The lone GLIAC hope remaining this year is with the Warriors of Wayne State. After their impressive win over both the elements and St. Cloud State last week, the six-seed will do what it always does when it continues to win: hit the road. Kearney, Nebraska is this week's destination as the RMAC runner-up will host a playoff game for the second time in three years. The lopers are 10-1 coming in, with their lone loss coming at the hands of RMAC Champ and region top-seed Colorado State-Pueblo.

#6 Wayne State (9-3) at #2 Nebraska-Kearney (10-1)

For the second straight week, Wayne will get a top-end club from one of the region's other conferences. As mentioned above, Kearney finished second in the RMAC to Pueblo. Despite not winning the league, the Lopers had far-and-away the RMAC's most potent offense checking in at more than 40 points and 526 yards per game. No one else was even close. When UNK has the ball, everything runs through senior quarterback Jake Spitzlberger. He was fourth in the RMAC in passing at 220 yards per game, but was the league's #2 ground-gainer and only needs 17 yards on Saturday to surpass the 1,000-yard barrier. If the Warriors want to slow down the Loper offense, they MUST get their mitts on Spitzlberger.

When UNK's All-Everything QB isn't carrying the load, the bulk of the totes this year have gone to Stephan Rush and Ricky Trinidad. These two have picked up the slack for former All-RMAC back Rustin Dring who missed half the season due to injury, but came back strong in UNK's season finale against Colorado School of Mines. If Dring is back to full strength, he (in conjunction with Spitzlberger) provides the most potent attack UNK has available in the run game. Dring being back and healthy makes the Loper offense a real problem for Wayne to deal with, and the Warriors will absolutely have to mind their assignments. Spitzlberger and Dring are both seniors and have been starting since they were freshmen so they know the ins-and-outs of the UNK option attack like no one's business. Their stats speak for themselves, with the primary caveat being that the bulk of the defenses they see in the RMAC aren't exactly world-beaters. Seven of the league's ten members finished with six wins or less, so the gaudy numbers have to come with a least a grain or two of salt.

Defensively, the Lopers were stingy and yielded less than 15 points per game. Again, in total the RMAC doesn't provide the same top-to-bottom competition that some conferences will but UNK was still consistent in how they pounded folks. Linebacker Kellen Werner led the club in tackles and tackles-for-loss, and may be the primary guy charged with slowing down the Davis/Renel ground express that demolished St. Cloud last week. Werner was one of the primary reasons UNK yielded only 81 yards per game on the ground, but we'll see how they fare against WSU's ground game which has been humming of late. As far as any potential weaknesses on D, the Lopers did give up more than 218 yards per game via the air so we'll see if Troy Burrell is able to find more openings in "snow-less" conditions this Saturday.

While there's no arguing that Kearney has put up big numbers and they can move the ball like mad, it's hard not to temper that by noting that RMAC just isn't full of high-caliber opponents. Evidence of this might include the fact that the league's teams simply haven't had enormous amounts of playoff success. Kearney did knock-off Saginaw Valley in the 2009 playoffs, but only after the Cards blew a 13-point halftime lead with three fourth quarter turnovers. The Lopers then went to Duluth and got clobbered the following week. Last year, Mines took one of the country's top passing offenses to Allendale only to see quarterback Clay Garcia get sacked ten times by a GV defense that GLIAC fans know wasn't anything close to what the Lakers typically trot out. So how about this year's RMAC entry? Well, one could argue it's as good a chance as they have had, especially considering they have two senior all-time program all-stars running the offense. They've also had a week off to get healthy and put in extra film study. Last, they are at home and there's certainly an advantage in not having to endure the 900+ mile jaunt on a holiday weekend that their opponent will.

All of that said, Wayne can absolutely win this game, but to do so they must (above all else) find a way to keep their ground game going. While getting a 300+ yard effort from Toney Davis for the second week in a row certainly seems unlikely, the Warriors have to find a way to churn out at least 200 yards or more to have legit chance. Another thing they must do is get out to a lead so their run game increases effectiveness, dictates tempo, and keeps the Kearney offense off the field. If WSU can stay on a lead, they should force UNK to have to throw more, and when this happens it has played to the advantage of their opponents. Despite averaging a healthy amount of passing yardage the Lopers would much rather run the ball. In their lone loss to Pueblo, Spitzlberger threw four picks and he has 13 on the season...so again, if the Warrior D can play from in front and make UNK pass it's to their advantage. WSU's defense has shown they can cash in on mistakes in the passing game (with a GLIAC best seventeen INT's on the year), but making the run an unappealing option for the Lopers is the only real way to make this happen. Last, Wayne must break their current trend...they have lost every other game over the last six weeks and the pattern calls for an "L" on Saturday.

Prediction:
I have to admit I don't have the same "gut feeling" about the Warriors this week. Despite that, I think this game stays close into the fourth quarter and at that point anything can happen. While Kearney may be a bit rusty after the lay-off, their O is unique and will likely give Wayne some problems early. The Warriors will adjust, and showed they can come back from deficits last week so I doubt they'll get rattled. They key is what will happen later in the game. Will the Warriors tire after having to make two consecutive long trips? Or, will the Wayne O-Line exert control and overpower the Loper front that they have out-weighed by an average of more than 40 pounds per man. It's another shoot-out, but we like the Wayne ground game to keep up with what UNK can do. Wayne State 39, Kearney 33.


Good Luck Warriors! Keep the GLIAC run going...