Game of the Week features No. 24 Midland Lutheran (Neb.) at No. 10 Northwestern (Iowa)

2008 Rawlings-NAIA Football Season Report #5

As the calendar moves into mid-October, eight teams in NAIA football still boast an unblemished record. Five of those programs face an opponent with a .500 record or worse. The other two (No. 3 Missouri Valley has a bye) teams take on big tests, No. 5 Morningside (Iowa) hosts Hastings (Neb.) with a 4-2 record and No. 11 Union (Ky.) welcomes No. 16 Cumberlands into Barbourville, Ky. The top four teams (Carroll, Sioux Falls, Missouri Valley and St. Francis (Ind.)) in the latest Top 25 Coaches' Poll (Oct. 6) continue to dominate on both sides of the ball. Those offense's average at least 33 points a game while the defense's give up a mere 8.5 (total average) per contest.

Like he has many times in his career, Ohio Dominican quarterback Cris Reisert continues to be in the national spotlight as he chases several national offensive career records. After perhaps his worst collegiate effort in the 35-0 loss at No. 4 St. Francis (Ind.) last Saturday in which he failed to throw a touchdown pass for the first time in 35 games, he is within sight this weekend of tying or setting two national career records. 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. He also needs just 21 completions to surpass the all-time mark of 1,037, accomplished by Carroll's Tyler Emmert from 2002-05 - Cris has 1,017 heading into the battle with No. 19 St. Xavier (Ill.).

To give you perspective on Reisert's touchdown passing ability, he went for five or more touchdowns seven times last season. Cris is off to another terrific start to the season with 16 passing scores and nearly 1,700 yards in just five games. He is chasing three other national career marks, including passing yards, total offense and passing attempts.

Head coach Dale Carlson of Ohio Dominican is looking to become the second coach this season to record career win No. 100. He stands with a 99-100-3 (.498) mark in 23 seasons. He will get his second shot at the landmark victory on Saturday (Oct. 11) against No. 19 St. Xavier (Ill.). 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 on Sept. 20.

Game of the Week:

Composite schedule can be viewed on Pages 11-13

• No. 24 Midland Lutheran (Neb.) (4-1) at No. 10 Northwestern (Iowa) (4-1) • 11:30 a.m. CST • Orange City, Iowa • Korver Field | LISTEN LIVE

If a team other than Sioux Falls (S.D.) or Morningside (Iowa) wants to win the Great Plains Athletic Conference Championship, Saturday goes a long way to make that determination. Both No. 24 Midland Lutheran (Neb.) and No. 10 Northwestern (Iowa) have one conference loss and look up at undefeated USF and Morningside in the league race. Since 2002, USF and MC have won the conference crown -- the last team to win or share the title was Concordia (Neb.) in 2001.

A surprise in many people's opinion, the Warriors of Midland Lutheran were picked preseason 10th out of 12 teams in the always-competitive GPAC. After a 2-8 season in 2007, MLC has turned around and gone 4-1 this year. Starting the season 4-0, the Warriors have averaged 31.8 points per game. The Warriors snuck into the polls four weeks ago (Sept. 15), which marked the first time since Nov. 7, 2005. MLC owns the fifth-best rushing offense in the country averaging 254 yards per game.Terence Maahs is the leading runner going for 101 yards per contest. As a team, MLC is +7 in turnover margin.

Northwestern relies on its ground game to move the ball on offense. Senior Kyle Ochsner and sophomore Taylor Malm at running back, along with fullback Tim Naiman, provide NWC with a wealth of experience. Malm leads the team in rushing yards (282) and touchdowns (6) while Ochsner has tallied 239 yards five rushing scores. Beware of the defense as it ranks in the Top 10 nationally in three categories including seventh in scoring defense (11.4). NC has held four of five opponents to 15 points or less.

In last year's meeting, Northwestern handled MLC 35-0 in Orange City, Iowa. The Red Raiders held a 418-160 advantage in total yards, forced Midland Lutheran into 11 punts and limited MLC to 3-of-16 in third-down plays.

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