the Mustangs offensively.

I think the real key matchup will be on the other side of the ball. Quietly the Mustang defense has shown some real improvement, the team had six sacks last week against Minot State, and forced four turnovers. Through three games the Mustang defense has controlled the line of scrimmage in two of them. Bemidji coach Jeff Tesch said that at key stretches of their game against Augustana last week his offense was made up of eight true or redshirt freshmen.

If there is ever a year this streak of dominance will get snapped its this year. The potential to be 3-1 at homecoming next week for Southwest against the University of Sioux Falls has all of Marshall excited, but the Mustangs have had trouble winning these program changing road games in the past, and I think that trend could continue.

I will certainly be wearing my brown and gold on Saturday, but I expect the Beavers to be swimming on Saturday afternoon, look for a hard fought, low scoring game, but Bemidji will pull out a slight edge.

Extra Point: Jeff Tesch is 13-2 all time against the Mustangs in his career at BSU.


Northern State (1-2) at Minnesota State-Mankato (3-0)

Northern State is better than their 1-2 record would indicate, still though, the Wolves do have two big problems to try and solve if they want to try and knock off a team the caliber of Minnesota State Mankato.

The Wolves need to be more consistent throwing the football. While Jared Jackson is dynamic with his feet, he struggles to consistently to throw the ball. Last week he completed just seven of 25 passes in the loss to the Peacocks last week.

There are a lot of high power offenses in the Northern Sun, and while the Wolves defense is good enough to keep them in games, it can't solely win games for them, and the Wolves need to do more than just have Jackson run, they need to be able to have a form of a passing attack.

Minnesota State is coming off their biggest win of the season, to this point, a win in Duluth, agianst the #7 Bulldogs. That win snapped a home winning of forty plus NSIC games for the Bulldogs, and it allowed the Mavericks to extend their NSIC streak to 14 games.

In Mankato, on homecoming, there isn't much of me that thinks there is much of a shot for the Wolves. The Mavericks will need to make sure they don't let down after their win, but to be honest, this group has experience with inning big games, they did it all last season, and they shouldn't have trouble handling the victory in Duluth.

Especially considering Northern gave up over 200 yards on the ground against Upper Iowa last week, they could be in for a long day if the Mavericks get that ground game going.

I like Minnesota State.


Augustana (2-1) at St. Cloud State (3-0)

Augustana heads to St. Cloud State after rebounding to shutout Bemidji State last Saturday. It ended what had to be a whirlwind week in Sioux Falls following a puzzling loss to Minot State the previous Saturday.

The difference for the Vikings, who have won six straight in the series, is that they will face the best offense in the Northern Sun on Saturday. Husky quarterback Phil Klaphake has thrown for more yards and scored more points touchdowns (10) than the entire Bemidji offense through three games. Not to mention, Augie will be on the road on Saturday.

To win, Saturday the Vikings will need to figure out something no one has yet, stopping a St. Cloud offense that is putting up over 37-points a game. A lot of that can be done if they figure out how to slow Klaphake, but Ledell White has been a pleasant surprise for the Huskies, he is averaging five yards a carry in three games as well.

The Vikings offense has been a little inconsistent through three games under first year coach Jerry Olszewski and freshman quarterback Trey Heid. The Huskies can be hurt a little on the ground and a big day from Dajon Newell would be the best way for Augie to stay in the game, one because he's talented, but two the more that the Vikings have the ball, the Huskies don't, which means their offense is on the sideline, not hurting the Vikings.

That said, it would be a big accomplishment to slow St. Cloud, I will take the Huskies to win at home.

Rest of the Schedule

I like Sioux Falls to rebound from a tough loss last week with a win at home over Minnesota Crookston.

Concordia-St. Paul came back to earth last week against a really good St. Cloud State team, they will rebound with a big win at Minnesota State-Moorhead.

Augustana went to Minot State and got beat, but the Beavers turn it over too often, that will be a problem against the Warriors defense look for Winona State to even their record at 2-2 with a victory.

Minnesota-Duluth lost at Wayne State two years ago on a rainy day in Wayne, Nebraska. Listening to the weather forecasters the day could be quite similar, but I don't expect the result to be, the Bulldogs will be too hungry to lose too straight.