The first few weeks of the season provide an arena for some of the football's biggest mismatches. We're all familiar with the early season "get-one-under-the-belt" game.

We at D3football.com have the utmost respect for the teams that do just the opposite: Play tough opponents prior to their regular conference slate.

We certainly have to acknowledge the efforts of last year's Stagg Bowl participants, Bridgewater and Mount Union. Though the Purple Raiders are somewhat hogtied — hardly anyone wants to schedule a team that has won six national championships in nine seasons — they still took on a contender from what's regarded as one of the nation's strongest conferences, the WIAC.

The Eagles, on the other hand, have had a series going with the Centennial Conference's finest — you now know them as McDaniel. Us old-timers might accidentally call them Western Maryland for a while, as folks did when Glassboro State became Rowan.

In any case, it was Bridgewater's victory over the Green Terror two years ago that set it on a path towards the playoffs, and let the rest of the Division III world know it was legit. This year, the 23-20 win, aided by a last-minute touchdown, let us all know that the Eagles weren't dead after losing quarterback Jason Lutz, running back Davon Cruz and a host of other seniors.

UW-Whitewater kept the score respectable in a 44-21 loss to No. 1 Mount Union, but No. 22 UW-Eau Claire pulled off an upset of No. 2 St. John's in a 28-21 overtime victory.

Those are the kind of games we love to see early in the season. It's good for creating national interest in Division III football, a level so often bound by regional and state ties.

Observations from some more of the weekend's inter-conference matchups: 

Of the 19 playoff teams from 2001 that played this weekend, eight fell in their openers: St. John's, McDaniel, Montclair State (see below), No. 3 Augustana of the CCIW (20-17 to UW-Stevens Point) Christopher Newport of the Dixie (20-13 to Salisbury of the ACFC), Defiance of the Heartland (30-22 to Olivet of the MIAA), Bethel of the MIAC (27-26 to Whitworth of the Northwest) and Brockport State (21-12 to Cortland State of the NJAC).

We may have overlooked Wilkes, a traditionally good program, when handicapping the MAC last week. But they made sure we didn't forget about them for long with a 31-7 pasting of Montclair State (of the NJAC), a team that started 9-0 last year and made the playoffs in two of the past three seasons.

We knew Hampden-Sydney (ODAC) would be explosive offensively sooner or later. After a 51-17 shellacking of Sewanee, the Tigers' time may be now. What's more impressive is that Sewanee (SCAC) had beaten Hampden-Sydney in three straight openers.

It looked like a promising rivalry between two big-city catholic universities was budding in 1999, when John Carroll (OAC) edged Catholic (ODAC) 26-21. But in the three games since, John Carroll has outscored CUA 116-16, including 56-7 on Saturday.

Mount Ida, whose only win in its previous 17 games came against first-year Utica in 2001, pulled off a mild surprise by beating Western New England 32-14. Keep an eye on the Mustangs. Maybe they're ready to compete on a weekly basis.

We also took notice of St. Norbert's (Midwest) 35-31 win over St. Thomas (MIAC), Hartwick's (Empire 8) 21-13 victory over No. 13 King's (MAC), Wesley's (ACFC) 40-16 rout of Ferrum (Dixie), Springfield's (Freedom) 69-0 whitewashing of Salve Regina (NEFC), Methodist's (Dixie) 25-15 win at Emory & Henry (ODAC) and Millsaps' (SCAC) 16-14 win against rival Mississippi College (ASC). 

Top 10 non-conference setups we'd like to see
10. Name games: Concordia (Wis.) and Concordia (Ill.) are mates in the Illini-Badger conference, but others who share namesakes might make interesting out-of-conference matchups, at least for comic purposes. How about Trinity (Texas) at Trinity (Conn.) or MacMurray vs. McMurry? Did we mention that the Concordias could schedule games with the MIAC's Concordia-Moorhead? Yes, we'll move on now.

9. Big winners: A single win can make the season for some teams. That's why we'd like to see tradional tough-luck teams like Gallaudet and Oberlin square off against growing programs like Utica and Mount Ida on a regular basis.

8. Alumni game? Round up the players from Swarthmore's final season and let them tackle Macalester, who managed to keep football alive when faced with a similar dilemma.

7. Conference challenges: The MAC has had beef with its Pennsylvania-area brethren in the Centennial Conference ever since the CC schools split in the 1980s to form what the CC says is a conference with higher academic standards. The MAC shouldn't have trouble lining up seven of its 11 schools to go head-to-head with the CC schools. We could envision a similar scenario brewing between the ACFC and Dixie. And who wouldn't pay to watch the MIAC line up eight of its nine teams against eight from the WIAC? Or better yet, the OAC meets the NJAC: Mount Union vs. Rowan, Ohio Northern vs. Montclair State, John Carroll vs. Cortland State, Baldwin-Wallace vs. The College of New Jersey and so on.

6. NESCAC vs. anyone: We may never get over the fact that our brothers in the New England Small College Athletic Conference can't play out-of-conference competition or participate in the playoffs. It's bordering on a crusade of ours.

5. Water fights: We'd like to see Coast Guard and the Kings Point Mariners (a.k.a. the U.S. Merchant Marine Academy) of the Freedom Conference take on Massachusetts Maritime and Maine Maritime of the NEFC. If for no other reasons than we think the Academies should stick together … and that we find it amusing. (We know Coast Guard and Mass. Maritime do play each other).

4. Hardin-Simmons vs. Trinity (Texas): The only thing worse than state rivals who don't play each other are really good state rivals who don't play each other. These two perennial playoff participants should go ahead and get together already.

3. Pacific Lutheran vs. St. John's: The trips might be a little costly, and sure, it keeps happening in the playoffs. But we can't get enough of football's most unique programs and their wise old coaches, Frosty Westering and John Gagliardi.

2. Mount Union vs. Wittenberg: It's peculiar that these two Ohio teams, each dominating their respective conference year after year, haven't found a way to swing across the state and meet up. 

1. Lycoming vs. Rowan: It's ridiculous that these two Delaware Valley powerhouses don't play each other, especially since they both often have nine games on the schedule instead of 10, and Rowan plays D-IIs and I-AAs.

Games to Watch
There are more good out-of-conference matchups to come in week two, and even a few conference games worth checking out:

Wesley at Rowan (Friday): How good are the Wolverines? Profs are the measuring stick for all teams in the mid-atlantic.

Bethel at St. Thomas: Two MIAC contenders square off early.

Bridgewater State at Nichols: Representatives of NEFC-Bogan and NEFC-Boyd go head-to-head.

Central at Augustana: Both parties in this IIAC-CCIW clash made the playoffs in 2001.

Illinois Wesleyan at UW-La Crosse: No one gets an easy W when CCIW and WIAC contenders hook up.

MacMurray at Washington U.: UAA's Bears hope it doesn't come down to another 22-play, 98-yard drive when Illini-Badger's Highlanders visit.

Menlo at Hardin-Simmons: This game was Menlo's coming-out party last year, when the Oaks won 35-28.

Millsaps at UW-Stout: SCAC's Majors face stout test on trip north.

Moravian at King's: A must if either plans to contend in logjammed MAC.

Monmouth at Ripon: No time wasted in getting to key Midwest Conference game. It may take time to find Ripon's new field however.

TCNJ at Cortland State: The NJAC teams that could compete with Rowan and Montclair State get a look at each other first.

Thomas More at Hanover: Independent Saints hope to slow down Heartland's Panthers like they did in 28-21 win last season.

Wheaton at Alma: Scots must forget loss to Gusties as Thunder approaches.

UW-Stevens Point at Ohio Northern: The Pointers 14-10 win in last year's opener dashed the Polar Bears' playoff hopes, considering they later lost 31-3 to Mount Union and finished 8-2. Pointers made the playoffs and won a game. Ohio Northern presumably still bitter over all of this.

Widener at Wilkes: This MAC tussle looks big all of a sudden. Either team could be a factor in title hunt.

Willamette at Mary Hardin-Baylor: Bearcats rolled up 606 yards in the opener, but find out this week if they really shouldn't mess with Texas.