Seriously? Seven interceptions? Seriously? Just 13 points off of those turnovers?
Despite not converting many points off of those turnovers, Humboldt State dominated Western Oregon in what turned out to be an end-of-season GNAC championship game in Arcata on Saturday.
In a game that was never in doubt, Humboldt State improved to 7-1 on the season, 9-1 overall and will finish in the top 20 in the D2football.com poll when released on Tuesday.
The Lumberjacks - upset by the Wolves in Monmouth just a handful of weeks ago - returned the favor and defeated Western Oregon 37-7 in front of 6,012 green and gold-clad fans.
Unfortunately for the 'Jacks, it wasn't enough to jump into the NCAA Division II postseason (more on that in a separate blog post).
What it did, do however, is earn the Lumberjacks their first-ever Great Northwest Athletic Conference championship.
Humboldt's Lyndon Rowells rushed for a monster 246 yards and Mike Proulx threw for three scores and the Humboldt State defense held WOU (6-2 GNAC, 6-5 overall) to just 177 yards in total offense. Suffering seven interceptions (three by HSU's Jeremiah Maluia alone) will do that to your total yardage.
Humboldt State dominated the clock as well, driving for nearly 14 more minutes than Western Oregon. The Wolves drove into Lumberjack territory just once in the first half and didn't score until midway through the fourth quarter after HSU had already established a 30-point advantage.

Like the Humboldt/Western Oregon game, Central Washington's contest with Dixie State was a lopsided affair as well. The Wildcats cruised to a 42-0 lead until Dixie State finally tacked on points late in the fourth period for the 42-14 decision to end the season for both teams.
Central improved to 4-4 in GNAC play and 4-6 overall. Dixie fell to 1-7 and 1-10.
CWU amassed just 80 yards in passing on 6-for-12 passing, but the aerial attack purposely took a back seat to the highly-productive rushing game that netted 283 yards. CWU's Ishmael Stinson (15-129 yards, one score) and Levi Taylor (27-126, two scores) led the charge on the ground against the Red Storm that had no answer defensively and no response with their respective rushing game (five yards on the day).
The Wildcats did a better job handling Stefan Cantwell. The DSC true freshman threw for more than 300 yards and ran for another 100-plus in the first game of the two-game series three weeks ago. This time Cantwell was sacked five times (negative two yards rushing on the day), threw two picks and had just 158 passing yards.
Dixie's first five possessions totaled 24 yards and resulted in four punts and one turnover on downs. By contrast, CWU had already put 21 points on the board.

Here's a look at the way the GNAC finished:

GNAC Standings
Humboldt State 7-1, 9-1 First-ever GNAC Championship
Western Oregon 6-2, 6-5
Central Washington 4-4, 4-6
Simon Fraser 2-6, 3-7
Dixie State 1-7, 1-10

Humboldt State accomplished something many could see happening back in 2009. Yes, the Lumberjacks garnered plenty of attention within the GNAC in 2010, but what some may forget is how close a 5-5 season was to an 8-2 or maybe even a 9-1 season in 2009. Humboldt State lost four games that year by seven points or less (with another loss to then-No. 2 Central Washington, 38-7). For the Lumberjacks, while a loss is still a loss, it showed the rest of the GNAC that 2009 was a sign of things to come in 2010 and 2011. The Lumberjacks really opened eyes by knocking off Central Washington early last year, but faltered in the end. And while HSU didn't sweep its way to an undefeated regular season this time around, head coach Rob Smith always said that the No. 1 goal for the Lumberjacks was to win the GNAC title. Consider that goal checked off on the list. In message boards and media, the Lumberjacks received hot and cold reactions when they traveled to Davis, Calif., and beat a middle-of-the-road FCS team in UC-Davis. While some can point to that game as hurting the 'Jacks in the regional rankings (rankings only calculate D2 wins, so the victory didn't count toward playoff consideration, giving the 'Jacks one less D2 game to calculate) what it does do is positions the Lumberjacks as the team in north and central California no matter what level. Do you think that will help with recruiting? That's probably not the only thing a high school senior or junior college transfer considers, but it can't hurt.

We will have end of season recaps for each team with a look at what 2012 has in store later this month.

Jon Guddat covers the GNAC for D2football.