By Adam Johnson
D3sports.com

PUYALLUP, Wash. -- The new guy crashed the party.

Linfield used transfer quarterback Brett Elliott's second consecutive 400-yard, five-touchdown performance to defeat Pacific Lutheran 40-21 in front of a Homecoming crowd of 4,200 at Sparks Stadium. Elliott is averaging 418 yards and 5.3 touchdowns per game this season and is now first in the nation in passing efficiency at 195.9.

"I feel good about the way he played," said Linfield head coach Jay Locey. "This is the best passing performance we've ever had against PLU in the past six years." 

In comparison, All-American quarterback Tyler Mathews was sacked four times and held to 75 yards passing last season in the Wildcats 19-10 victory.

While Elliott's stats and the point differential made it look like just another day at the office for Elliott and crew, it was anything but. He threw his second interception of the season, was sacked once and hit numerous other times. Kicker Garrett Wales had an unusually bad day missing an extra point and a field goal and having another PAT blocked. Linfield fumbled twice and PLU's Andy Hamilton ran one back for a 78-yard touchdown. Until Elliott found wide receiver Brandon Hazenberg in the end zone with five seconds to go in the half, PLU was only down six. 

"This was probably the best defense we've faced so far," Elliott said after the game. "Just the way they scheme and bring pressure they caused us a lot of trouble in the third quarter."

The Lutes outscored Linfield 7-6 in the third and trailed by only 12 points at the start of the fourth quarter -- they'd get no closer.

Linfield opened the fourth with a 29-yard diving touchdown catch by George Carter and the Wildcats took a commanding 19-point lead. They would trade touchdowns before the final horn and Linfield claimed the 40-21 victory -- their third in a row in this storied 54-year rivalry.

"They have some big time people," head coach Scott Westering said after his first loss as head coach at PLU. "If you're going to go in and compete against people like that you're going to have to play a perfect game or pretty darn close."

"PLU is unique," Locey said. "While they may not be a top ten team, I think PLU is a very good team."

Linfield now leads the overall series 29-21-4. 

Records made to be broken
Simpson quarterback Jacob Johnson broke a 78-year old school record with 58 pass attempts in Saturday's 21-7 loss to Wartburg. The old mark of 55 was set in 1926 by Charlie McCoy against Des Moines University. Johnson was 27-58 for 312 yards. He led the Storm with 15 carries and 20 yards. He also caught a pass from Dusty Kain for 11 yards.

Top teams streaking
St. John's and Linfield, the two teams from last year's West Region semifinal, extended a pair of 27-game winning streaks on Saturday with their respective victories. With a 41-6 defeat of the Hamline Pipers, the Johnnies extended their conference winning streak to 27 games -- an MIAC record. They last lost a conference game to St. Olaf in Collegeville on Sept. 15, 2001. 1,400 plus miles to the west Linfield was extending a 27-game winning streak of their own with a 40-21 defeat of PLU. The Wildcats have now won 27 consecutive regular season games. 

Career day in the MIAC
Three MIAC players experienced career days on Saturday leading each of their respective teams to victory. St. John's running back Corey Weber racked up 182 yards on 29 carries in Saturday's 41-6 defeat of Hamline including a Johnnie record tying five rushing touchdowns. 

Augsburg scored six touchdowns against Carleton on Saturday and quarterback Marcus LeVesseur was in on all of them. In only his second career start, the two-time national champion wrestler single-game record with four rushing touchdowns en-route to 158 yards on the afternoon. He also threw for 137 yards and two touchdowns as Augsburg sprinted past Carleton 42-10. LeVesseur's rushing touchdowns broke the previous school record for single-game rushing touchdowns of three, set by Marty Alger in 1983, Mike Strandness in 1994, T.J. Bramwell in 2002 and Ben Paul in 2003.

Lastly, Concordia-Moorhead quarterback Brian Schumacher sparked a 42-27 come from behind win against Gustavus Adolphus with three second half touchdowns. Schumacher finished the day completing 24 of 32 passes for 274 yards and five touchdowns. Aided by his performance his Cobbers moved into the Top 25 with the win at No. 23.

Leaping Leopards
La Verne spent the 2003 season alone in last place finishing in the cellar with a 0-6 SCIAC record. In 2004, the Leopards have leaped to the top of the conference sitting alone at 2-0 after defeating Pomona-Pitzer and Claremont-Mudd-Scripps. On Saturday, the Leopards used two touchdowns and 205 yards on 27 carries by senior running back Steve Smith to knock off CMS 20-14. The Leopards sit one game ahead of Occidental and Whittier.

2-for-2 nets 0 
Trailing 21-6 in the fourth quarter, Puget Sound scored twice in the final five minutes against Willamette to bring the score to 21-19 with 1:24 to play. After missing the game tying two point conversion Willamette was called for interference giving the Loggers one more chop at it from the 1-yard line. But quarterback Andy Carlson was hit just as he pitched the ball and a swarm of Bearcat defenders made sure running back Rory Lee didn't get close to the end zone preserving a two point Willamette win.

3D
In their past two victories, St. Thomas has scored three defensive touchdowns including two against St. Olaf in Saturday's 24-21 victory. John Kaiser's 25-yard interception return at the end of the first quarter brought the Tommies to within 7-6. Later in the third, Jeremy Krentz returned an interception 72-yards for a touchdown to make it 24-7 before holding on to win 24-21. In Week 4, Luke Rezak's 18-yard blocked punt return for a touchdown was the difference in a 28-21 victory against Augsburg.

Busy as a Beaver
Trailing 21-3 with 12 seconds to play in the second quarter Saturday, Buena Vista looked to be on their way to their first loss in the IIAC this season. Fortunately for them junior wide receiver Jesse Schmidt wasn't going to let that happen. He scored three consecutive touchdowns turning an 18-point deficit into a three point lead. The Beavers would add a safety and win 26-21. Schmidt had eight receptions for 134 yards on the day. He also returned two kicks for 34 yards, recorded one tackle and forced a fumble.

Two leagues, two scores, only 1:13
Both Wartburg and Whitworth were able to put two touchdowns on their opponent in just 1:13 seconds in the first half on their way to victories. Wartburg used a 8-yard touchdown run by Andy Parker at 3:47 and a 10-yard touchdown run by Chris Winter at 2:34 to play in the first to build a 14-0 lead before finishing off the Storm 21-7. 

Similarly, Whitworth used a Pat Vestal 5-yard touchdown reception at 1:29 and a Joel Clark 8-yard with 0:13 to play in the half to take a 17-7 lead against Eastern Oregon. The Pirates would relinquish the lead 21-17 but come back to win 31-28.

GET to the GAME!!
Bethel at No. 4 St. John's, 1 p.m., Collegeville, Minn.: The game of the year in the MIAC over the past few seasons, it looks to be no different this year. Both teams are undefeated in conference play but have one early non-conference loss. Look for Bethel to climb on the back of Phil Porta who leads the MIAC in rushing. St. John's has found new offensive weapons almost weekly. Look for the Alex Kofoed-to-Kyle Gearman connection or Corey Weber on the ground. Should be a great game from start to finish and an early determinant of who will win the MIAC. Bethel has never won in Collegeville and lost last year's historic 409 game in the final minutes.

Redlands at La Verne 1:00pm La Verne, Calif.: It's a battle of worst (La Verne) versus first (Redlands) from the 2003 SCIAC season only this year the La Verne Leopards come into the game with a 3-0 record including 2-0 in conference. Redlands is 1-2 and yet to play a conference game. Redlands won at home last year 24-12.

Pacific Lutheran at Puget Sound, 1:30 p.m., Tacoma, Wash.: Puget Sound is making noise at 3-1 including taking Willamette to the wire last week. PLU is 2-1 but struggling a bit compared to years past. The Loggers have lost their last five to PLU by 36 points per game but the Loggers never started 3-1 in any of those five years. This game will definitely put an early shape to the NWC conference race.