CSN West

I am getting ready for the West battle of the Missouri Valley vs. the Big Sky last remaining playoff participants. I dubbed this the West championship game in my column this week and likely the winner of this game will play Villanova--in Cheney if EWU wins since they are a seed--No. 5. Villanova is leading #1 seed Appalachian State 42-24 at this point with just under 8:00 left in the fourth quarter. It would be unclear if NDSU or Villanova would host their clash if they would both win but one might assume that the 19,000 filled Fargodome would be hard to overlook if it is a meeting of two unseeded teams.

This game should be a battle of defenses and ground games, although Bo Levi Mitchell does have the better of the throwing matchups. D.J. McNorton of NDSU and Taiwan Jones of EWU should provide the running game.

The red turfed Roos Field is actually relatively warm today with temperatures around the freezing mark or slightly higher. The forecast still is calling for snow showers.

I think this will be a closely fought defensive game with the winner getting the turnover margin.