Week 1 (Games on Thursday, Aug. 31)
Great Midwest Notes (PDF)
Findlay vs. Tiffin Notes (PDF)
Ohio Dominican vs. Cal (PA) Notes (PDF)
Kentucky Wesleyan vs. Murray State Notes (PDF)
INDIANAPOLIS – Three Great Midwest Athletic Conference football programs will kick off the 2017 season with Findlay, Kentucky Wesleyan and Ohio Dominican, all in action on Thursday evening.
Thursday also represents Opening Day around NCAA Division II with plenty of Great Midwest men’s and women’s soccer matches slated to officially open the 2017-18 academic year.
Five other remaining Great Midwest football schools will play on Saturday, Sept. 2, for a full slate of week 1 football non-conference contests.
Great Midwest preseason favorite Ohio Dominican will face a tough test in its season opener against No. 8 California (Pa.) on the road. ODU received votes in the AFCA Preseason Poll to rank 31st in the country.
The matchup at Cal pits two of the top teams in the newly formatted NCAA Super Region I, which encompasses the G-MAC, Pennsylvania State Athletic Conference (PSAC), Mountain East Conference (MEC) and Northeast 10 Conference (NE-10). In the AFCA poll, Cal is the second-highest ranked team in the region behind No. 7 Shepherd (MEC), and ODU is the fifth-highest ranked team. Indiana (PSAC) and LIU-Post (NE-10) check in at No. 9 and No. 14, respectively.
This is the first of a daunting non-conference schedule as ODU's first three opponents went a combined 27-6 last season. Cal won the PSAC last season and was the No. 1 seed in Super Region 1. The matchup serves as a huge opportunity for Ohio Dominican to put itself on the map as one of the nation's elite early in the season.
Current and future clash in a battle between Findlay and Tiffin at Frost-Kalnow Stadium. Findlay starts its new era in the Great Midwest on the road against the Dragons, who will join the G-MAC for the 2018 season.
Findlay was 6-5 last season and beat Tiffin in a competitive week 8 showdown. A high-scoring offense is driven by junior quarterback Rhys Gervais, who has thrown for nearly 6,200 yards already in his career. His favorite target is senior wide receiver Jason Moore, who was a Lindy’s Preseason First-Team All-American earlier this summer.
Findlay also returns strong numbers on defense and is looking to win its 18th straight matchup in the head-to-head series against Tiffin.
Kentucky Wesleyan takes on NCAA Division I Murray State, also on the road, with starting quarterback Mike McGee poised for breakout sophomore campaign. McGee will miss Keelan Cole as the home-run threat, but completed over 56 percent of his passes and threw for 13 touchdowns in mainly the second half of the season.
Murray State recently announced Shuler Bentley will be the team’s starting quarterback less than a week ago. KWC played Division I Davidson and Northwestern State last year in a challenging non-conference schedule.
**An update will be provided on Friday for Great Midwest games to be played on Saturday, Sept. 2**