Gonzales commentary: Plenty of points to go around in MIAA's first week

In baseball, there is a time-honored tradition of scoreboard watching late in the season.

Football has its own version of scoreboard watching, too.

Fort Hays State University football coach Kevin Verdugo admits he checks out how other Mid-America Intercollegiate Athletics teams are doing during the season.

"We look at them," Verdugo said. "We like to know where guys are standing. You're checking for various reasons -- injuries, all kinds of stuff -- trying to get a handle on this year, even though we're not in conference play."

What Verdugo has seen in the first week of the season is plenty of points in arguably the best conference (four ranked teams and defending national champ) in NCAA Division II.

Defending national champ Northwest Missouri State University remained atop the national poll after not playing in the first week of the season. Washburn University, which started out at No. 10, moved up one spot after escaping with a 34-29 win at Colorado School of Mines.

University of Nebraska-Omaha and Missouri Western State University also did not play, but moved up to 12th and 19th in the rankings, respectively. University of Central Missouri, which walloped Southwest Baptist (Mo.) University 60-13, received votes in the poll.

Washburn has a big game this week, playing host to No. 6 Abilene Christian (Texas) University on Saturday. Northwest Missouri opens its season on Thursday at home against 14th-ranked Texas A&M-Kingsville. Nebraska-Omaha is at home Saturday against University-of Nebraska Kearney, which got the OK to apply for MIAA membership. Missouri Western opens at home Thursday against Mesa State (Colo.) College. Central Missouri, meanwhile, will be at Illinois State University of the Missouri Valley Conference.

In other games involving MIAA teams, Emporia State entertains Missouri S&T; Pittsburg State University is at home against Chadron State (Neb.) College; Missouri Southern State University has Lincoln (Mo.) University visiting; Southwest Baptist is at Truman State (Mo.) University.

East Central University -- winless in 2009 -- will be at Fort Hays on Saturday for a 7 p.m. kickoff at Lewis Field Stadium.

Last week, Washburn had to score a touchdown with 3:46 remaining in the game to escape with a victory over Colorado Mines. The Ichabods racked up 611 yards in total offense. Junior quarterback Dane Simoneau threw for 300 yards and two touchdowns, and senior Joe Hastings had 13 catches for 201 yards and one score. Sophomore Vershon Moore rushed for 218 yards on 24 carries.

In Central Missouri's easy win over Southwest Baptist, senior QB Eric Czerniewski was 37-of-46 through the air for 435 yards and five touchdowns.

After Moore's big day on the ground, there were two other 100-yard rushers after Week 1. Freshman Steven Sumpter had 141 yards for Missouri Southern, and Fort Hays senior QB Mike Garrison had 100 yards on seven carries, including a 65-yard TD run.

"I'm telling you, it's a mini Big 12," Verdugo said.