Sept. 15, 2017 - Coming off a hard-earned win at Ripon College two weeks ago, the Concordia-Chicago football Cougars will hope for a second road saga with a happy ending on Saturday. This week takes the Cougars to Michigan and a 2:00 (EST) contest with the Hornets of Kalamazoo College (live stats; video) (directions to KC's Angell Field).

Saturday will be only the sixth tme that the two schools have met on the football field. The series began with four games from 1976 to 1979 and then a fifth in 2015. The Hornets have won three times and the Cougars once with one game ending in a tie. The 2015 game and this year's are part of the ongoing challenge between schools from the Northern Athletics Collegiate Conference and the Michigan Intercollegiate Athletic Association.

The Cougars are 1-0 after a 28-20 win over Ripon on Sept. 2 (last week's 35-0 win over Lewis-Clark Valley College was not countable under NCAA rules). Senior Shane Virnala threw four touchdown passes, three to Leroy Bridges III and one to Ryan Allison as CUC built a 28-6 third quarter lead. A storm interrupted play for 73 minutes and, when play resumed, the Red Hawks stormed back for two touchdowns. However, the Cougars' defense stiffened and secured the victory with late interceptions by Demetrius Rufus and Kareem Dabney.

The Hornets are 0-2 after a 24-6 loss at Oberlin College on Sept. 2 and a 58-6 loss to Wheaton College in their Sept. 9 home opener. Kalamazoo quarterbacks Alex White and Zach Van Faussien have combined for 31 of 64 for 243 yards and two touchdowns, but opponents have held the Hornets' rushers to a mere 38 yards per game. Defensively, the Hornets have a pair of active linebackers in Jakob Frederick, who is averaging 10.5 tackles, and Clay Willkey, averaging 8.0 tackles.

Through two games, the Hornets have neither turned the ball over nor taken it away. The Cougars were plus-four in the win at Ripon.