(Photos: UMD Athletics, BSU Athletics, Mary Athletics, MSU Athletics)

Games for Thursday, October 20

Southwest Minnesota State (4-3) at Minnesota State-Mankato (5-2), 6pmndGames for Saturday, October 22

Concordia-St. Paul (2-5) at Sioux Falls (7-0), Noon
USF struggled to move the ball the first half at Winona but then put the hammer down in the 3rd quarter and cruised to a 41-30 win. The Cougar 1st string defense gave up just 16 points until the last 5 minutes when WSU scored twice. Outside of the nail biter against BSU (37-36 win), the Coo D has limited some of the best offenses in the NSIC.

CSP continues to slide since the 2-0 start. Quarterback Ron Johnson was effective passing against UIU but the running game of the Golden Bears was limited and star-wideout Alquawn Vickers remains scoreless after 7 weeks. The Concordia defense saw UIU run for over 200 yards last week which is troubling for Bears fans given the power of the USF offense.
Cougars 51-7

Minnesota State-Moorhead (3-4) at Mary (1-6), 1pm - Battle for the Paddle (Trophy Game)thSt. Cloud State (4-3) at Northern State (3-4), 1pm
As mentioned above, SCSU jumped to a 27-0 lead a week ago at Moorhead, eventually holding on for a rocky 41-38 victory. SCSU threw for 378 yards but had little success running the football. The Huskies defense struggled mightily in the 2ndMinnesota-Crookston (0-7) at Minot State (1-6), 1pmWinona State (5-2) at Wayne State (3-4), 1pm
This is a much trickier game than the won/loss records might indicate. Winona State played a great half of defense against USF a week ago but then took a knockout punch in the 3rdBemidji State (6-1) at Minnesota-Duluth (6-1), 1pmrdAugustana (4-3) at Upper Iowa (2-5), 3pm
UIU got back on the winning track against CSP last Saturday. Reserve signal-caller Brent Lanners got the start for the 2ndWitt's Picks 2016 record: 42-14




Above is a quick glance at the teams that are seemingly still alive in the Super Region 3 playoff hunt. Regional Rankings will come out this coming Monday at 3pm (CST) and will list the top 10 teams at that moment in time, after 8 weeks of play. In weeks that follow I will have columns that are dedicated to those Rankings and how they work (strength of schedule, etc), but for now here's who's in the hunt. Keep in mind, 7 teams make the playoffs from each of the 4 Super Regions in D2..28 teams in all. #1 Seed gets a bye, with 2 through 7 playing each other (4 vs 5, 3 vs 6, 2 vs 7).

This week UMD plays BSU, so 1 of the teams on the 1-loss line will move into the pool of 2-loss squads. The week that follows APU vs CWU will also pit 1-loss squads in the same way. That all said, there's a chance of a 2-loss squad making the final field of 7.