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Storyline
The No. 2 Lindenwood football team plays its most important regular season home game this weekend when No. 8 Missouri Valley comes to Harlen C. Hunter Stadium at 6 p.m. on Saturday.

Both the Lions and Vikings are 2-0 on the young season. Lindenwood has jumped out to 49-0 halftime leads in victories over Evangel and Central Methodist. Missouri Valley edged out Baker in week one of the season before blowing out Culver-Stockton last Saturday.

The highlight of the game will be one of the NAIA's top offenses going against one of its top defenses. Lindenwood is averaging 68.5 points and 676.0 total yards of offense a game. Missouri Valley's defense has not allowed a touchdown and is giving up just 78.5 yards a game.

On the other side of the ball, Lindenwood's defense has been nearly as good as Missouri Valley, allowing just one late touchdown on the year. The Vikings offense can also put up points as they proved last week with 70 against Culver-Stockton.

This matchup usually has huge implications on the conference and national scale. The winner will have a leg up in the 2010 HAAC race. The last four years, the winner has eventually advanced to at least the NAIA semifinals during postseason play.

A Lindenwood Win Would...
- improve the program to 112-111 all-time.
- improve the Lions to 60-17 under head coach Patrick Ross.
- increase the Lions' winning streak to 22 games in HAAC play.?
- increase Lindenwood's home winning streak to 21 games.
- tie the all-time series at nine wins apiece.
- be the third straight win over Missouri Valley, the longest for LU in the series.

A Lindenwood Loss Would...
- drop the program to 111-112 all-time.
- drop the Lions to 59-18 under Patrick Ross.
- snap the school's 20-game home winning streak and 21-game HAAC winning streak.

High Scoring Offense
The 139 points that Lindenwood has scored this season is a school record for the first two games of the year. Lindenwood has also had back-to-back 60-point games for just the second time in program history. The first was also against Evangel and Central Methodist to start the 2009 season.

Total Offense Numbers
The Lindenwood offense is averaging 676.0 yards of total offense in its first two games. That is the highest mark among all NAIA and NCAA programs.

Lindenwood set a school record with 735 yards in its season opener, and had the fourth-highest mark (617) last week.

Quarterback Numbers
Through two games, nearly the only thing that has stopped quarterback Philip Staback is halftime. In four quarters of play, both in the first halves of the contests, he has completed 36 of 39 passes for 715 yards and eight touchdowns. Staback has been named the HAAC Offensive Player of the Week for both contests.

Big Play Offense
Lindenwood has recorded 24 plays of 20 yards or more in its first two games. Half of those plays were 30 yards or more and seven were touchdowns.

Nineteen of the plays have been passes. Jamere Holland and Matt Bramow both have six big play receptions. Bramow has 12 receptions for 254 yards and three touchdowns, while Holland has 10 receptions for 257 yards and two touchdowns.

Senior Leader On Defense
Dan Carlisle, a three-time all-HAAC performer, has been the top defensive performer for Lindenwood in 2010. He has 14 tackles on the season, including one for a loss. He also has two turnovers with an interception and a fumble recovery.

Stopped Behind The Line
Lindenwood is averaging 10 tackles for loss a game. Defensive end Kellen Dreyer leads the way with 3.5 tackles for loss. Jason Young and David Hanna each have 2.0 on the season.

Taking The Ball Away
Lindenwood has forced six turnovers this season, with four interceptions and two fumble recoveries. Four of those six turnovers have turned into Lions touchdowns.

Drive Charts
The Lindenwood offense has touched the ball for 27 series this year, minus two right before the end of the half. The team has scored touchdowns on 66.7 percent of those drives. In the first half of games, the Lions have converted 87.5 percent of drives into touchdowns.

Defensively, the Lions have defended 28 drives, not including those that ended in halves. Lindenwood has only allowed touchdowns in one of those drives.

Up Next
Lindenwood has another top ten showdown on Sept. 25 when it travels to No. 6 MidAmerica Nazarene.

About The Vikings
Missouri Valley is annually led by its defense and 2010 appears to be no different. The Vikings are allowing just 77.0 total yards of offense a game, including 3.5 rushing yards a contest. They are also forcing four turnovers a game.

Ryan Buster leads the team with 12 tackles and 2.5 sacks. Jesse Putnam has 10 tackles and 2.5 tackles for loss.

Offensively, the team is averaging nearly 200 rushing and passing yards a game.

Rahfee McClee is the top rusher, averaging nearly 100 yards a game and scoring two touchdowns. Chris White has thrown for over 200 yards a game and has two touchdown passes. Josh Reid and Tommi Pinta are the leading receivers with a combined 15 catches for 171 yards.

Last Week
Missouri Valley routed Culver-Stockton by a 70-0 score in its home opener. The team had nine touchdowns, a field goal, and two safeties.

The defense allowed just four yards of offense, including -23 rushing yards. Adam Maher led the team with four tackles, including two sacks.

Rahfee McClee was the offensive leader with 140 rushing yards and two touchdowns. Chris White threw for 172 yards, and Tommi Pinta had six catches for 95 yards and a touchdown.

Head Coach Paul Troth
Paul Troth is in his ninth season at Missouri Valley and 14th as a collegiate coach. He won his 100th career game last week against Culver-Stockton.