It's still early days in the Great Midwest but a couple of teams are making their presence known.

For Northern Michigan, this was a big weekend as they held off Wisconsin-Platteville 20-15. It was a tough game for sure, and a defensive one. 

Late in the game with the score 15-8, Bryce Lanser cut through on a breakaway that put the Moosemen up 20-8. It was a crucial score, as Platteville would come back with a converted try, but NMU held on.

"We're starting to work as a team," said Lanser, who is also the club president. "What we needed was a complete team effort. We didn't really have any standouts—it was more about us putting in a complete effort, and playing good defense as a unit."

Northern Michigan has playoff aspirations, said Lanser, and this is just the first step.

"We haven't been in the playoffs since I was a freshman, and I think we can get there," he said. "It's wide open in the Great Midwest North."

Loyola looked very impressive in shutting out Illinois-Chicago 37-0. 

The key for Loyola was an ability to control possession and not let UIC get much of a sniff at any scoring opportunities.

It was a good, methodical win for Loyola following on from a loss to Northern Iowa and the effort was led by Martin Galinier and Tadgh Scanlan.