NAIA Game of the Week features No. 8 Ohio Dominican at No. 4 St. Francis (Ind.)

A Brief Look Inside: Report #4 |PDF VERSION

Page 1                  Winningest Teams of the 2000s

                               Game of the Week: Ohio Dominican @ St. Francis

Page 2                  Games to Watch; Streaks

                               Carroll's (Mont.) Legacy: More Wins Than Oklahoma

                               Cris Reisert Record Watch

Page 3                  Hank Biesiot: Chasing History

                               What is the Toughest Conference?

                               Useful Nuggets in 2008

Page 4                  100 Coaching Wins

                               New Home for Championship

Page 5                  Looking Back at 2007 Season

                               2008 VSN First Down Classic

Page 6                  Postseason Dominance in the 2000s

Page 7                  Active Coaching Lists

Page 9                  National Individual Statistical Leaders

Page 10-12          Composite Schedule: Aug. 23 - Oct. 4

Page 13-14          Week-By-Week Top 25 Polls

2008 Rawlings-NAIA Football Season Report #4

As the mid-season approaches, NAIA football is marked by key conference battles and surprise stories. The NAIA Game of the Week features two of the country's best, No. 8 Ohio Dominican at No. 4 St. Francis (Ind.). ODU snapped the 54-game regular season winning streak of St. Francis in last year's match-up.

Cris Reisert leads his team into No. 4 St. Francis (Ind.) on Saturday with one record in sight. He currently has thrown for 108 career touchdowns, which is five shy of Mark Weekly's (Pacific Lutheran) NAIA-best 113 in the early 1990s. Cris is off to another terrific start to the season with 16 passing scores and nearly 1,400 yards in just four games. He is chasing three other national career marks, including passing yards, total offense and completions.

Dale Carlson of Ohio Dominican is looking to become the second head coach this season to record career win No. 100. He stands with a 99-99-3 (.500) in 23 seasons. He is going for the landmark victory on Saturday (Oct. 4) at No. 4 St. Francis (Ind.). When he accomplishes the mark, he will become the 14th active coach to do so -- Northwestern (Iowa) head coach Orv Otten hit 100 career wins a couple weeks ago on Sept. 20.

Game of the Week:

No. 8 Ohio Dominican (3-1) at No. 4 St. Francis (Ind.) (4-0)

Oct. 4 • 12 p.m. EST • Bishop D'Arcy Stadium:
Listen to Game | CLICK HERE

Saturday's battle will be a game of streaks and pitting high-powered offense against stingy defense. St. Francis is looking to extend its 47-game home winning streak. Conversely, ODU snapped the 54-game regular season winning streak of St. Francis in the last meeting between these programs. The Panthers won last year 30-20 thanks to 310 passing yards by ODU quarterback Cris Reisert. USF was doomed by five turnovers in the road loss.

The game also pits two of the game's top coaches with USF's Kevin Donley and ODU's Dale Carlson. Donley is second on the active wins list with 221 while Carlson is gunning for career win No. 100.

The Cougars of USF rank second nationally in scoring defense (5.3) and will have to be on top of their game with the passing attack of ODU's Reisert. On the year, Reisert has thrown for 1,389 on 122-of-166 passing and 16 scores in four games. Last week, he completed 32-of-35 attempts and started the game 18-for-18 to set a new conference standard. On the opposite side for ODU, the Panther defense is also strong giving up just 9.5 points a contest, which ranks fifth in the country in that category. They go up against a well-balanced Cougar offense led by quarterback Jeff Wedding, who has tossed for 809 yards and nine touchdowns. Running back Daniel Carter averages 6.9 yards per carry and brings a special teams excitement after he ran a kickoff return for a touchdown two weeks ago.

USF leads the overall series 3-1. These two clubs are the lone undefeated programs in the Mid-States Football Association-Mideast Division. The last eight conference crowns have been won or shared by ODU or USF.