1) North Dakota State
The Bison escaped thanks to a last-minute endzone interception against a surprisingly game Missouri State team. Right now the Bison offense is in full-fledged 2009 mode and the defense is going back to its old job of bailing the team out, but despite that NDSU is still the best team in the conference, especially with Indiana State losing this weekend. A huge Dakota Marker game looms this Saturday for at least a share of the conference title.
2) South Dakota State
Austin Sumner got back to his form last season as he threw against Southern Illinois 45 times and completed 26 of them without an interception. Meanwhile Zach Zenner had just 17 carries and the SIU defense held him to 49 yards. Is he running out of steam, or does the coaching staff recognize that teams are starting to key on the sophomore back and are going to the air as a result? Sumner needs to have a huge game if they want to win at NDSU on Saturday.
3) Illinois State
Right now it looks like the Valley will get three into the playoffs and Illinois State is playing the part of the third team. With just one game left to play at home versus NDSU in the final week of the season, the Rebirds effectively have their ticket punched with eight wins. Good enough for a first-round bye? Probably not.
4) Indiana State
The loss to Illinois State was a back breaker, and playing D-II Quincy early in the season might not be enough to let the Sycamores sneak into the playoffs. They get a bye week to prepare for a monster game at Youngstown State to cap off the regular season, and a win there leaves them at seven D-I wins and on the bubble for the playoffs. They'll need some help from around the country (and will be rooting for Lehigh this weekend versus Colgate) if they want in to the field of 20.
5) Southern Illinois
It's almost too bad to see their loss to SDSU as they still had a snowball's chance of being considered for the playoffs at 6-4 if they win, with just cupcake WIU to play to end the season. SIU will want to get their first winning season in three years and should vent their frustrations on a hapless Western squad after their bye week.
6) Northern Iowa
The Panthers put a nice little thumping on WIU to remind folks that at one point they were considered among the favorites to win the conference. Panther fans have to be ready for this season to be over and freshman QB Kollmorgen will be ready to get working on the preface to his sophomore campaign which should hold plenty more promise. I'm interested to see what they do to South Dakota and Missouri State to finish their season.
7) Youngstown State
From third in the nation to barely squeaking out a win over South Dakota, breaking a four-game losing streak. I've cited elsewhere that YSU's defense is not good enough to keep the 'Guins in the game when their offense isn't clicking, and so far that looks to be the case. Luckily they played a mostly-garbage USD team and were able to steal a 13-10 victory that won't earn them any respect. Playoffs are still a shadow of a chance and could set up a big finish when they play Indiana State to finish the season.
8) Missouri State
NDSU barely managed to snap a three-game win streak and needed a last-minute endzone pick to do it. MSU got feisty at the end of the year, and it's too bad their body of work leading up to this was so bad that I couldn't rank them higher than eighth.
9) South Dakota
Only ranked above Western Illinois by virtue of having scored points this weekend.
10) Western Illinois
40-0. Ouch.
No comments:
Post a Comment