For the first time since the second week of October, Wayne State has put a pair of wins together. Their timing for breaking out of their "every other week" streak is pretty imeccable, as they suddenly find themselves in the SR3 title game on Saturday.

Wayne State 38, Nebraska-Kearney 26

We talked last week about a few keys for Wayne, not the least of which was getting Jake Spitzlberger into mistake-mode. The Warriors accomplished that, forcing the UNK quarterback into five of his team's six miscues on the day and WSU finished the afternoon +4 in turnover margin. Five of the Lopers' first six possessions ended with giveaways, and the Warriors cashed-in to the tune of a 31-0 halftime advantage. Wayne also did what it needed to in controlling the pace of the game with 207 yards rushing, led by 121 yards and a pair of scores from Josh Renel.


#6 Wayne State (10-3) at #4 Minnesota-Duluth (11-2)

The Wayne road cavalcade heads back to Minnesota this weekend as the Champs from Duluth will have to knock off their second GLIAC club in three weeks if they want a chance to defend their title. We've talked about WSU all year in this blog, and we've talked about UMD a couple of times over the last two weeks so there isn't much need to acquaint anyone with these clubs. Let's just get down to looking at Saturday's game.

The Warriors have used their "grind-it-out" style of offense to perfection the last couple of weeks. The O-line has played great and the Davis/Renel tandem in the backfield has been more than tough to handle for opposing defenses. Wayne's D hasn't been an iron curtain or anything, but they have been advantageous...including returning an interception for a touchdown in both playoff contests.

Duluth actually likes to play a pretty similar style to Wayne. They are run-first on offense, keep the mistakes to a minimum, play with physicality, and wear folks down. Wayne has a bit more big-play ability, especially on the outside with Troy Burrell. Duluth does get DJ Winfield back this week after a one-year suspension, but it's unclear whether he'll be available or not. If he is and he's in any kind of game shape, his speed on the edge will be something UMD hasn't had in a while. While Mickey Mohner is better at getting the ball out to the edge than Chase Vogler is for UMD, it's not a major component of what Wayne often tries to do. Conversely, Vogler is definitely the better runner of the two and he lugs it for the Bulldogs a bunch. Plus, Vogler has a great deal more playoff experience (including a title) so while Wayne might be able to achieve slightly better balance, the QB play and leadership of UMD is a definite advantage.

Prediction:
This should be another close game. We just don't see either team pulling away, as their styles-of-play and stout defenses simply won't allow it. For us, it comes down to Duluth being more experienced in the playoffs, at home, and seemingly more polished than Wayne at "it's own game". This one should go into the fourth quarter and things can go either way at that point, but there's just something that tells us that the Warrior run ends here. UMD has been more consistent over the last two monts, especially in the running game where they have been held to less than 200 yards only once in the last nine games. That type of consistency is something Wayne has not matched and our fear is that simply catches up with them. It'll be close and we're pulling for the Warriors, but the gut says Duluth 23, Wayne 22.