Special thanks to Matt Newberry at the MIAA for this great information .

A rivalry game involving a nationally-ranked squad has No. 11 Northwest Missouri State (0-1, 0-0 MIAA) heading south to face undefeated Missouri Western (2-0, 0-0 MIAA).

The Griffons just missed cracking the top 25 this week, while the Bearcats tumbled nine spots from No. 2 after their loss at Nebraska-Omaha last week. Northwest has won nine of the last 11 meetings, and four of the last five played in St. Joseph.

The MIAA will have one of the four featured video webcasts this week as part of the CSTV/NCAA Division II football package. The game with undefeated Truman (2-0, 0-0 MIAA) going to Central Missouri (1-1, 0-0 MIAA) will be available free of charge by going to http://www.cstv.com/ncaa/divii .

The Bulldogs snapped a five-game losing skid to the Mules during last season’s meeting with a 24-21 home victory at Stokes Stadium.

The stingy defense exhibited so far by the undefeated Emporia State Hornets (2-0, 0-0 MIAA) looks to be tested when Southwest Baptist (0-2, 0-0 MIAA) comes to Welch Stadium.

In spite of their record, the Bearcats have averaged 444.5 yards of offense this season — 314.5 through the air. Meanwhile, ESU has five interceptions this season and has allowed only 10 total points in two games.

TICICH SETS MIAA PASSING MARK: Truman junior QB Mark Ticich knocked a former Bulldogs off the top of the MIAA single-game passing yardage list with his efforts in a 55-31 home win over Upper Iowa.

He threw for 493 yards — 14 more than Jake Czeschin did in a 2004 meeting between Truman and Northwest Missouri State.

Ticich, the top rushing quarterback in the MIAA last season (61.6 ypg), added 23 yards on the ground to become the second MIAA player to record 500 yards of offense (516). Only total offense record-holder Jake Chapman of Missouri Southern (533 vs. Washburn in 2002) has accumulated more yards in a game than Ticich did vs. the Peacocks.

VELAZQUEZ GETS HIS KICKS: Central Missouri sophomore K Marcelo Velazquez nearly joined Ticich in entering the MIAA record book last Saturday (Sept. 8) in the Mules’ 56-21 win over Concordia-St. Paul (Minn.).

He tallied 18 points on 4-of-4 field goals and 6-of-6 extra-point kicks. The 18 points was one short of matching the MIAA record of 19, set in 1985 by UCM’s Steve Huff, who made a league-record six field goals and added a PAT for 19 points vs. Southeast Missouri State.

Velazquez’s four field goals are the most by a Mules kicker since 1989 — Phil Brandt had four vs. Lincoln (Mo.).

OMON WATCH: Northwest Missouri State senior RB Xavier Omon enters this week fifth on the MIAA’s career rushing list with 4,851 yards.

He needs 149 yards to join the MIAA’s 5,000-yard club. Omon now is 926 yards away from passing Pittsburg State’s Ronald Moore (1989-92 — 5,776) for fourth place on the conference list.

Omon starts the week tied with Pitt State’s Darren Dawson (1989-91) for ninth on the MIAA career scoring list with 366 points. He needs 18 points to tie Central Missouri’s Kegan Coleman (2001-04 — 384) for eighth place.

THE 80-WIN CLUB: Two MIAA bench bosses have a chance to close in on the 80-win plateau as a head coach in the conference.

With 76 wins, Willie Fritz of UCM is two away from tying Terry Noland (1983-96) as the most victorious coach in UCM history and for eighth place on the conference list.

Missouri Western head coach Jerry Partridge passed Southeast Missouri State’s Abe Stuber (1932-46) for sole possession of 10th on the all-time wins list with 73 with the Griffons’ win at Minnesota-Duluth.