Area college football: Three-team tussle for NSIC title, Gustavus goes for MIAC championship

A share of the NSIC regular-season title and a spot in the Division II playoff field will be on the line in two places on Saturday.

NSIC co-leaders Bemidji State and Augustana will play in Sioux Falls, while co-leader Minnesota State Mankato will play host to Minnesota Duluth. Augustana, Bemidji State and MSU Mankato are each 8-1 in conference play, while Minnesota Duluth is 7-2.

Bemidji State moved up two spots to No. 5 in this week's Division II Super Region 4 rankings. Augustana is No. 6 and MSU Mankato is No. 7. The top four teams in the region are Colorado Mines (10-0), Western Colorado (9-1), Central Washington (7-0) and Texas-Permian Basin (8-1).

The 28-team Division II playoff field, which consists of seven teams from each of the four regions, will be announced at 5 p.m. Sunday.

Here are four other things to watch this week:

MIAC championship

Gustavus Adolphus and Bethel will play on Saturday in Arden Hills to decide the MIAC regular-season title and the conference's automatic berth in the Division III playoffs.

Gustavus will try to become the first team other than Bethel, St. John's or St. Thomas to win an MIAC title since 2004. Gustavus, which hasn't won an MIAC title since 1987, has won 22 MIAC football titles — second only to the 36 won by St. John's.

Bethel has won the last 14 meetings with the Gusties — including 37-28 on Sept. 30 at Bethel.

St. John's will travel to Moorhead to take on Concordia. The Johnnies defeated the Cobbers 42-23 on Oc.t 7 in Collegeville.

St. John's was ranked No. 3 and Bethel was ranked No. 5 in the Division III regional rankings announced on Wednesday. Wisconsin La Crosse is ranked No. 1 and UW Whitewater No. 2 in the regional rankings. Also ranked are Linfield (No. 4), UW River Falls (No. 6) and Whitworth (No. 7).

The 32-team Division III playoff field will be revealed at 4 p.m. Sunday.

Tommies back in action

After a bye last Saturday, St. Thomas plays at San Diego on Saturday. With two games left in the regular season, the Tommies (6-3, 5-1 Pioneer League) are one game behind co-leaders Davidson (7-2, 6-0) and Drake (6-3, 6-0) in the Pioneer League standings.

Davidson is at Morehead State and Drake plays host to Presbyterian on Saturday.

The Tommies will close out the regular season on Nov. 18 at home against Valparaiso.

UMAC title game

UMAC co-leaders Northwestern (St. Paul) and Minnesota Morris, will meet on Saturday in Morris for the conference regular-season title and automatic berth in the Division III playoffs. Northwestern, the defending UMAC champion which has won 12 consecutive UMAC games dating to 2021, defeated the Cougars last year 31-24.

MCAC playoffs

Rochester Community and Technical College earned its first MCAC state title since 2015 with a 24-16 victory over North Dakota State College of Science on Sunday in St. Cloud. The Yellowjackets will play College of DuPage in the NJCAA Division III championship game on Dec. 2 in Glen Ellyn, Ill.