Area college football: Undefeateds UMD, Winona meet; Tommies-Johnnies in St. Paul

GAME OF THE WEEK

Minnesota-Duluth (3-0) at Winona State (3-0), 1 p.m. Saturday: UMD, ranked No. 4 in the AFCA Division II poll, puts its 11-game regular-season winning streak on the line against the unbeaten Warriors, ranked No. 20. UMD rushed for 462 yards in a 38-7 victory over SW Minnesota State last Saturday. The Warriors, who are averaging 525 yards per game, defeated Minnesota-Crookston 33-7. UMD has won the past five games between the two.

WEEK 4 STORY LINES

• Macalester will play its first conference football game since leaving the MIAC following the 2001 season when it travels to Grinnell (Iowa) on Saturday for its Midwest Conference debut. Two current MIAC teams are former Midwest Conference members. Carleton was a charter member of the conference in 1921 but withdrew from the conference in 1983. St. Olaf competed in the conference from 1952-74.

• St. Thomas coach Glenn Caruso is in his seventh season as the Tommies coach. In that time, the Tommies have lost just two of 23 games played in September. The Tommies (2-0), who are ranked No. 11 in the d3football.com poll, will be looking to avenge one of those two losses when they play host to St. John's on Saturday. Last year, the Johnnies defeated the Tommies 20-18 in St. Paul to end the Tommies' 36-game regular-season winning streak and 27-game MIAC winning streak. The Tommies' MIAC streak was one shy of the conference record — set by St. John's between 2001-04.

• For the second time in three years, St. Cloud State is off to a 1-2 start. The Huskies, ranked as high as No. 12 in preseason Division II polls, lost to Sioux Falls 36-0 last week. On Saturday, the Huskies play host to Upper Iowa, which has started 3-0 for the first time since 1990. The Peacocks, who rallied for a 47-30 victory over Bemidji State last week, are averaging 46.7 points. After starting the 2012 season 1-2, the Huskies rebounded to go 7-4.

PLAYERS TO WATCH

Carter Hanson, LB, St. John's: The 5-11 sophomore from Blue Earth, Minn., leads the MIAC in solo tackles (15) and is second in total tackles (26). Hanson had 15 tackles in the Johnnies' 23-14 loss to Concordia-Moorhead last Saturday.

Trey Heid, QB, Augustana: The 6-2 sophomore from Lakeville North passed for a career-high 311 yards and four TDs in the Vikings' 48-17 victory over Northern State. In three games, Heid has thrown for 851 yards and 10 TDs without an interception.

BY THE NUMBERS

3 Times that Northwestern (Roseville) has opened a season 3-0 in the program's 41-year history.

11 Third-down conversions in 18 attempts by Concordia-Moorhead in a 23-14 victory over St. John's.

20 Consecutive victories by Wisconsin-Whitewater.

Joel Rippel