What: CUC Football v. Finlandia University
Where: McAfee Stadium, Hancock, MI
When: Saturday, Sept. 21, 1:00 p.m. (Eastern time)

The third of three non-conference games to start the season comes this Saturday when the Concordia-Chicago Cougars travel to the Upper Peninsula of Michigan to take on the Lions of Finlandia University. This will be the first-ever meeting between the two schools on the football field.

The Cougars will be looking to enter conference play on Oct. 5 with a winning record, going 1-1 on the young season thus far. They defeated Beloit College 44-6 on Sept. 7 but lost the home opener last Saturday to Olivet College by a 54-24 score. Turnovers and mistakes have played a role in each game. On the positive side, it was a pair of interceptions that helped the Cougars to a 28-0 lead after one quarter of play in Beloit. The opposite effect was last week, when a roughing the punter penalty and a pick-six were the catalysts that turned a 12-10 game into a big lead for Olivet by halftime.

The Lance Moise watch continues this week on two fronts. Moise's next rushing touchdown will tie Khyree Copeland's career record of 43 (2007-10), while the senior continues to chase Copeland's career rushing record of 3.957 yards. Going into this week's game, Moise needs 296 to surpass Copeland's total.

While Moise's runs naturally draw attention, don't overlook his impact as a receiver in the passing game. His biggest play in terms of yardage last week was not his 26-yard touchdown run in the third quarter, but a 31-yard reception in the first quarter. Moise and Semaj James were the favorite targets of Jaxon Aubry in the Olivet game with four catches each, and the overall look of the passing game with multiple receivers should not look significantly different. Aubry has completed 57 percent of his passes this season (25-44) for 281 yards.

Finlandia (0-2, losses to Concordia University Wisconsin and Ripon College) is a young team on both sides of the ball, but rest assured that CUC is not taking them lightly. When looking at the Lions, the conversation begins with freshman Darin Johnson, as Coach Aubry explains: "Finlandia's quarterback is very athletic. If the pass is not there, he will look to break the pocket and run with the ball." In fact, Johnson is the Lions' leading rusher (26-81, 2 TDs) as well as passer (15-25-3, 159 yards). Ten of his completions have been to Kenny Kujawa for 95 yards. The Cougars will look to keep Johnson under wraps with a pass rush that has produced six sacks in the first two games, led by Matt Henning's 1.5 for minus-17 yards.

"We are always looking forward," says Aubry. "No matter if we had won or lost last week, we don't look back. This is the game in front of us, so this is our most important game. We have a job to do, we're going to look to execute well, play hard and come home Saturday night with a victory."