Area college football: Playoff rematch and old rivalry renewed

area college update

SATURDAY'S GAME OF THE WEEK

Bethel (0-0) at Wartburg (1-0), 1 p.m.: These teams met twice in Arden Hills in 2013, with Bethel winning both — 30-17 in the regular-season and 34-27 in the second round of the Division III playoffs. Bethel, the defending MIAC champion, is ranked No. 7 in the d3football.com Top 25. Wartburg, which won the IIAC last season, is No. 15 in this week's Top 25 after its 40-3 season-opening victory over Augsburg. The Knights, who return 19 starters — 10 on offense — from last season's 9-3 team, converted 12 of 15 third-down situations and had 486 yards in offense against the Auggies.

WEEK 2 STORY LINES

• Hamline and Macalester started playing each other in football in 1887. Since then, the two St. Paul schools, located about 2 miles apart, have met 114 times. When the rivals play at Hamline on Saturday, it is believed to be just the second time the teams have each gone into the game unbeaten. The other time was in 1988 in the season's third game when Hamline won 15-0 and went on to win its last MIAC title (co-champions with Concordia). Macalester has won the past three meetings, including 7-0 last season, but Hamline leads the all-time series 66-44-4. With a victory, Hamline would start a season 2-0 for the first time since 2005.

• MIAC teams went 5-3 in their season openers last week. Two of the losses were by a total of four points — Carleton fell by three to Macalester and St. Olaf by one to Northwestern (Roseville). MIAC teams are 37-7 (a 84.1 winning percentage) in regular-season nonconference games since the beginning of the 2012 season.

PLAYERS TO WATCH

Mitch Hendricks, QB, Gustavus Adolphus: The 5-11 junior from LaPorte, Minn., completed 23 of 28 passes for 281 yards and five TDs (second-most in a single game in school history) in the Gusties' 44-17 victory over Crown. Hendricks passed for 1,938 yards and nine TDs last season.

Josh Mikes, WR, Winona State: The 6-3 junior from South Elgin, Ill., had 13 receptions for 224 yards and four TDs in the Warriors' 47-13 victory over Northern State on Sept. 4. Mikes had 26 receptions for 584 yards and six TDs in 10 games last season.

BY THE NUMBERS

15 Consecutive victories in season openers for Minnesota Duluth. The Bulldogs defeated Concordia (St. Paul) 20-13 last Saturday.

44:10 Time of possession (a school record) for St. John's in a 29-8 victory over Wisconsin-River Falls.

168 Rushing yards (a career high) for St. John's junior Sam Sura in the Johnnies' victory last week. Sura also set career highs for carries (28) and TDs (3).