At first glance, nothing surprising emerged from the three season-openers for the GNAC. But that doesn't mean things were overly boring at all.

Let's take a look at the three contests thus far.

Humboldt State 38, Colorado Mesa 19
There's no over-analyzing this: Humboldt State was just better than Colorado Mesa on Thursday night. The Lumberjacks had more big plays, more players in the mix and 4,200 fans supporting them in the home opener. As Humboldt plans to roll their way to another GNAC title, they become huge fans of Colorado Mesa now to bounce back and surprise a few teams in the Rocky Mountain Athletic Conference which would obviously bolster Humboldt's playoff chances via a stronger strength of schedule. Head coach Rob Smith won't say that because that tips him off as looking too far ahead. It's being said right here, though. Yes, in order to make the postseason Humboldt needs to win, but it can't be denied how important just one non-league contest becomes to a GNAC team with space for only one on the schedule.

Back to the game: Humboldt struck early, putting together a 76-yard drive, ending with an Alex Rump 36-yard pass to Victor Spencer for the early 7-0 advantage. On the ensuing play, the Lumberjack special teams came up big with Chas Rogers forcing a fumble. From there, the Humboldt offense jumped on the back of Nick Ricciardulli (yeah, move over Guy, a new Ricciardulli in town) for five straight calls, moving 18 yards to the pay dirt and 14-0 lead with barely 5:30 off the clock.

Some keys of the game:
1. All was not well for the Lumberjacks as HSU fumbled the ball twice, with the first drop resulting in a CMU score. Mesa also gained 216 yards rushing.
2. That's not to say the game was ever in doubt, as Mesa had four fumbles (losing one), another pick and two missed field goals. Humboldt also sacked two Maverick quarterbacks a total of six times (defensive end Alex Markarian had three).
3. Proulx and Rowells, who? Alex Rump threw for 168 yards, one score and no picks. Ricciardulli had 149 yards (64 on one play) and two scores. The Humboldt offensive line bent but didn't break, opening holes big enough for Ricciardulli, but not big enough for a CMU defensive sack all night.

The home cooking continues (second game of three straight at home to open the season) as the Lumberjacks take on Azusa Pacific next Saturday.

Simon Fraser 51, Pacific 14

The Clan defense forced the Boxers into a missed field goal try, four punts and a forced fumble in Pacific's first six possessions until a late second quarter touchdown put the Boxers on the board for the first time of the day. As many accolades as that should receive, how about the Clan offense, which scored five touchdowns in five trips down the field to open the contest. So yes, Pacific finally did score, but by then it was 34-7 going into the locker room at halftime.

A couple of keys looking at the stat sheet:
1. Until Pacific had scored on an 80-yard drive late in the second quarter, it had amassed just 100 yards in total offense.
2. Pacific's miscues resulted in points for SFU. The Boxers missed a 24-yard chip shot field goal attempt; SFU scored a touchdown. In the third quarter Pacific was picked off; Simon Fraser responded with a five-minute, 80-yard drive for another seven points.
3. Red Zone chances: Simon Fraser 7-for-8. Pacific 0-for-3. Huge for the Clan.
4. SFU, while holding the Boxers to 40 yards on the ground, yielded 345 yards passing and were outgained 385-378 overall. The good thing? SFU still won big despite a "successful" passing day by Pacific. The bad thing? 345 yards to a Division III team might give insight to how SFU's pass defense might hold up against a better GNAC team. Time will tell.

Despite what CWU does against Texas A&M-Kingsville on Saturday, the Wildcats are a better team than what Pacific posed for Simon Fraser, so the Clan must get home and take advantage of two extra days of preparation (in addition to playing at home) for the Wildcats on Sept. 8.

UC-Davis 41, Azusa Pacific 3

Well, this one wasn't good. Azusa Pacific simply had no answer for the bigger, older and more-polished FCS UC-Davis Aggies. Of course, the Cougars got their first game as an NCAA Division II team out of the way, but with another road trip against Humboldt State waiting, it doesn't necessarily get any easier for APU.

Keys of the game:
1. The Aggies scored at will against the overmatched Cougars, opening with a 20-0 lead and scoring on all six red zone chances.
2. When APU's field goal-scoring drive began midway through the second quarter, the Cougars had amassed...zero total yards. Twelve plays and 62 yards later, the Cougars were on the board with a 31-yard field goal.
3. Terrell Watson might be someone to watch out for, especially with a huge offensive line blocking for him. The sophomore had 144 yards rushing and another 38 receiving.

Jon Guddat covers the GNAC for D2football.com. Contact Jon at [email protected].