Who's with me in saying Humboldt State is for real? After a 66-7 demolishing of Dixie State, the Lumberjacks have put together two very convincing wins in a row and are 3-0 heading into their bye week. HSU held Dixie to 281 total yards (a Dixie team that put up 404 rushing yards on Central Washington last week), while the Lumberjacks put up 565 yards of total offense and six players (five offense, one on special teams) scored for HSU. A complete game? Uhhh, yes.

The Lumberjacks have beaten two of the projected top four teams of the GNAC with wins over Western Oregon and Azusa Pacific and the Lumberjacks have to wait until they play Central Washington for the first - and only time - on Oct. 24. Even better for Humboldt is the fact that Midwestern State won - HSU's non-conference matchup on Oct. 17th - making the Mustangs 3-0 early in the season. Too much football is left to be played before the Lumberjacks visit Wichita Falls, Texas, in a month to speculate, bAnut a win over a MSU team does nothing but help Humboldt's chances for a playoff spot.

So Humboldt beat a Dixie team that destroyed a CWU team last week that destroyed Western Oregon this week that narrowly lost to Humboldt State to open the season. Maybe it wasn't a narrow loss to Humboldt, but the Wolves did come back from 19-0 in the second quarter to make a game out of it. But let me explain....yeah, I don't get it either. Such is the life of the GNAC.

In other news, CWU opened the home portion of their schedule needing to answer many questions. They answered. After watching Western Oregon march down the field like it was a juggernaut, the Wildcats then scored 40 straight points to make it 40-6 at halftime. CWU scored on defense and special teams before its first offensive touchdown. The Wildcats were held out of the end zone the entire second half however, something to take notice of when it comes to putting together a complete game. CWU's drives stalled many times in the second half, but again, the game was never in jeopardy.

Azusa Pacific did just enough to edge out Simon Fraser by a tally of 16-10 in front of...wait for it...725 rabid fans. The Cougars continue to show it can run and pass this year with a balanced attack. Conditions were poor for mistake-free football, but APU broke a 10-10 tie early in the fourth quarter to seal the win. Increasingly good for the Cougars is the fact that their opening week win over West Texas continues to look better as the Buffaloes have defeated defending national champion Colorado State-Pueblo and Tarleton state to move to 2-1. HSU has a step or two on APU, but as long as WT keeps winning, it makes APU look better. An interested non-GNAC matchup will be when Midwestern State and West Texas meet up in mid-October. Both HSU and APU will pay attention to that contest...even though both teams will deny that in classic coach-speak.

Finally, South Dakota Mines continues to wade through its vast non-conference portion of its schedule by taking it to Wisconsin-River Falls, 49-22, in a game that saw the Hardrockers - still one of the coolest mascots out there - up 35-3 midway though the third quarter. SD Mines had Devin Nixon and Trent McKinney both rush for 100-plus yards and two scores and McKinney connected for two touchdowns in the air as well, proving he's a quarterback with more than a few talents.

What game should we look forward to the most on Sept. 26th? It's a bit of a ho-hum schedule as Humboldt entertains a bye week and both SD Mines (Lyon College) and Western Oregon (Portland State) take on non-conference foes that won't count toward the NCAA's Division II strength of schedule equation, so we're going to pick Azusa's trip to Dixie State. Which Dixie team will show up? The team that destroyed CWU or the team that got destroyed by HSU? Time will tell.