Our SGI team concentrates our coverage on the 23 NAIA, DII, DIII, and Drake (FCS Non-Scholarship) teams inside the State Borders. From Cornell to William Penn, and from Dubuque to Sioux City our goal is to cover these teams with special emphasis on the former Iowa High School players on each team.
This weekend 8 of these teams kicked off the season (Northwestern College, Waldorf College, Briar Cliff, St. Ambrose, Morningside, Drake, and Upper Iowa (Link to our coverage).
Week 2 is when the season gets rolling in earnest for the SGI team. Every week, we will be predicting 10 games on our show and having fun doing it.
This week’s games are going to be fun to watch and pick-
Let’s start with the Biggest Game in the State this week
(We realize there is a little scrimmage going on this weekend in Ames also). The biggest game in NAIA this regular season is Benedictine (KS) at Grandview University in Des Moines. This week’s polls are not out yet, but Benedictine was #4 and just beat #3 Morningside this weekend in an exciting game.
So, I assume if the voters pay attention, Benedictine will rightfully come into Des Moines as the #2 team. Grandview is the defending NAIA national champs and the consensus preseason #1 team.
This clash between the Vikings and Ravens will be the biggest regular-season contest in NAIA football in many years.
Photo Credit – Viking Show actor Travis Fimmel shot by Robert Jefferson Hall – Ravens vs Vikings is an awesome mascot clash.
On the NAIA Front we will also preview Morningside @ Briar Cliff – The Morningside Mustangs will be raring to go after losing a heartbreaker in the last minute to Benedictine on the road this Saturday. These two schools are 17 miles apart, so both sets of fans can drive to the tailgate in their John Deere lawn tractors if they want.
Coe @ Cornell in the oldest rivalry game west of the Mississippi River
This game is the oldest college football rivalry west of the Mississippi River, and it was first played in 1891. The SGI team will be at this game Thursday Night in Mt. Vernon, so we hope to see some Ram and Kohawk fans there. Many of our SGI volunteers played in this game as Kohawks in their careers, so this one is a special game to our team.
Other Games the SGI team will be picking this week
Millikin @ Luther – The Millikin “Big Blue” travels from Decatur, Illinois to Decorah to play the Norse on a Blue Field. We have titled this one the Blue or the Papa Smurf Bowl (whichever you prefer). Someone needs to quickly make a SGI Papa Smurf trophy this week to have up for grabs this Saturday.
Hope College @ Loras – The Top 20 Hope Flying Dutchmen from Holland, Michigan come to the Rock Bowl to kick off the season. Please, please, please, can we get the Flying Dutchmen to play the Central Dutch next year in the inaugural SGI “Tulip Bowl”. Or better yet could we have both teams meet on a neutral site, so both teams would have to pay their own travel expenses. We could call it the “SGI Going Dutch Bowl”.
Dubuque @ UW Stout – The Spartans got north to Menominee, Wisconsin to face a top DIII team with one of the best DIII QB’s in the nation. This will be a “Stout” test.
Central @ Illinois Wesleyan – The Dutch take a long bus ride to Central Illinois against a solid DIII program.
Augustana (IL) @ Simpson – Augustana is right across the Mississippi River from Davenport, IA on the bluff with a beautiful campus….who cares….they are on the wrong side of the river in Illinois. They visit the Storm in Indianola this Saturday.
Monmouth @ Wartburg – Two very good teams face off in Waverly. If the Scots pull off the upset they will take over the Other Place for pizza post-game.
It is going to be an exciting season opener for the teams we cover across the state.
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