You know, five turnovers and 44 total yards rushing isn't going to win very many football games. It's not the only reasons, but they're significant reasons why Central Washington is now 0-3 for the first time in 31 years.
Western Oregon got the monkey off its back, beating CWU for the first time in the last 15 meetings. They didn't play particularly well, but better than Central in the 14-7 victory over CWU. It was yet another final where the difference was by a single score, this time going in WOU's favor.
The glaring statistics, though, are the mistakes that turned into turnovers and penalties. Mistakes happen, but repeated mistakes are costly. Both teams had multiple personal fouls. WOU had 115 yards in penalties. CWU fumbled the ball FIVE times, losing two of them and QB Ryan Robertson threw three interceptions.
Both of WOU's scores came off of turnovers. That's costly.
Western Oregon got a big win on Saturday. The Wolves are now going to continue to see what they're made of in the coming weeks. Long trips to Dixie and Abilene Christian take place prior to visiting CWU again in Ellensburg.
As for CWU? That remains to be seen. You can spin their upcoming bye week two ways: 1. They get a chance to maybe forget about football for a day or two, take a break from the usual grind and get ready for classes that begin on Wednesday, or 2. They get a week to let this eat at them before getting to focus on Simon Fraser.
Either way, GNAC followers are seeing a big shift in the GNAC. CWU can still win the league championship, but it can't be denied that WOU and Humboldt are the frontrunners in terms of record and momentum.

Dixie State woke up BIG. The Red Storm took Simon Fraser to task on Saturday, jumping out to a 42-0 lead before settling at 42-7. That's going to make for a very long trip back home for The Clan.
Dixie wasn't perfect, but certainly better than it was against Adams State and Colorado Mesa, gaining 263 yards on the ground to compliment Cody Stevenson's 211 (232 total passing yards). Even better for Stevenson, though, was the fact that he threw no interceptions on the night. SFU still got to him, sacking him five times (compared to eight against Mesa), but this was a much-needed shot in the arm for the Red Storm.
Simon Fraser put up some solid numbers on the ground, but it was more of a committee look at running back rather than the dynamic duo fans got used to in games one and two. Gabe Ephard and Bo Palmer combined for just 88 yards (averaging about 250 coming into the contest) and neither made it into the end zone.

Like always, a big week coming up for all GNAC teams. Dixie hosts Western Oregon, Humboldt State (who might crack the top 25 considering nine ranked teams lost on Saturday) travels to Simon Fraser. CWU has a bye, and if you're going to have a bye week in college football, it might as well be the same week you start classes. Think about it, all you think about from Aug. 1 through early in the season is football. Eat, sleep, football. Now classes get into the mix, homework, non-football friends are back, late nights studying, etc.

Can't wait to see how the top 25 is going to look. Geez. Bad day for ranked teams...