So after 7 weeks of football the MSU-Mankato Mavericks find themselves in the top spot in the national polls. While the Mavs have been waiting patiently in the top 5 all year, they've stayed the course and taken care of business while keeping focus during a very difficult time within the program.

With Todd Hoffner returning to the squad in the late off-season it was hard to know if the squad was going to become divided and potentially have departures or if they'd be able to keep things together. To the credit of Hoffner and his fellow assistants the team has stayed together after some early turmoil and now find themselves on top of the D2 world.

Now those who follow NSIC Football realize that the Mavs haven't gotten into the tough part of their schedule yet, so their to judge their year at this point would be a bit premature. However, the Mavs have dominated their opponents and are showing no signs of loosening their grip on their stranglehold on the NSIC South Division. Kudos to Coach Hoffner and his staff, not to mention the athletes who've willingly rolled with the punches during this last year.

Without further delay..on to the games this week..

Upper Iowa (5-2) at Concordia-St. Paul (1-6)
UIU looks like they are showing signs of a potential collapse during these last 2 games, but playing CSP might be the fix for that since they are in full-blown collapse as we speak. The Golden Bears offense has seemingly short-circuited and with that in mind I don't see how they will be able to keep UIU the scoreboard enough to win this one. Word is that Chris Smith is returning for the Peacocks, and if so, I like them getting right in this one and winning by a few scores. If he's not good-to-go, then we might have a bit of a rock fight on our hands. I'm choosing to believe he returns and the Peacocks keep their Mineral Water Bowl hopes alive with a win.
UIU 30-20

Bemidji State (3-4) at Minnesota-Duluth (7-0)
Blowout game for the Bulldogs on their way to an 11-0 season right..? Not so fast my friend. BSU is getting confidence at the right time (especially with the South in the rear view), and their offense is looking more explosive than they've looked in years. Considering UMD gave up 400 yards in the air last week to NSU, it does make you think that BSU can put a scare into the home team who might not be expecting a battle from a 3-4 squad.


(BSU Athletics. The Beavers taking their Homecoming plunge after beating Minot State)

Problem for the Beavers will be that the Duluth offense is pretty much full functional at this point in the year with the running game (3 players who can really hurt ya) and Drew Bauer has shown improvement in the passing game to the point where it appears that if they were in a pickle that he could rescue them from trouble with his arm.

Funny thing is..I think the Beavers are a more hard nosed defense than they get credit for. Do I think they stop the Bulldogs..no. Slow them down a bit, yes. Enough to get the win..no.

BSU is 3-0 in the North and has been given hope that they can battle for a North title. With that hope I think they play Duluth much tougher than the blowout that's seemingly expected.
UMD 48-32

Minnesota State-Moorhead (1-6) at Mary (4-3)
A much better game than the records would indicate. Moorhead has played the best schedule in the league and has played most opponents pretty close for at least 3 quarters, but eventually their defense has let them down.

Mary is 4-3 but their wins are over some of the worst teams in the league by the slimmest of margins. Point blank, I don't trust them to beat teams outside the lower tier.

So this game is a tough one for me. I thought the Dragons would be winning some of their close games and would be better than their 1-6 record. I also thought Mary would be better defensively than they've been and would handle the worst teams in the league and instead they've barely won those games. Eh boy, who to take..

Here we go again....gimme the Dragons. Their defense makes me regret taking them almost instantaneously, but they are clearly better a better team than the Minot and Crookston teams that Mary got past.
Moorhead 30-24

St. Cloud State (3-4) at Northern State (4-3)
The toughest game of the week for me. Northern is clearly a step ahead of where they were as a team last year. SCSU is a step and a half behind. That said, they are starting to figure things out offensively, but their defense has been pretty..average. Northern's defense has remained not good pretty much all year, but JJ and his offense have become one of the more capable ones in the league.

Two years ago when SCSU found themselves in a down year they lost a back and forth game in Aberdeen on a crazy play. I think the Huskies now found themselves in a similar lost season, but that they are on the rebound and playing with more confidence than they were earlier in the year. SCSU should be a solid team down the stretch and I have them getting after the Wolves in this one.
St. Cloud 40-29

Minnesota State-Mankato (7-0) at Augustana (4-3)
A few weeks ago this was looking like a heckuva game that could really be a battle for the LOS. Instead Augie comes in nearly losing 3 in a row and their defense coming off getting carved for 500 yards through the air. Lucky for the Vikings the visiting Mavs will not be looking to air it out in the way Wayne State did. That's where this game could get interesting.

If Augie sells out in this game and looks at it like the Super Bowl remaining on their schedule (with no chance of playoffs), playing the newly crowned #1 team in the nation, then we might have a really good contest. You see, if you are looking to try and run between the tackles on the Vikings....well, that's what they are best at stopping. With the exception of 1 big run by both Chris Smith and Nephi Garcia, they were able to keep 2 of the best backs in the conference pretty much in check. They were also to stop the Duluth running game in the second half of their game and force UMD to pass for the win. So if we see a spirited Augie front 7 this game could be quite the battle, seeing as the Mavs look at their running game as their bread and butter.

Trey Heid (picture below) had a monster 6 TD performance last week against Wayne State and seemingly has his confidence back at a very high level. However, the Mavs defense will be getting after Trey like he hasn't quite seen this year. Against Duluth Trey was able to hit some nice balls over the top of the defense. Against USF he was not. I think he will have similar challenges this week against Kato, and that the Augie running game will have a hard time getting going against the Mavs front.


(Photo: Argus Leader)

Certainly Augie has the ability to play Mankato very tough. However, with the poor performance of their defense the previous week and the firepower of the Mavericks, I think they get down early and that it deflates their spirit by half. Would I be stunned by an Augie upset in this spot....a little surprised, but not stunned. Heid and Viking defense can be a great combination..but on this Saturday I will take Lloyd-Thomas and the Mavs defense to control the action.
MSU-Mankato 38-20

Minnesota-Crookston (0-fer) at Minot State (0-fer)
There really isn't a lot of in-depth analysis to be done here. Neither team has looked good enough much at all this year to offer great praise. That said, when I've watched both teams this year I've felt that Minot was a more credible threat to the opposition than the Golden Eagles. Call me crazy, but I like Minot to kinda put the hammer down in this one.
Minot State 34-20

Sioux Falls (7-0) at Winona State (4-3)
The undefeated team should roll right? It's not quite that easy. USF is 22 and 7 since joining the Northern Sun, with 2 of those losses coming to Winona State and 2 more to USF's opponent the following week (Mankato). Every team has their mental hurdles, for USF it's clearly WSU and Kato. The losses to Winona State have both been tight, Mankato not as much.

Who is Winona State this year..? Hard to tell, they've played with the leagues best and also gotten handled a few times as well. However, this is the Warrior's Homecoming and they have good thoughts about playing the Cougars having won both of the times the teams have faced each other. USF was unbeaten back in 2012 when they lost 10-9.

That all said, both of these teams is completely different than the identify they had back 2 years ago. Winona had the best running back in the league and led with their ground and pound. Now they are a team that lives by the 20 yard pass play down the field. USF was one of the better passing teams in the league, and in 2014 they are a team who does a little of everything..the most balanced offense in the league.

With it being Homecoming and an unbeaten USF coming into Winona, the Warriors shouldn't be lacking any motivation. WSU is also coming off a quality win in Fayette, a game where the Warriors Defense looked good and they had good balance on offense as well. It's no secret that they are looking to get the ball to the top ball-catcher in the conference Josh Mikes and that they aren't afraid to throw him and their other guys 50/50 balls, expecting their size and athleticism to come down with the ball.

Jack Nelson has taken a beating this year while sitting back inthe pocket, but he's come through it fairly well and even scampered for a 20 yard score of his own last week. With how well the USF corners (Tidwell and St. Pierre) have been playing, the idea of throwing up 50/50 balls in their area sounds..interesting. Neither player is over 6 foot tall, but both play the ball very well in the air. It should be among the best WR vs CB battles this year in the conference.

On the other side of the ball the Winona State Defense is probably a bit better than they get credit for. Their Winona front can get after the quarterback and the very young secondary can make plays, but also make the mistakes expected of young players. The USF wideouts aren't burners, but they are catching most of the balls thrown their way and are a bit of a 3 headed monster with 39-37-35 balls caught between Angulo, Shutt, and Rose. The 3 of them have taken a position of concern for USF going into the season and have shown to be quite solid.

USF's attack has looked a little more versatile of late with QB Luke Papilion running the ball a bit more, along with Nephi Garcia continuing to be one of the best runners in the league. This varied attack is what I expect to be the difference in this game, whereas the Warriors live by the deep ball, the 3 run homer to an extent. I like USF a fair amount more in the special teams between the kicking game and the dangerous USF return game as well.
USF 34-24

Wayne State (4-3) at Southwest Minnesota State (2-5)
Should be a great nightcap to a very competitive Saturday of NSIC game. The Wildcats came roaring back against a strong Augie defense, but also give up a lot of points themselves and a late drive that cost them the game in the end. Who are the Wildcats..? They blew out Winona State, give up over 50 points to Augustana. I don't know myself. I do know they have a very explosive offense and have a top wideout incole McDaniel (below).


(Photo: Rich Rhoden)

I think that I have a little bit better idea who the Mustangs are after watching their last few games and seeing them up close 5 days ago. They really like the quick slants and the screens. Almost everything they did last week was underneath stuff, with them looking to get rid of the ball pretty quickly. They have some capable running backs as well. However, they turned the ball over 7 times last week. Now some of that certainly is due to the fact that USF is leading the nation in takeaways (24), but the Mustangs were also careless with the ball at times.

With the Mustangs D playing better (they were put in some bad spots last week and held their ground a fair amount), this game ends up being tougher to pick than the records would indicate. Oh the heck with it, I'm taking the short passing game to neutralize the strong Wayne State pass rush and for the Mustangs to win another one at home in a thriller.
SMSU 40-38


Witt's Record Season To Date: 47-9