Blogger Note: The official word is due to technical difficulties, this week's prediction blog won't be published in its entirety. However, the behind the scenes reason is more specific: I dropped my laptop onto a tile floor and was just told 10 minutes ago that no data, including my saved entry for this week's blog, could be extracted from the hard drive. The good news is the data may be extracted at a certain cost to be tallied later and transferred onto a new laptop to be paid for now. The bad news is (besides budgeting for that dilemma) that significantly affects my ability to put something worthwhile in writing.
So without further ado, here is a trimmed down version (written from the ol' work computer during work hours, of course) of what I meant to say two days ago.....

Western Oregon (4-3, 4-1 GNAC) vs. #16 Humboldt State (6-0, 4-0 GNAC)
This is quite the matchup that many have been waiting too long to hit the calendar. Due to the way the schedule plays out on the calendar, Humboldt and Western Oregon haven't met yet this season, but this is the first of two (game two happens in another three weeks).
Last week, Humboldt bested Central Washington to take the Wildcats out of the GNAC race. A win over Western Oregon today will pretty much do the same thing to the Wolves.
While it's rather subjective, some football enthusiasts might say that Western Oregon has been tested on the national level more than Humboldt has. That's an argument that won't get answered here, but it is safe to say that Western Oregon's losses to Grand Valley (who has seen a bit of a resurgence after starting 1-3 on the season) and to No. 2 Abilene Christian might have more national prominence than Humboldt State's 29-3 dispatching of a 2-5 Colorado Mesa squad in the season opener. Of course, at 6-0, the Lumberjacks have won all of their games thus far this season. Momentum is hard to value objectively, but it can't be denied either.
At the end of the day, HSU is statistically better in multiple categories than Western Oregon. Stats aside, the Lumberjacks will prove that they're better on the field as well, getting a road victory over the Wolves, 38-21.

Dixie State (1-6, 1-3 GNAC) vs. Central Washington (2-4, 2-3 GNAC)
Dixie State is looking to knock off a Central Washington team that has taken a few more lumps than usual this year. Central Washington is taking the long trip to St. George to get back on the winning track.
The Wildcats hold a 6-0 all-time advantage over Dixie and that will turn into a 7-0 series lead with a 35-10 win.

Simon Fraser (2-5, 1-5 GNAC) vs. NAIA Southern Oregon (3-4)
Simon Fraser takes on another non-leaguer, dropping down to the NAIA to battle Southern Oregon in Ashland, Ore.
Southern Oregon has had a heck of a schedule thus far, losing to FCS Portland State and Division III Willamette earlier this season, and over the past three weeks the Raiders have gone 2-1 against three ranked NAIA teams (No. 24 Menlo, 31-17 win; No. 17 Eastern Oregon, 46-34 win; and No. 3 Mary Hardin Baylor, 52-12 loss).
Despite getting a win over Pacific to open the season and at home against Dixie State two weeks ago, Simon Fraser is going to find the way to a road win against a tested NAIA team pretty difficult. In last year's 31-18 loss to the Raiders, Simon Fraser picked off passes in the first two SOU drives and then held the Raiders to four straight punts, but scored just seven points off of those miscues. The Raiders obviously regrouped as their next five drives resulted in three straight touchdowns, a field goal and another touchdown.
SOU will keep its winning ways over Simon Fraser, but it will be close, 28-27.

Jon Guddat covers the GNAC for D2football.com