All the talk this week is, of course, about the first regional rankings. With three weeks left until the playoffs, it's crunch time for the top dozen teams or so.

I won't go into all kinds of details here, as there are too many possibilities to enumerate right now. However, the WVIAC has to feel pretty good at the moment to have two teams in the top eight, and Shepherd knows that they'd be in the top 6 right now if not for the loss at West Liberty. Still, there are ways that, yes, both Charleston and Shepherd can get in. They both need to win out, and they would definitely need help, but we've seen strange things happen late in the year before.

Meanwhile, as Shepherd rests for its final home stretch against Glenville State and Fairmont State, four games exist on this week's schedule:

Fairmont State (3-4, 3-2) at Concord (4-4, 3-2)

Concord's close loss at Liberty last week was pretty telling. But don't be fooled by looking at just the 21-13 final score. Just as was the case the previous weekend at Seton Hill, the Mountain Lions' offense wasn't very potent: just six first downs, 177 total yards, and less than 20 minutes of possession time. We're really seeing why Evin Dusold came into this season as Concord's third string quarterback, though Dusold is doing a good job of not relying quite so much on Randall Hawkins and Ansel Ponder at wide receiver as his Albert Rose was. What was revealed last week, though, was the strength of Concord's defense, holding a Liberty offensive attack to 21 points, a pretty impressive number given that the Flames had over 400 yards of offense.

Fairmont State, meanwhile, had no problems on offense at home against Seton Hill last week, though a 47-24 lead with 12 minutes left in the game became a 47-47 tie less than four minutes later following two fumbles returned for touchdowns and a Seton Hill offensive score. Daniel Monroe continues to look strong, racking up 136 yards on the ground and having 103 receiving yards too. With Shad Alexander and Collin Alford healthy again, the Falcons are taking pressure off Bobby Vega to have to win the game for them, and that's evident in the playcalling. However, two things work against the Falcons this week: they're playing on the road (where they haven't won all year), and the Concord defense can stop the run and is far better than Seton Hill's. Each team's strength plays right into the opponent's, making this a very interesting game, but it's hard not to like the team with better defense in a low-scoring battle.

Prediction: Concord 17, Fairmont State 14


West Liberty (4-4, 3-3) at Seton Hill (0-8, 0-6)

Somehow, West Liberty gave itself a chance to beat a clearly more talented Charleston team last weekend. That definitely shows the potential the Hilltoppers have and how dangerous they could possibly be next season. Right now, though, quarterback Dylan Lagarde definitely looks like a freshman: he looked so much better against Shepherd than he did last week against Charleston, where he threw for less than 100 yards. The running game was definitely hampered by not having Kenjay Trueblood, though Isiah Moody pretty much made up for that hole. Had it not been for a late fumble by third-string runningback Dirone McBride, West Liberty's defense might have been able to take the field with a chance to win the game by stopping Charleston's offense one final time. As we've seen before, turnovers are what have killed West Liberty both last season and this one, and last week's game was no exception.

Meanwhile, Seton Hill seized opportunities late in last week's game against Fairmont State but is still learning how to win football games, giving up the gamewinning score in the final two minutes. The Griffins' biggest problem is the same as it's been all year: no running game. Andrew Jackson's 432 yards in the air were great, but his four interceptions led to 14 Fairmont State points. Derrick Dyer and Tavin Davis are not getting enough help from the offensive line to have any running room, and that won't be any different this week after West Liberty's defensive line had to deal with the best runningback in the conference. Back-to-back close losses in the final minutes are excruciating, and I'm not liking Seton Hill's chances to right the ship this week against a stronger defense than they faced last week.

Prediction: West Liberty 31, Seton Hill 20


West Virginia Wesleyan (2-6, 1-4) at West Virginia State (2-6, 1-4)

All kinds of credit goes to the West Virginia Wesleyan defense for most of the game they played last week, holding a Glenville State team fresh off an offensive explosion against West Virginia State to just 30 yards in the first half. Then, the typical second half collapse occurred, though the offense rallied back to keep the Bobcats in the game to tie it up early in the fourth quarter. Three missed field goals on the day, two of them from inside of 30 yards, really hurt West Virginia Wesleyan's chances, a shame given the good performance from Nate Montana in the air as he had 432 yards. Run defense was a problem last week, and that could be the case again this week.

West Virginia State has to be happy to be done with Shepherd now, and it's no surprise that the Yellow Jackets couldn't run on the Rams all day. As usual, the offense greatly came from Ricky Phillips to Ervin Kent, though Josh Johnson looked like a very strong second option in the game. Having that second option will be critical to foiling the West Virginia Wesleyan defensive secondary, who has looked suspect all season long. Surely Aubura Taylor should have a better day on the ground, but with Nate Montana back for the Bobcats, how will the Yellow Jackets' defense do in covering the receivers, since the offense definitely won't be coming from the runningbacks? The answer to that question will determine who will win this game. The Yellow Jackets haven't put a big number on the scoreboard since the season opening win over Johnson C. Smith, and I don't think they'll be able to score quite enough to win this one either.

Prediction: West Virginia Wesleyan 34, West Virginia State 28


Game of the Week
Charleston (7-1, 4-1) at Glenville State (4-4, 4-1)

It's hard to believe that Glenville State is actually still in the hunt to win the WVIAC (and even win it outright). They've played the last two games without quarterback Darold Hughes, and we've seen that Justin Feagin's arm is no comparison. Without Rahmann Lee, I'm not sure the Pioneers would have much of any offense right now. The defense has been a question mark all season, and they did just well enough against West Virginia Wesleyan last week to get the win. Add in the fact that all of this came on the road on a difficult game surface in Buckhannon, and it's clear: you can't count Glenville State out.

But as good as the Pioneers' ground game may be, it's nothing compared to the force that is Jordan Roberts, who clearly dominated in last week's win at West Liberty. Any team that can stop Roberts will put huge pressure on Charleston, who showed last week an inability to effectively use the run to set up an effective playaction pass, either with Maurice Leak or John Knox at quarterback. After looking like he was 100% at the start of the game, Leak appeared to re-injure his ankle and left in the second half. It's a good thing Knox has mobility and has adjusted to the playbook instead of requiring coaches to alter the playbook to fit him. The defense was able to pressure West Liberty's quarterback throughout the game, sometimes while even rushing just three or four, and the secondary looked much better than Shepherd's did a week before. There's no reason Charleston should lose this game: they have more talent and don't have a weakness on defense. That said, Glenville is a tough place to play, and we know anything can happen. Whoever loses this one is almost certainly out of the WVIAC title chase, and with the first regional rankings having just come out, Charleston knows what they need to do: win out, and they will likely be in the playoffs. I expect that march to continue.

Prediction: Charleston 31, Glenville State 19