(Pictured: USF, AU, CSP, BSU)
(Photo for BSU: BSU Athletics)

The 3 early games yesterday in the NSIC were pretty mundane compared to the wild games that occurred in the night session. Here are the finals and some quick takes about each team after 2 weeks.

Week 2 Scores
Augustana 63, Mary 0
Concordia-St. Paul 41, Minnesota-Crookston 18
St. Cloud State 27, Upper Iowa 20

Minot State 20, Wayne State 14
Bemidji State 45, Minnesota State-Mankato 17
Sioux Falls 42, Minnesota State-Moorhead 21
Northern State 51, Southwest Minnesota State 35
Minnesota-Duluth 34, Winona State 31

Quick Takes
Augustana (2-0)
The Vikings are lucky to be 2-0 after their W1 scare with Northern, but with Kato and Duluth both with a loss, 2-0 looks pretty good right now in the turbulent Northern Sun.

USF (2-0)
Cougars came on really strong at SCSU, but dodged a bullet against MSUM in a game that was closer than the 42-21 score suggested. Papilion is the most dangerous runner in the league, but is struggling being an efficient passer.

Bemidji State (2-0)
Fairly amazing start considering Head Coach Jeff Tesch getting put on leave 48 hours before their first game. The staff at BSU has done an amazing job keeping things together and blowing out the preseason top dog 45-17 at the Blake. Can they sustain this level of performance?

Concordia-St. Paul (2-0)
Ok, not to be a wet blanket here..but they are 2-0 against Mary and Crookston. Kudos to the nice start, but let's get a better gauge at month's end. Giving them credit at the moment, if they're going to have a rebound year they need to handle the teams they've played so far. Mission accomplished through 2 weeks.

Minnesota-Duluth (1-1)
Crazy to think the Dogs are almost an 0-2 squad right now. Could be 2-0 also if they'd have finished in week 1. One things for certain, they don't look like the dominant UMD squads of years ago. Has the rest of conference and it's top level quarterback play caught up with UMD or are they just a step back from the past. Maybe a little of both. Still not counting out this resilient squad.

MSU-Mankato (1-1)
Can't get much from their W1 win at Minot, but in last night's game they seemingly missed the presence of key guys stepping up and making a play, getting a stop, and changing the momentum. Overall, this is a young and inexperienced Mavs team that also struggles in the kicking game. BSU took advantage of that last night. The 563 yards of offense given up last night could be the bigger concern for Mavs fans. With QB Ryan Schlichte coming in for the 2nd half last night and providing a spark, one has to contemplate the possibility of his taking the keys to the MSU offense.

Northern State (1-1)
Pretty much a tipped ball away from being 2-0 right now. Big win in a 'prove it' game against a very dangerous SMSU squad last night. The Wolves emerging offense, along with hard nosed approach has NSU looking strong going forward.

Southwest Minnesota State (1-1)
Huge win over Duluth, but then tough road loss at Northern. Southwest is about who we thought they were. A top squad in the conference, probably not yet. At that doorstep, certainly.

Winona State (1-1)
In the past a loss like the one last night in Duluth would sink the spirits of the WSU squad. It'll be interesting to see how the Warriors look in the following weeks. A win last night at UMD would've put them in a great spot. Instead, they are fall just short again.

MSU-Moorhead (1-1)
Hard to figure just yet. Beat a bad WSC squad, but playing right with a decent USF squad til the mid 4th quarter. They're clearly looking better than I'd expected coming into the year, but it's still hard to tell just how good they are.

St. Cloud State (1-1)
A fairly impressive win at UIU yesterday. The Huskies are still looking like a .500 kinda squad, but with some nice weapons offensively they can be a weekly scare to most teams in the conference.

Minot State (1-1)
The win at Wayne is certainly a step in the right direction, as road wins haven't been easy to come by for the Beavers. Do I think they've turned a corner? No. But it's good for morale getting a win this early in the year.

Upper Iowa (0-2)
Not an easy opening to the schedule with BSU and SCSU. However, I thought the Peacocks offense was a little better than this. Both games were close, but UIU doesn't look quite as dangerous right now as I'd anticipated.

Wayne State (0-2)
One of the most disappointing teams so far in the conference. With QB Zach Osborn back, one would think the Wildcats would be a respectable offense at the very least. That said, they've been below average so far, playing against 2 of the less imposing defenses. The loss at home against Minot is a cause for concern for WSC fans.

Minnesota-Crookston (0-2)
The Golden Eagles offense got going yesterday, but their defense continues to look at bad as anyone in the league, probably worse. While UMC can probably win a firefight with some of the lower tier squads, I did expect them to be a little closer with a revamping CSP team.

Mary (0-2)
They haven't scored yet this season. That's kinda rough. Watching their new offense again yesterday, they just aren't playing fast. The defense is able to get to the spot at or before the ball carrier and in the triple option offense they'll need to become more explosive. It'll take time.

Summary
With the North winning 5 of 8 games yesterday maybe things are evening out? I'm not ready to go there yet, but they have tightened the margin so far in 2016 to South 9, North 7.

I mentioned before the season that I wasn't sure if any of the NSIC teams were National Title contenders as the season began. At the moment it looks like nothing's changed there. No team is looking dominant at the moment and if anything, Bemidji looks the best so far. Could that change? Sure. But the defenses in the Northern Sun are currently down a bit in the conference and would be exposed against the better teams in the D2 world. That's the main area that needs addressing, as the offenses are well ahead given the experienced star-power that's returned from last season.

Looking critically at the Northern Sun, I'd say the combination of the 2nd Tier teams being more dangerous offensively and the top teams being a little more vulnerable than last year will make this years football season very much in-flux and entertaining.