An Early Look at How the MIAA Stacks Up in D2 and Family Week

[Ian Carlson]

After week 2 of the 2016 season, only three of the 12 MIAA teams remain unbeaten, and there are three teams still looking for their first win of the season. Northwest Missouri State, Central Missouri, and Missouri Western State are all 2-0 while Missouri Southern State, Nebraska Kearney, and, a bit surprisingly, Central Oklahoma are all 0-2 to start the season. At least one of the unbeaten teams will go down this week, as UCM and MWSU will face off in Spratt Stadium on Saturday in what is most definitely the Game of the Week.

Three MIAA teams are ranked in the latest D2.Football.com pollLindenwood 31
Northeastern State 35

What a wild game at Doc Wadley Stadium! It was a tight game throughout much of the contest until Lindenwood went up 10 early in the fourth on a 46 yard fumble return for a touchdown by Thomas Wesley. The teams then traded punts before Riverhawk QB and MIAA Offensive Player of the Week Dimonic McKinzy led a touchdown drive to cut the Lion lead to 31-28 with 5:38 left in the game. After holding the Lions to a punt on their ensuing possession, the Riverhawks fumbled the punt return and gave it right back to Lindenwood. After three straight runs to kill some clock and force NSU to take their timeouts, Mr. Do-Everything Connor Harris pooch punted the ball down to the 2 yard line with 2:11 left to go. At this point, it looked like my prediction for this game was going to be spot on, right down to the final score. However, McKinzy had other ideas, as he marched his team the full 98 yards in 10 plays and in just 98 seconds to take the lead on his 5^th TD pass of the game. The Riverhawks held off a final last drive by the Lions to get their first win of the year. In the loss, Harris had 12 total tackles, making him the career leader in tackles for Division II. He needs just 33 tackles for the All Divisions career mark, which, going by his current pace, should happen in week 5, barring injury.

Washburn 7
Northwest Missouri State 41Pittsburg State 45
Central Oklahoma 31^thEmporia State 34
Nebraska Kearney 7^thFort Hays State 17
Central Missouri 34

The Mules dominated this game from start to finish, using a balanced offense that generated 514 yards of offense against the Tigers. UCM QB Garrett Fugate had 306 yards passing, and the Mules churned out another 208 yards on the ground, and UCM was up 31-7 before the Tigers were able to make it respectable about halfway through the 4^thMissouri Western State 51
Missouri Southern State 14

MIAA leading rusher Josh Caldwell had another solid day, gaining 92 yards and a touchdown on just 12 carries, and QB Skyler Windmiller managed the game well, completing 15 of his 18 pass attempts for 229 yards, with two touchdowns and one interception. The Griffon defense held the Lions to less than a yard per carry, as Southern was only able to get 30 yards on 31 carries as a team. The Lions were never really in the game once the Griffons got their second TD on the first play of the second quarter, and while they did manage 254 yards of passing against the Griffons, the damage was already done on the scoreboard.

AFCA poll	D2F poll
GSC: 4	GSC: 4
NSIC: 4	NSIC: 4
GLIAC: 3	GLIAC: 3
GNAC: 2	MIAA: 3
LSC: 2	GNAC: 2
MIAA: 2	LSC: 2
PSAC: 2	PSAC: 2
RMAC: 2	GAC: 1
GAC: 1	MEC: 1
MEC: 1	NE10: 1
NE10: 1	RMAC: 1
SIAC: 1	SIAC: 1

^th in the country against the run at 25.0 yards per game. UCO has recorded the 4^th most first downs in the country with 56, and the Mules are the fifth least penalized team in the country and have accrued the third least penalty yards through two games.

As far as Individual leaders go, MIAA leading rusher Caldwell is ranked 12^th in the country, and teammate Skyler Windmiller is 10^th in the nation in pass efficiency. Gorilla WR Levi Copelin is 7^th in the country in receiving yards per game, while Broncho QB TJ Eckert is 10^th in the country for total offense. Defensively, Loper LB Tyke Kozeal is leading all of Division II with 16.5 tackles per game, while Lindenwood CB Bakari Triggs leads the nation in passes defended and is tied for the lead in interceptions.


Week 3 PreviewsNebraska-Kearney (0-2) at #1 Northwest Missouri State (2-0) 1:30PM
Family WeekendMissouri Southern State (0-2) at #20 Emporia State (1-1) 2PM
Family and Friends Day

The Lions will be looking to beat the Hornets for the first time since 2009. In order to pull off the upset, they need to figure out how to finish drives. They are ninth in the conference so far in total offense, but have only scored two touchdowns on the year, trailing the rest of the league in scoring at only 12 points per game. The passing game has been quite a bit more successful than their running game, but they need to get some rushing yardage in order to keep what should end up being one of the better offenses in the league on the sideline. The good news is that Emporia gave up 175 rushing yards to Northwest, who is ranked 9^thth in passing efficiency defense, and while Marstall is only completing 55% of his passes, that number is skewed from the Bearcat game in Week 1. I think the Lions may force some mistakes in the Hornet passing game, but the Hornets make up for it on the ground and win by double digits.

MSSU 20
ESU 34


Lindenwood (1-1) at Washburn (1-1) 6PM
Family Day^th#6 Central Missouri (2-0) at Missouri Western State (2-0)
Military Appreciation/Family DayNortheastern State (1-1) at Pittsburg State (1-1) 7PM
Family DayCentral Oklahoma (0-2) at Fort Hays State (1-1) 7PM

[NW Normal]

Nice re-caps; interesting score predictions.

[BillyGV]

GLIAC has 5 legitimate contenders for the playoffs - GVSU - Ashland - Ferris - MTech - Wayne St - I think your 7 theory for the MIAA is stretching it, really stretching it - but you did say you were biased so there is that

[Ian Carlson]

The difference between the MIAA teams and the GLIAC teams is that the MIAA teams all have to play each other. If you put a PO record at, say, 9-2, all eight teams I mentioned had a legit chance to get to that mark....would a couple or three of those teams need to overachieve to get to that record? Well, maybe. The fact that all eight of those teams mentioned have made the postseason in the past 5 seasons tells me that what I wrote isn't really stretching at all.