When Missouri Western hosts Central Missouri on Saturday at Spratt Stadium, it will be another battle of nationally ranked teams.

And if the AFC wants to rank the Mules a bit higher than his Griffons, that’s just fine with coach Jerry Partridge.

“I’m excited that happened, actually,” Partridge said, referring to the latest AFCA poll released Monday that placed Central Missouri at No. 14, one spot ahead of the Griffons. “I like being in that role, and I think our kids like being in that role.”

The Griffons tend to play the underdog role well. They were unranked when they defeated then-No. 22 Washburn 37-34 on a field goal as time expired. Propelled into the Top 25 with that victory, Western again was considered geographically an underdog by many when it defeated No. 23 Pittsburg State the following week at the dreaded “Jungle” in Pittsburg, Kan.

Even after what could be considered a less-than-devastating loss two weeks ago to No. 6 Northwest Missouri State, the Griffons found themselves looking up five spots in the poll to Washburn, which had vaulted to No. 12 by defeating Fort Hays State 28-14 — a team Western had dismantled 58-31 on the road.

Now, with a big victory over that same Fort Hays team, Central Missouri jumped ahead of the Griffons into the No. 14 spot, one ahead of the Griffons coming into Saturday’s showdown at Spratt.

Partridge bristles when one suggests he has a chip-on-the-shoulder attitude about the AFCA poll.

“Not at all. They’re a very good football team, and they had a very impressive win against Fort Hays,” Partridge said of the Mules, who like the Griffons are 6-1. Both sport 4-1 MIAA records with Central’s loss coming against Washburn.

But chip or not, Partridge is willing to seize any bit of motivation he can.

“You shouldn’t need motivation, anyway, at this level,” Partridge said. “You’d better be motivated to get going every week. But in Week 8, it certainly helps having just a little bit of extra fuel.”

While the AFCA national poll provides bragging rights, it’s the NCAA’s Super Regional ranking that provide the most clout. In the season’s second rankings, released Monday afternoon, Western is No. 4 in Super Region Four behind Abilene Christian, Central Washington and Northwest Missouri State. That’s important because those rankings, rather than the AFCA poll, determine the six playoff teams to enter the 24-team Division II football playoffs in late November.

“You can kind of see everything lining up a little bit, but Week 11 is when it’s going to matter — that Sunday after that last game,” Partridge said.

It is the regional ranking that Partridge really wants his players to preserve on Saturday.

“If we finish 9-2, we’re going to be in,” Partridge said. “I think an 8-3 MIAA team may get in, even.”

Partridge doesn’t want to tempt the fate of the football gods with a two-loss or three-loss season, however.

“We need to win Saturday because that’s what matters is just winning Saturday. You have to divide your season into one-week increments, and that’s where we’re at.”

Behind schedule

Western volleyball coach Cory Frederick admits he considers his program behind schedule in his timeline of returning the program to respectability.

“We had some terrible offensive performances last week,” said Frederick, who isn’t used to dealing with ineptitude on the volleyball court.

Frederick took the Park University men’s program to the national championship in 2008. He even found a modicum of success in the early going with the Griffons this season. Western was 8-3 in its first 11 games and 8-5 going into the MIAA portion of the schedule, eclipsing their total number of victories in 2008. But Western is 0-8 in the conference and in the throes of an 11-match losing streak.

Even stepping outside of conference play last week failed to help. Playing at Rockhurst last Tuesday, the Griffons let leads slip away in three straight sets, as Rockhurst went on runs of 15-4, 21-3 and 22-5.

Frederick believes his team

became complacent after exceeding last season’s win total.

“As far as I’m concerned, we’re behind schedule, but I’m just not sure that’s how everybody’s looking at it right now,” Frederick said. “There’s the feeling that we’ve already hit our goal, but unfortunately, we hit it in the second week of the season. But the season’s not over. There’s a long season to go. We’re trying to get them to start thinking about the conference schedule more than the overall season.”

Soccer sets record

The Western soccer team’s win Thursday against Southwest Baptist may have been record-setting, but it also was ugly, according to coach Jeff Hansen. The 3-2 victory gave the Griffons a program-record five victories in the season.

“It was kind of rocky; we go out and score three goals in 30 minutes, then proceed to give up two over the next 12,” Hansen said.

Still, it was a teaching moment for the coach of the young Western program.

“I told the girls after the game that it was a great way to learn a lesson. You still get the win, but (you learn that) you can’t get up 3-0 against anybody and just coast.”

Abby Widrig scored two goals and an assist in that game, and leads the team with 16 points. Her six goals is tied for the team lead with Jessica Martin and her four assists is best on the team.

“She’s doing exactly what we thought she would do, and we hope to see a little more of it through the last six games,” Hansen said.