September 10th, 2026 5:00am
Week 1 Recap
Ouch. The LSC took it on the chin again in the non-conference, going 2-7 last week. That’s 5-13 in non-conference games so far, and there’s one more non-conference game this week…oh wait…oh no.
Before we get into the nuts and bolts of the past week, there was an overarching theme in many of these games – Turnovers. Many LSC teams, particularly those in games with GLIAC opponents, were deep-sixed, not only by turnovers, but those opponents taking those turnovers and turning potentially competitive games into blowout losses for LSC teams.
Now, about last week:
#7 Grand Valley State wins at home West Texas A&M 56-14
Turnovers – Part 1.
Another week, another blowout loss at the hands of a highly-ranked team for the Buffaloes. It actually started out promising when GVSU quarterback Andrew Schuster fumbled the ball on the Lakers’ first snap of the game and Phineas Allen brought it to the end zone to put WT up 7-0. But just like Western Colorado last week, GVSU hit WT with big play after big play to score the game’s next 56 points while WT was running failed fake punts deep in their own territory and gift-wrapping touchdowns for GVSU. WT would score against the GVSU backups for their only offensive touchdown of the game with 2:45 left in the game, but WT was overmatched in pretty much every aspect of the game.
Knox Porter completed 23 of 45 passes for 213 yards, 1 touchdown, and 4 interceptions for WT. GVSU scored touchdowns after each of the interceptions. JB Mitchell III had 99 yards on 5 catches. For GVSU, Schuster completed 10 of 15 passes for 283 yards and 5 touchdowns. Kellen Reed, like the WCU receivers did last week, shredded the WT defense with 155 yards and 3 touchdowns on 4 catches. Kellen Russell-Dixon ran for 146 yards and 2 touchdowns as GVSU nearly had 9 yards per play for the game.
Grand Valley State improves to 2-0 and West Texas A&M falls to 0-2.
#10 Western Colorado wins at home over Angelo State 23-21
From minute one of this game you could tell that Angelo State could make a real game of this against the #10 Mountaineers, with the Rams scoring touchdowns on 75-yard and 80-yard drives. Ayden Arp completed 9 of 10 passes for 127 yards and 2 touchdowns on those two drives, which was already a better game than he had against Fort Hays State. Then the Angelo offense stalled, with the Rams punting on their next four drives over the second and third quarters while WCU scored two field goals and a touchdown to take their first lead at 16-14. WCU extended their lead to 23-14 early in the fourth quarter after taking two days to convert an Arp fumble into a touchdown. Later in the fourth quarter, ASU took full advantage of a WCU miscue on fourth down at the WCU 25-yard line and scored on a 10-yard Cameron Dischler touchdown. ASU would get the ball back at their own 1 after forcing a punt and would get as far as the WCU 47-yard line. Then the ASU offensive line would crumble under the WCU pressure, as Arp was sacked on first, third, and fourth downs, sealing the game for the Mountaineers.
Despite the loss, the Angelo State offense moved the ball much better, although there was that lull in their offense after the second ASU touchdown that allowed WCU to get back in the game and take the lead. Arp led the offense by completing 19 of 27 passes for 229 yards and 2 touchdowns. Angelo State’s problem was the running game, where the Rams ran for just 59 yards on 32 carries, which put pressure on the passing game to succeed. Even though the passing game worked quite well early, it couldn’t be sustained outside of their last touchdown drive late in the game. The ASU defense did a lot of bending and not breaking, with WCU having to take smaller chunks of yards and having to settle for field goals on their three first-half scores. For WCU, Josiah Roy completed 15 of 22 passes for 122 yards and 2 touchdowns. Six Mountaineers had between 22 and 48 rushing yards and four Mountaineers had between 17 and 47 receiving yards.
Western Colorado improves to 2-0 and Angelo State falls to 0-2.
New Mexico Highlands wins at Western New Mexico 55-32
Well, this game wasn’t 69-55 like last year, but WNMU and Highlands did their best to match it, especially late in the game. Highlands scored touchdowns on four of their six first-half drives and WNMU scored touchdowns on three of their first-half drives and Highlands was up 28-19 at halftime. Highlands would extend their lead to 35-19 in the third quarter on a 59-yard touchdown run by Jaden Montalvo. Then the fourth quarter came and the defense became optional (not that the defense was all that great to begin with to that point). Highlands and WNMU alternated touchdowns over four drives, killing 10 minutes of the quarter but doing absolutely nothing for WNMU’s hopes. The Mustangs would run out of gas and time, giving up two more field goals in the last two minutes of the game for the final score.
WNMU would outgain Highlands 578 to 530 yards, but Highlands would rush for 454 yards and 5 touchdowns. Matthew McGuiggan ran for 168 yards and 2 touchdowns and Jaden Montalvo ran for 163 yards and 2 touchdowns for Highlands. WNMU would continue their ground success from last week, gaining 261 more yards and 2 touchdowns, but three second-half WNMU drives would end in turnovers on downs, preventing the Mustangs from keeping pace with the Cowboys. Jase Ashley threw for 317 yards, 3 touchdowns, and an interception. Ashley also ran for 91 yards and a touchdown. Zakkarii Black led all receivers with 110 yards and a touchdown on 4 catches, and Joshua Gaines led WNMU with 95 rushing yards and a touchdown. All in all, it looks like the WNMU defense still needs a bit of work, but the offense does seem more balanced than last year.
New Mexico Highlands wins the New Mexico Three-Way Dance of Doom (at some point I’ll settle on a name for this thing) for the second straight year.
New Mexico Highlands improves to 2-0 and Western New Mexico falls to 1-1.
#25 Michigan Tech wins at home over Midwestern State 48-27
Turnovers – Part 2.
Midwestern State’s first six drives of the game ended this way – Lost fumble, interception, interception, turnover on downs, interception, turnover on downs. This gave Michigan Tech every opportunity to get ahead, and they did exactly that, getting out to a 21-0 lead before MSU could try for a comeback. However, Midwestern State was able to cut the turnovers in the second half and their offense looked a lot better. The problem was, instead of interceptions and fumbles, the Mustangs traded touchdowns with the Huskies after being down 31-7 at halftime and the lack of defense kept MSU from making a comeback.
Kaden Brown settled down after a 3-interception first half, throwing for 328 yards and 2 touchdowns along with those interceptions. His counterpart, Elliott Larner, was much more efficient, completing 14 of 22 passes for 240 yards, 2 touchdowns, and 1 interception along with 85 rushing yards and 2 touchdowns on the ground. Larner’s brother Abram led all receivers with 104 yards on 7 catches with a touchdown. MSU honestly didn’t play all that bad after they were blasted in the first half, but I wonder if the Huskies took the foot off the gas on defense after that point and allowed MSU to move the ball.
Michigan Tech improves to 2-0 and Midwestern State falls to 1-1.
Colorado Mesa wins at Eastern New Mexico 42-23
ENMU held serve with Mesa for the first one and one-quarter quarters, holding a 9-7 lead after a 29-yard field goal by Clayton Vincent. Unfortunately for the Greyhounds, this was a high point of the game as Mesa scored the next 35 points to put the game away. ENMU wasn’t able to consistently score until the game was well out of reach. They also couldn’t get their defense off the field as Mesa held the ball for 40:35 of the game despite being outgained by ENMU by 533 to 412 yards. Clifton Cooper led three ENMU quarterbacks with 196 passing yards, 1 touchdown, and an interception, and Trei Kibbles led the Greyhounds with 4 catches for 118 yards and touchdown. Liu Aumavae led Mesa with 160 passing yards and 3 touchdowns with Trek Keyworth (5 catches for 93 yards and a touchdown) his favorite target. Need to play better defense and finish more drives, Greyhounds.
Colorado Mesa improves to 1-1 and Eastern New Mexico falls to 0-2.
#14 Western Oregon wins at Southern Oregon 65-35
I’m keeping this one short as a tribute to the total elimination that WOU put on their longtime rivals and to the many advances the WOU program has made the last couple years. The Wolves scored touchdowns on their first five drives of the game (and returned a blocked punt for a sixth touchdown) and it seemed to me that it came so easy to them early on that they went through the motions for most of the game. This, in part, allowed SOU quarterback Dom Montiel to play catch with his teammates to the tune of 385 passing yards and 4 touchdowns after he spent much of the first half running for his life. The Raiders actually gained 504 yards of offense, but the Wolves had 704 yards (453 rushing yards) and could have had more if they wanted to.
Western Oregon improves to 2-0 and Southern Oregon falls to 1-1.
Saginaw Valley State wins at home over Texas A&M-Kingsville 41-24
Turnovers – Part 3.
This was a near carbon-copy of the ENMU game. TAMUK found themselves up 10-6 after Mills Dawson found Nate Barnett for a 2-yard touchdown pass late in the first quarter. Then Saginaw Valley went on a rampage, scoring the game’s next 35 points, with Dawson’s two interceptions converted to Cardinal touchdowns. The Javelinas scored two touchdowns to make the final score more respectable, but long after the competitive phase had ended. SVSU also hit TAMUK with 74-yard and 79-yard touchdown passes from Connor Wolf (326 passing yards, 4 touchdowns, and an interception) to Zarek Zelinski and JT Webber.
Dawson threw for 355 yards on 32 of 48 passes with 2 touchdowns to go with those two interceptions. TAMUK outgained SVSU 464 to 392 yards, but like ENMU, many of those yards were gained in a desperate attempt to make the game competitive.
Saginaw Valley State improved to 2-0 and Texas A&M-Kingsville falls to 0-2.
Cal Poly-San Luis Obispo wins at home over #8 Central Washington 24-17
Turnovers – Part 4.
After a thrilling win over Idaho last week, Cal Poly might have been a bit surprised when CWU took the ball on their first drive 85 yards on 16 plays and took a 7-0 lead on a Justin Brennan 1-yard touchdown run, taking 9:24 off the clock. Who are these Division 2 players? (To be fair, few people knew who these players were since CWU didn’t release their roster until the week of the game, but that’s not important right now.) However, Cal Poly got some big plays to take a 14-7 lead late in the second quarter when turnovers reared their ugly head for the LSC once again. Isaac Torres fumbled the ball on CWU’s final drive of the second quarter at the Cal Poly 27-yard line, and the Mustangs were able to convert that to a field goal thanks to a CWU offsides penalty. Cal Poly would intercept Brennan on the first play of the second half and take just two plays to convert that to a touchdown to put the Mustangs up 24-7. CWU would claw back into it with a 10 point fourth quarter and even forced a Cal Poly punt with a chance for a last-minute drive, but Mason Juergens decided to return a Cal Poly punt from the end zone and was tackled at the 9-yard line, and CWU was stopped on downs at their 39.
In his first start as CWU quarterback, Brennan (25 of 36 passes for 262 yards, 1 touchdown, and 1 interception) exceeded expectations in leading the CWU offense. The Wildcats outgained Cal Poly 430 to 384 yards and held the ball for 36:06 of the game. But it was Cal Poly whose athletes were able to break big plays to put the Mustangs in better position to finish drives, particularly after CWU committed the two big turnovers on consecutive possessions on both sides of the halftime buzzer. CWU put up a valiant effort, but those turnovers proved to be too big a hole to dig out of.
Cal Poly-San Luis Obispo improves to 2-0 and Central Washington falls to 0-1.
Sul Ross State wins at home over Adams State 53-26
Before you say “Somebody has to win this”, I will refer you to the Colorado Mines/Washburn game to show you that isn’t always true. And after an Andre Branch 4-yard run gave Adams State a 7-6 lead with 6:02 left in the first quarter, the Grizzlies may have thought that maybe, just maybe, their 29-game losing streak could be in the rear-view mirror by the end of the night.
Then Sul Ross and Will Craven ripped those hopes away.
Craven scored his first touchdown on a 5-yard pass from Will Howell to put the Lobos up 26-7 with 2:47 left in the first half, but it was the third quarter that Craven will remember for the rest of his life. Touchdown catches of 71 and 88 yards put the Lobos up 40-20 after three quarters, and the Grizzlies couldn’t keep up as the Lobos pulled away for coach Lee Hays’ first win leading the Lobos. Craven caught 11 passes for 280 yards and 3 touchdowns. The 280 yards places him second all-time in the Sul Ross record books for most receiving yards in a game behind Bryon Jones’ 285 yards in 2015. Howell threw for 423 yards and 5 touchdowns for Sul Ross, who outgained Adams State 656 to 346 yards. The Lobos' Rashad Madden also led all rushers with 166 yards and a touchdown. Sadly, for Adams State, their losing streak has now reached 30 games, but congratulations to Sul Ross State on breaking their losing streak and to Lee Hays for finally getting his first win as head coach.
Sul Ross State improves to 1-1 and Adams State falls to 0-2.
LSC Week 1 Standings
School | LSC | Overall | |
|---|---|---|---|
Western Oregon | 0-0 | 2-0 | |
Midwestern State | 0-0 | 1-1 | |
Sul Ross State | 0-0 | 1-1 | |
Western New Mexico | 0-0 | 1-1 | |
Angelo State | 0-0 | 0-2 | |
Central Washington | 0-0 | 0-1 | |
Eastern New Mexico | 0-0 | 0-2 | |
Texas A&M-Kingsville | 0-0 | 0-2 | |
Texas-Permian Basin | 0-0 | 0-1 | |
West Texas A&M | 0-0 | 0-2 | |
New Mexico Three-Way Dance of Doom Standings
School | Record |
|---|---|
New Mexico Highlands | 2-0 |
Eastern New Mexico | 0-1 |
Western New Mexico | 0-1 |
New Mexico Highlands takes the New Mexico Three-Way Dance of Doom for 2026.
Week 2 Preview
Two games? Just two stinkin’ games? Well, there’s one really big non-conference game between top-10 teams, and then there’s the season’s first conference game.
All games are on Saturday, September 12. All game times are in the Central time zone.
#1 Ferris State (GLIAC, 2-0) at #9 Central Washington (0-1), 4:00 PM
Series History: Ferris State leads 2-0
Last meeting: 2022 (Ferris State won 36-20)
LSC versus GLIAC – Round 4.
At some point, I stopped calling Ferris State a Division 2 football program. The fact is, they’re not a true Division 2 program anymore. They recruit Division 1-level players, develop them with a Division 1-level mentality, and send many of them off to go back where they probably belonged in the first place. They are bigger, stronger, faster, and better coached than just about anyone else in the country, and very few teams even play competitive games against them anymore, even in the playoffs. Their last loss was in the 2024 season opener to Pittsburg State, and they have since won the next 32 games. Their 35-point win over defending Northeast-10 champion Bentley last week was met with a “good for them (meaning Bentley)” by the Inside D2Football crew. That’s how good the Bulldogs are, that a defending conference champion was praised for losing to Ferris by “just” 35 points.
For the Bulldogs, Wyatt Bower is their top passer and rusher, passing for 338 yards, 2 touchdowns, and an interception. He also leads a deep rushing attack with 139 yards and a touchdown. Running back Zak Ahern is the other main ground threat, with 119 yards (7.4 yards per carry) and 3 touchdowns. Jaylin Townsend is the leading receiver with 7 catches for 117 yards and a touchdown for a Ferris State offense that doesn’t overwhelm teams with the pass but will often get big plays against defenses when they overplay against the run. Linebacker Ryan Ahern leads the Bulldogs with 11 tackles. Defensive lineman Tim Allen has 10 tackles and 3.5 tackles for loss. Defensive backs Manny Peoples, Adonis Ferguson and Alex Springs have 11, 9, and 9 tackles.
The bottom line here is that Ferris State will look overpowering at times and will get big plays in their running game (they run for 317 yards per game and 7 yards per carry). They have a wide array of offensive packages and sometimes look more like a triple-option team, but Ferris State’s main objective is quite simple-push the opposing defense off the line and get their runners through. It will be up to the CWU defense to keep the big plays to a minimum and for Justin Brennan to run an efficient offense that can play a bit of keep-away and especially finish drives. Ferris State does give up 224 passing yards a game (as opposed to 96 rushing yards per game), if you’re looking for something resembling a weak spot on the team. And please, oh please, NO TURNOVERS! GLIAC opponents had a total of 9 more turnovers than LSC teams last week, and most of them were turned into scores for the GLIAC teams.
This pick isn’t as much a knock against CWU (they look like they’re as solid as they have been) as much as it is about what Ferris State has become, a nearly unstoppable Terminator of a football team. CWU will slow the Bulldogs down at times, but they will ultimately make enough big plays to win. Ferris State by 17 points.
Western New Mexico (1-1) at Texas-Permian Basin (0-1), 6:00 PM (Game at Midland, TX)
Series History: Texas-Permian Basin leads 8-2
Last meeting: 2025 (Texas-Permian Basin won 66-7)
The first LSC conference game of the season.
UTPB heads to Midland for what will be a rare home game, and I hope they have a good time there since they won’t be back for a while. The Falcons’ next four games, and 5 of their next 6 games, will be on the road, with the last road trip in that stretch an October 24th trip to Central Washington. This is the first of just four home games for UTPB, with all four games in Midland this season.
It is really hard to glean any insights from UTPB given they were thoroughly dominated by Division 1 UTRGV two weeks ago. Nate TenBarge did throw for 151 yards but had two interceptions against UTRGV. Traylen Suel and Heston Kelly did have solid receiving games, gaining 63 and 59 yards. Cheno Navarrette led the Falcons on the ground with just 11 yards. I think the data collection process will be a bit easier this week against a Division 2 opponent.
WNMU looks like they have an improved offense this season, although it remains to be seen how they do against higher-level opponents. WNMU has averaged 47 points per game and 579 yards of offense per game. An improved running game has gained 767 yards in their first two games (they gained 1428 yards in the entire 2025 season). Quarterback Jase Ashley and running backs Joshua Gaines and Devon Nofoa-Masoe have all had strong running games in the first two weeks. However, the WNMU passing game has still made its presence felt with quarterback Jase Ashley throwing for 315 yards last week. Zakarii Black leads with 128 receiving yards and 2 touchdowns. So, even with all those positives coming out of WNMU’s first games, now it’s time to pour some cold water on the Mustangs, and yep, I think you all know where I’m going. It’s that defense. The Mustangs have somehow given up 50 points per game and 581 yards per game (and 467 rushing yards per game) to Adams State and New Mexico Highlands. If that isn’t an enormous red flag, I don’t know what is.
As already mentioned, I don’t know what to make of UTPB given their first game performance followed by a week off. However, what I have seen of WNMU seems to indicate that they are a team that needs to score a ton of points to be competitive, because that defense needs to improve and improve fast or their only hopes for a win will be in shootouts. Maybe they’ll get a shootout here, I don’t know, but I don’t think the Mustangs will be on the positive side of one because of their defensive issues. Texas-Permian Basin by 14 points.
Yep, that’s all folks.
EVERYONE ELSE in the LSC has the week off. Guess the Cowboys are playing this weekend, if you are so inclined (I'm not, but my opnion on that matter doesn't matter).
Next week, we go all-in on conference play!