Besides probably a few die-hard fans in California, the release of this week's D2football.com top 25 poll surprised very few when a 3-0 Humboldt State team was left off the list. Specific to Division II football, as respected as the D2football.com poll is for fans, it doesn't determine the playoff spots. Those NCAA regional rankings begin coming out in mid-October, and that's where Humboldt State should focus it's time when it comes to polls. That being said, a potentially 4-0 Lumberjack squad shouldn't be too far off to expect some love next week if they take care of business this Saturday. We'll get to that game against Western Oregon in a moment.

Game of the Week
Central Washington (1-2) vs. Simon Fraser (0-3)
Pop Keeny Stadium, Bothell, Wash.
"Battle for the Border"
While Western Oregon's trip to Arcata, Calif., to take on Humboldt State might attract more attention, the fact that Central Washington and Simon Fraser meet at a neutral site for the first GNAC league contest of the year (the only league game this week) should attract plenty of attention with how league play will start shaping up. We're four weeks into the season and league play starts for these two teams with an attempt to generate alumni attention for both schools, certainly for CWU.

Both teams are in desperate need for a win.

Simon Fraser doesn't run the ball that often or that well (61 yards per game), which is too bad for the Clan since Central Washington's defense has a hard time stopping the run with 171 yards per game against them (and the 'Cats haven't played Azusa Pacific or Humboldt State yet). The Clan do throw for 276 yards per game, but the Wildcat defense has a league-high six picks, with two of those going for touchdowns. CWU also has a league-high 11 sacks.
While CWU quarterback Jake Nelson doesn't throw the ball as often as his counterpart, Ryan Stanford, Nelson is far more accurrate, completing 64% of his passes for 819 yards to Stanford's 56% and 805. That right there helps sustain drives better.

I see this as going in CWU's favor...31-14

Now for an opinion of the buzz of the game. It's trendy to play games on neutral fields - FBS does it all the time to kickoff the season, Wazzu hosts teams in Seattle once a year and here at D2, the Lone Star Football Festival just wrapped up it's fourth year last week in Texas where eight schools played four games over a long Saturday of football. Central Washington and the now-defunct Western Washington program had a good run with the annual Battle in Seattle. While attendance never topped the innagural game of nearly 16,400, all games were well-attended compared to what each school's stadium could hold. When Western Oregon filled the void WWU left in 2009, it was a joke with about 5,000 cheering for CWU and a few hundred rooting for the Wolves. Let me rephrase that, the attendance (5,374) was a joke. But I still remember the game like it was yesterday. An instant classic, tale of two halves kind of game. WOU goes into halftime up 21-0 over No. 3 CWU, only to watch as CWU scored 23 unanswered points to win 23-21.

Central Washington isn't a stranger to Pop Keeney Stadium. The Wildcats "hosted" Azusa Pacific and Humboldt State at the stadium in 2012 due to wildfires in central Washington affecting air quality. Neither HSU or APU brought many fans, with CWU's side of the stadium filled with roughly 2,000 fans.
I see the attraction of the game, a majority of CWU's enrollment base hails from the greater-Seattle area, which means many of them (yours truly NOT included) go back after graduation. That's plenty of alumni attention - and more importantly, alumni dollars - that could be tapped with a game which is easier to get to.

I like the idea of the game on a neutral field to attract alumni attention, but the placement of this game on the 2014 schedule is a head scratcher. Central Washington's 9,000 students arrived on campus over the weekend and started school this Wednesday. Nobody's going to go home this weekend since they just got here. This is one of the few weeks where a student's attention is at an all-time high for campus events since they're here after three months away, the excitement of a new school year is flowing through their veins and a free football game is easy on the budget. Instead, CWU decides to schedule a game two hours away from campus.

Sure, there are more than a few variables which affect a schedule, some are very much out of CWU's hands, but the administration missed the boat here. CWU gave up a home game to host this neutral site game and has a grand total of four home games this year, one of which has already been played. Yes, CWU hosted Dixie State on Sept. 13th, but most of the students weren't here nearly two weeks before the beginning of classes. Yes, the Wildcats host Azusa Pacific next week, but again, you gain new fans by striking while the iron's hot. The iron is hot this week.

Since I'm a stat geek, I always look at the attendance, but I'll be watching this one closely.

Humboldt State (3-0) vs. Western Oregon (2-1)
Fans should be excited for this game. Western Oregon has the passing and scoring offense to threaten the undefeated Lumberjacks, but a win for Humboldt will signal more proof HSU is the GNAC's best team.

Humboldt is more balanced offensively (611 yards rushing, 620 passing) than Western Oregon (276 to 910). Defensively HSU is the far superior team (although WOU did open its season against an FCS opponent, where the talent level has more depth) by holding teams to an average of 9 points per game to WOU's 31.

Humboldt State is also at home as well, so we'll move the Lumberjacks to 4-0 with a 30-14 win over the Wolves.

Dixie State (0-3) vs. Azusa Pacific (2-1)
Dixie can't score that well and can't stop the scoring as well. That doesn't bode well for the Red Storm even when they're playing at home.

Dixie also doesn't too to well against the rush. The Red Storm have been burned for an average of 172 yards on the ground and they host an APU team that boasts Terrell Watson's 146 yards per game average. The silver lining here is while the Red Storm were demolished 50-3 against a great running team like Humboldt last week, they "held" the Lumberjacks to 114 yards rushing. However, with Azusa Pacific relying more heavily on the run than that of Humboldt, I don't see much success for the Red Storm against the run. I also don't see Dixie getting many scoring opportunities if APU keeps that clock running. Azusa Pacific 28, Dixie 10

South Dakota Mines (0-3) at William Jewell (1-2)
With all the talk of a lack of non-league contests for GNAC teams, SD Mines has a non-league slate that makes sense with this one against William Jewell. When you have a handful of leagues closer to you than that of most of the GNAC, the non-league portion of the schedule seems to be easier to fill. The GLVC squad is out of Missouri and it 1-2, with those losses coming from FCS Valpraiso and D2football.com's No. 19 team Colorado Mines. Two weeks ago, Jewell had a 22-7 lead going into halftime against Valpo, but Valpo came to its senses after halftime to win 39-30.

SD Mines likes to pad the stat sheet, accumulating nearly 460 yards in total offense per game, and that number doesn't look to change much since William Jewell yields 421 yards per game. As mouth-watering as that is for the Hardrockers, let's not forget the Hardrockers' defense gets railroaded for 590 yards per game.

South Dakota Mines burned me for picking them last week, but keeps leading me on. I'm taking Mines for a 23-17 victory.