We're still basically a month away before the NCAA Division II regional rankings come out, but teams and seasons are starting to take shape within the GNAC. Of course, the conference's best team based on win-loss records - 21st ranked, 3-0 Humboldt State - has a week off with a bye week, but is back in action next week in Rapid City, SD to take on South Dakota Mines.

First things first, however, is this week's games so the talk of Humboldt will have to be put on hold while six of seven GNAC teams square off Saturday.

Game of the week
Dixie State (1-2) vs. Azusa Pacific (2-1)

I don't get Dixie - or maybe I do. The Red Storm win big or lose big. First they get throttled 43-3 by Colorado Mesa before punishing Central Washington 49-20 (and it was't even that close). Then Dixie goes up to Humboldt State to get all sorts of embarrassed, 66-7.

What Dixie team will show up this week? It was just a couple of years ago when the Red Storm would rarely run while opting for the aerial attack. How times have changed. The Red Storm don't even average 100 yards in the air, but they do throw down 236 yards on the ground. That could spell trouble for the Cougars who haven't done much to stop the run yet this year, averaging 204 yards in rushing defense. Of course, Dixie can't stop the run either, as it holds teams to...203 yards.

Where Azusa will have the edge though is in the passing game. Dixie doesn't pass, while Azusa does now that the Cougars don't rely on the run as much as they did in previous years.

Yet since both teams can run the ball well, this might be a quick game as the clock should be running for much of the game. I see the Cougars winning on the road, 23-14.

Central Washington (1-2) vs. Simon Fraser (0-2)
What a reversal of fortune playing at home is for Central Washington. The Wildcats, losers by convincing fashion to open the season 0-2, took Western Oregon to the woodshed in the first home game of the season last week in Ellensburg. Home game 2.0 looms for CWU as the Wildcats host Simon Fraser.

The last time these two teams met in Ellensburg, the Clan bested the 'Cats 21-14 in 2013, yet last year's contests were not close as CWU won 63-7 Bothell (Battle for the Border at a neutral site) and 40-27 up north in Burnaby.

Simon Fraser played Azusa Pacific close last week, keeping the score tied at 10 apiece until APU scored early in the fourth quarter. SFU did however, see the business end of APU's defense as the Cougars racked up seven sacks against the SFU offensive line. Seeing how CWU stopped Western Oregon with five sacks, the Simon Fraser offensive line could be in trouble.

Stranger things have happened, but I don't see Simon Fraser leaving Ellensburg with another win. CWU 30, SFU 20.

Western Oregon (1-2) at FCS #17 Portland State (2-0)
Western Oregon has a tall task ahead. Yes, the Wolves kept it close - within one score - in last year's 45-38 loss at Portland State, but this year's PSU squad looks different. The Vikings are ranked 17th in this week's FCS poll and their two wins have come over FBS Washington State and the Big Sky's Idaho State. Wazzu isn't Ohio State here, but the Cougars are an FBS team. Idaho State isn't the bottom feeder it was for years and has dabbled in national polls the last couple of seasons.

That spells some difficult times ahead for the Wolves, especially since it's yet another year without any sort of consistent running game as WOU averages less than 50 yards a game. Western Oregon does throw the ball pretty well, to the tune of 298 yards per contest, but again, it hasn't seen a team like Portland State yet this season.

I see the Vikings subbing in their reserves liberally here, PSU 41, WOU 20.

South Dakota Mines (2-1) vs. NAIA Lyon College (0-3)
This is a difficult one..................for Lyon College. Kudos to the school for bringing back football after originally calling it quits in 1951. (Blogger note: Maybe some west coast Division II non-football schools can take note.) But as can be expected, the Scots have taken their lumps, losing to two nationally-ranked NAIA teams and a D3 school by a combined total of 163-38 to open their season.

The Scots boast Michael Bowles in the backfield, NAIA Division I's leading rusher, but while SD Mines isn't in the upper echelon of D2 football, it's still a team with more experience at an higher level of football than that of Lyon.

South Dakota Mines don't have much of a defense, but by averaging 488 yards of offense a game (212 rushing, 276 passing), there's a good chance Lyon's defense will be tired very early on.

I see this as a W for South Dakota, 50-20.