October 30th, 2026 9:00am
By Chuck Bitner, D2Football.com
MIAA foes Northwest Missouri State and Emporia State will meet on Saturday afternoon with first place in the MIAA standings on the line. Emporia State, ranked No. 9 in the latest D2Football.com Top 25 is the last unbeaten team in the MIAA at 8-0 overall and 6-0 in the conference. Northwest enters the weekend ranked No. 10. The Bearcats are 6-1 overall and 5-1 in league play. The only setback of the year was a 19-14 loss at Central Oklahoma on Sept. 26.
Emporia State has proven to be a “whatever it takes” kind of team. Need 50 points to win a shootout over the top scoring offense in the MIAA? Can-do. Need a late defensive stop to hold off UCO? Check. Need points from the defense to survive a scare from UNK? Got it covered.
They’ve managed to do it in many different ways and that may be the key to survival against an old nemesis. The Hornets have done many things well to rack up wins in 2026, but historically, those things just don’t come together when they play Northwest Missouri. The Hornets’ futility against the Bearcats is well known: just a single victory in the last 20 tries, and a lopsided 3 wins to 38 defeats in the all time series.
The history lesson is fun for context, but its exactly that - history. If Northwest Missouri State is going to continue their domination in this series, they’ll have to earn it and that will start with defense. The Bearcats have the top scoring defense in the MIAA, allowing just 14.5 points per game. That’s good enough for ninth in the country. The 11 total touchdowns surrendered ties for second fewest in D2. Their dominance at the line of scrimmage is reminiscent of a vintage Northwest team. They’ve given up just one rushing touchdown all year and only two opponents have managed to go over 100 yards rushing.
That will put a lot of pressure on an Emporia State offense that has been balanced, but at times, has been held in check. The Hornets will need the best game of the year from quarterback Jamison Sarver. He’s been efficient (12TD to 2INT) but will need to connect with Ethan Schultze, Malik O’Atis and Trenden Collins to loosen up that defensive front. The Bearcats’ Jack Jansen and Elijah Wray anchor a physical D line that is backed up by linebackers Eli Bertz, Cody Simoncic and Maguire Richman. It’s an imposing group that gets to the ball quickly.
But Northwest isn’t the only team with an impressive defense. Emporia State has some of the most elite talent in the country. It will be important for the Hornets to keep this low scoring, especially in the first half. I think they can do that. Emporia’s defense is led by Landon Boss who is one of the top players at any position in Division II. He has racked up 16 tackles for loss, forced three fumbles and scored two touchdowns. He’s the headliner, but far from the only playmaker. Clem McCullough was a difference maker a week ago with a 100-yard pick-six and linebacker Gabe Roland has been a disruptive force.
That unit could create a lot of problems for the Bearcat offense and we’re not entirely sure what they’ll look like on Saturday. Quarterback Zechariah Owens was having a tough outing at UNK last week and then departed the game after a violent hit and did not return. Mason Shorb finished the game. Shorb has played a lot of snaps this year so if they have to go with him, he’s not unproven. But it will be a tough task against ESU’s talented defense.
Jon Dykstra, co-host of D2Football.com's MIAA Weekly gave this thoughts on the matchup earlier this week:
I have no idea who is playing quarteback for Northwest this weekend, but last year they had the same situation. I think they can make some things happen offensively and they can still run the ball. They may try to shortern this game with Quincy Torry and Te'Shaun Porter and even Jaron Cannon mixed in. I think they can score enough points to let the defense do its work against Emporia. I am not convinved Emporia can score many points against Northwest's defense. I am going with the Bearcats at home.
Matt Witwicki saw it slightly differently
I think Emporia State will make things tougher on the Bearcat running game than most people may feel. I think Emporia is going try to make Northwest beat them through the air and they have an opportunistic secondary.. I don't think Emporia will be able to run the ball against Northwest, but they can make some plays in the passing game. I thought I'd be comfortable taking the Bearcats at home becuase it just feels like the common sense answer, I'm going with the Hornets in this one. I feel like they have a lot of the right things in place to pull off a win like this when I stil have some uncertainty with the Bearcat offense.
No. 9 Emporia State at No. 10 Northwest Missouri State will kick off at 2pm, local time. Coverage will be available on the MIAA Network.
For more on what to expect from this Top 10 matchup, check out what Witt and Jon had to say in Monday night’s edition of MIAA Weekly.
Northwest Missouri State pregame story
Northwest Missouri State game notes
Chuck Bitner is the long-time national columnist for D2football.com and host of Inside D2Football. Questions and comments can be submitted to Chuck at [email protected]