By Clyde Hughes
D3sports.com

It's showdown Saturday for the Midwest Conference as defending conference champions Monmouth travels to DePere, Wisconsin, to take on perennial MWC power St. Norbert.

Both teams are just about where everyone expected them to be at this point of the season. St. Norbert is undefeated at 5-0, and 4-0 in MWC play. Monmouth, after losing the season-opener to Wartburg, has run off four straight wins, all in league play.

"We'll have to play our best football," said Monmouth coach Steve Bell. "We have to prepared for all of our games, though. They're all big."

I understand coachspeak. Let me interpret. Bell was really saying, 'I don't want anyone to read this down the line and think we didn't think the other games were important, but this one is huge.'

Consider the facts. St. Norbert had won six consecutive MWC titles and was riding a 19-game conference win streak before Monmouth beat them in DePere last year. The Fighting Scots' come-from-behind 28-20 victory last year catapulted Monmouth to a perfect 10-0 record and a spot in the Division III playoffs. Now, it's Monmouth which carries a 20-game conference win streak into Saturday's contest giving St. Norbert a chance to return the favor.

Is this a big conference game? Bigger than most. I think so.

Because of a hiccup in the MWC scheduling, Monmouth makes its second consecutive trip to DePere for the contest, but Bell said he has a confident team.

"This is a different season and a different team, so last year means nothing," Bell said. "But our kids do feel some confidence that we can beat them at their place."

Monmouth enters the game with an offense that has gobbled up more real estate than Donald Trump. Senior tailback Dante Daniels has rushed for 850 yards in five games, ranking him among the nation's best. He has cracked the 200-yard mark three times already this season.

"We're going to find out (how good Daniels) is on Saturday," Bell said. "He's been playing tremendous for us this year. He's better, stronger and faster than last year. We have to get him in space and let him run."

Bell admits fighting the injury bug and having a young team on the defensive side of the football. He said he's played as many as eight sophomores at times. He said since the opening season loss, the defensive corps has played much better and he expects another strong performance against St. Norbert. Junior Aaron Payette has five interceptions this year while Luke Sandrock collected 10 tackles and forced a fumble in last week's game against Grinnell.

St. Norbert has been doing it through the air, behind quarterback Cody Craig, who has already thrown for 1,316 yards and 10 touchdowns. Judd O'Connell ranks among the nation's best at wide receiver, gaining 580 yards on 28 catches and six touchdowns.

St. Norbert coach Jim Purtill was busy making game plans for St. Norbert but provided this quick statement.

"In general, to beat a dominant Monmouth team, we have to play our best game."

Coach-speak translation: 'I'm giving no reason to fire up Monmouth with any bulletin board material.'

Point, well taken, coach.

Bell said that while this game has huge title implications, there are good teams still vying for the title and whoever wins will still have to compete hard to capture the MWC title. In case anyone hasn't noticed, Ripon is also undefeated at 4-0 and has a 4-1 overall record in the conference as well.

Showdown Saturday continues

The Midwest Conference isn't the only place where big games are taking place. No. 20-ranked Wheaton tries to hold on its national-ranking and a share of the College Conference of Illinois and Wisconsin lead when it faces North Central at home. North Central, of course, opened the season in the Top 25 before losing its opener to Concordia (Wis.) in overtime. Since then, North Central's high-flying offensive attack has won three straight games, including a 58-14 victory over North Park last season in its conference opener.

The two teams are playing for the "Little Brass Bell," a traveling trophy won by North Central last year during its 35-26 thriller. The bell was a symbol of political fighting between the neighboring towns of Wheaton and Naperville (home of North Central) during the early part of the 20th century. The bell has been part of the annual Wheaton-North Central contest 1946. With two hard-hitting defenses, there's little doubt a bell or two might be heard after tackles on Saturday.

Big games before the big game in HCAC

There will be no looking ahead to a showdown of undefeated Mount St. Joseph and Franklin on Oct. 14 until both teams get past opponents they have had problems with in the past this Saturday. Mount St. Joseph travels to Hanover to face a Panther team that ruined its undefeated regular season a year ago, beating them 41-35 at home in overtime. Despite being conference favorites, the Lions have only beaten Hanover one time in its existence (29-10 in 2004). But Hanover is struggling with a 1-3 record this season.

For coach Mike Leonard and Franklin, they will try to get pass an Anderson team that has given them fits. Anderson beat Franklin 24-23 a year ago.

"We haven't beaten Anderson since I've been here," Leonard said. "All of those games have been close, hard fought games and we haven't gotten over the hump against them. Trust me, on our part, there will be no looking past them."

Mount St. Joseph and Franklin are both 4-0 on the season. Franklin also owns a victory over Wabash in overtime, which knocked that perrenial playoff team out of the Top 25-rankings this season. Mount St. Joseph is 4-0 in conference play, and Franklin is 1-0.

Keeping an eye on Elmhurst

In case no one noticed, the Elmhurst Blue Jays beat Carthage 20-13 in Kenosha for the first time in 13 years. Terrance Young caught six passes for 122 yards, including a 12-yard touchdown catch in the fourth quarter and scored earlier on a 2-yard option run. More importantly, Elmhurst remained undefeated on the season at 4-0 and 1-0 in CCIW play. Next up for Elmhurst -- Augustana, which also began the season in the Top 25 before two early losses. The Augies beat Illinois Wesleyan 24-7 in its CCIW opener last week.