By Clyde Hughes
D3sports.com

What is there left to do now for the undefeated Monmouth Fighting Scots after huge wins against St. Norbert and Ripon put them in the driver's seat of the Midwest Conference title chase?

Plenty, according to coach Steve Bell. A little bit of that business was taken care of last Saturday with a 56-2 pounding of Lake Forest. Monmouth needs to win one of its next two games against Illinois College (4-4, 4-3 in MWC) on the road or Knox (2-6, 1-6) at home to capture a share of the conference title and enter the playoffs.

"Our message to them has been that our work is not done," Bell said. "It all starts with great leadership. I think we've got a very good core of seniors who have been this situation before when they were freshmen so they've seen how those kids responded to it. I think they're prepared. We've tried to stay consistent and level regardless whether we're winning or losing. We try to keep it even keel as much as we can. These guys understand what's at stake and to keep their eyes on the prize."

Monmouth (8-0, 7-0) has not had an easy go of it, though. The Scots had to come from behind beat Loras in a non-conference game, St. Norbert and Ripon to keep it undefeated season going. Bell said it has helped build confidence in his team and it's something he can joke about now -- sort of.

"The comebacks have given us the feeling that we can accomplish things and as long as we stay true to ourselves and what we do, good things are going to happen," Bell said. "Frankly, I wish we would quit putting ourselves in those situations."

There has been little secret about Monmouth success centering on quarterback Alex Tanney. Tanney is approaching a 3,000-yard passing season, with 2,678 yards in his eight games. He has completed 242 passes on 376 attempts and has thrown for 24 touchdowns against five interceptions.

"Our team runs through Alex," Bell said. "If he's on, we're on. He's got some great receivers who we feel are pretty athletic. If he's playing well, luckily overall he's played pretty darn good; we're going to do well. I don't know if we're a team we can flat out on the run but we can mix it."

Bell said, though, the better Monmouth running game is, the more effective Tanney can be because it keeps teams off balanced. Jeff Davis has been carrying the load for the Scots, averaging 82.8 yards a carry.

Tanney has thrown to a range of targets including Kyle Wantland, who leads Monmouth with 53 catches, Bobby Gibbs, with 48 receptions and Nick Wright with seven touchdown catches. Bell said Mike Blodgett has really come on as well, with big games against St. Norbert and Ripon.

Defensively, Bell said defensive lineman Anthony Goranson has been a difference maker on defense. Goranson had nine tackles and two sacks in the Ripon win.

While Monmouth's program has been successful of late, Bell said the biggest difference with this year's team has been its ability to make plays during big games.

"I think we're making plays when we needed them," Bell said. "If you look at the St. Norbert game last year, we had plenty of opportunities to make those plays and we didn't.

"We haven't played a great game yet. I don't think we've come anywhere close to playing a great game yet and that bothers me a little bit because we should be playing great football. We're playing great at times and luckily we've been able to play great at the right times and that has been the difference. We had kids step up and make huge plays."

Those right times have the Scots now on the verge of a Midwest Conference title.

The 'new' big game in the HCAC

It may not have been the game everyone hard marked on its calendar to decide to the Heartland Collegiate Athletic Conference championship, but that's what will pretty much be on the line Saturday when Rose-Hulman (7-1, 5-0 in HCAC play) travels to No. 24 Franklin (6-1, 4-0). Rose-Hulman, which started conference play a week earlier than most of the other HCAC teams, can clinch at least a share of the conference title and its playoff spot by beating Franklin. The Grizzlies, on the other hand, with a victory Nov. 1 would still have to beat a much-improved Manchester team (4-3, 2-2) on the road the following week or at home against Hanover (1-5, 1-3) to claim the title and the playoff berth if they beat the Engineers.

Franklin has bounced back from an earlier non-conference loss to Trine (now ranked No. 25 and leading the Michigan Intercollegiate Athletic Association) to win four straight, including a big 40-35 win over Mount St. Joseph last week.

Road still doesn't get easy for new No. 2 North Central

After beating No. 15 Wheaton on the road to take sole possession of first place n the College Conference of Illinois and Wisconsin, one would think thing would start to get easier for North Central. Well, not exactly. The Cardinals last three games are against teams with a combined .714 winning percentage. North Central, though, will have the next two contests at home. The Cardinals face Illinois Wesleyan (5-2, 2-2 in CCIW) on Saturday, the team it share the conference title with last year. The following Saturday, North Central closes its regular season home schedule against Augustana (5-2, 3-1). On Nov. 15, the Cardinals go on the road to take on Elmhurst (5-2, 2-2).

Rare double loss for St. Norbert

After running its conference winning streak to 29 games this season, this wasn't the end of history the Green Knights wanted to be on. St. Norbert's 19-7 loss to Ripon last week was the first time they lost three games in a season and two against MWC opponents since 1998. St. Norbert coach Jim Purtill still has an impressive 84-13 overall record, but for the first time will need a lot of help to get a share of another conference title.