On Tap
The Scots (8-1 overall, 5-0 MWC North) will play for the Midwest Conference championship and an automatic berth in the NCAA Division III playoffs when they travel to Jacksonville, Ill., to take on the Illinois College Blueboys (7-2 overall, 5-0 MWC South). Game time at England Stadium is scheduled for 1 p.m.
 
The Series
For the second week in a row, Macalester will be facing a team for the first time in the school's 121 seasons of football.
 
Last Week
The Scots wrapped up the MWC North Division with a 21-13 win at St. Norbert.
 
Samson Bialostock turned in another impressive performance in guiding the Macalester offense as he scored on a 47-yard run in the first quarter to give his team a 7-0 lead and his two-yard touchdown, with 5:16 to play in the game, capped a 14-play, 72-yard drive to make the score 21-13. In between, he also tossed a 32-yard touchdown pass as Macalester took a 14-7 lead into halftime.
 
In all, Bialostok rushed for 100 yards on 13 carries, giving him 280 yards and six touchdowns in his last three games, and completed eight of 16 passes for 122 yards.
 
Zandy Stowell recorded a career high, for the second week in a row, with 36 carries. He topped the 100-yard mark rushing with 143.
 
Defensively, Konnor Fleming led a defensive unit which did not allow a touchdown, had three takeaways and forced St. Norbert to kick a pair of field goals after getting inside the Macalester 10-yard line in Saturday's 21-13 win. Fleming had nine tackles in the game, including one for loss, broke up a pair of passes and, with the Green Knights having moved to the Scots' 26, sealed the victory by intercepting a pass in the end zone with 45 seconds to play.
 
The Scots limited St. Norbert to 71 yards rushing and just 218 yards of total offense.
 
Following the Scots
This week, fans can follow the Scots via live video and stats, courtesy of Illinois College. Video will be available at http://portal.stretchinternet.com/ic/portal.htm?eventId=183163&streamType=video while live stats will be at http://portal.stretchinternet.com/ic/stats.htm?eventId=183163.

Go "Mid"West Young Men
Horace Greeley may have said "Go west, young man," but Macalester has chosen to go to the Midwest, the Midwest Conference, for football.
 
After 12 seasons as an independent, following their departure from the Minnesota Intercollegiate Athletic Conference in football, the Scots are back in a football conference, competing in the MWC's North Division along with Beloit, Carroll, Lawrence, Ripon and St. Norbert. The South Division features Cornell, Grinnell, Illinois College, Knox, Lake Forest and Monmouth.
 
Macalester was picked fourth in North Division by the MWC Coaches' in the league's preseason poll while Illinois College was picked to win the South Division.
 
He's the Boss
The 28th head coach in the 128-year history of Macalester football, Tony Jennison, is in his seventh season as the Scots' mentor. His six-plus seasons have seen his teams put together a 34-33 record, including a 28-19 mark over the last four-plus seasons.

A 1997 graduate of the University of Wisconsin-La Crosse, he was a part of four conference championship teams and two NCAA Division III championship teams as a collegian.
 
Jennison began his collegiate coaching career in 1998 at UW-Eau Claire as the defensive backs coach. In 2002, he took the defensive coordinator position at Marietta College before coming to coming to Macalester in 2005 in the same coaching position. He became the Scots' head coach in 2008.

The Awards Show
Macalester student-athletes have been recognized with weekly award seven times this season, including three following the win over Carroll.
 
Bialostok was named the MWC Offensive Performer of the Week last week while Michael Abramson, for the second time this season, was named the conference's Special Teams Performer of the Week after converting all four of his point after touchdowns to go with a pair of field goals.
 
Meanwhile, D3football.com cited the Scots' offensive line for their outstanding performance by naming them to the site's Team of the Week.
 
In week four, Bradley Cox was named the MWC Special Team Performer of the Week while Bialostok was an honorable mention pick for national offensive player of the week by USA Football.
 
All That Talent, and Brains Too
Zandy Stowell has been named to the Capital One Academic All-District team by the College Sports Information Directors of America (CoSIDA).
 
One of two running back backs named to the District 6, NCAA Division III team, Stowell established a new school record over the weekend for single-season rushing yards. He ranks second in the Midwest Conference and 23rd in NCAA Division III with 1076 yards, an average of 119.6 per game.
 
In his first full season as the Scots' starting running back, Stowell has topped the 100-yard rushing mark in six of nine games with a career-best 208 yards in a 28-21 win at Beloit (10/18/14). He has also set career highs in carries three times this season, including Saturday's 36-carry effort which led the Scots to an advantage of over 14 minutes in time of possession..
 
In the classroom, Stowell is a physics major who maintains a 3.64 grade point average

It's Never Happened
Macalester's win over St. Norbert was its eighth of the season, establishing a school record for victories, topping the seven-win season the Scots put together in 1960 (7-2-0) and 1986 (7-2-1).
 
Saturday's win was Macalester's seventh in a row, setting a school record consecutive wins in a season.
 
The school record for consecutive wins is 14, from 1887 to 1895, spanning the program's first 14 games. The modern record is eight consecutive victories between 1947 (five games) and 1948 (three games).

It's Never Happened -- Part Two
Macalester received votes in this week's American Football Coaches Association poll for the first time.

Last week, the Scots knocked off a nationally-ranked opponent, 24th-ranked Carroll, 34-17, for the first time and, with their eighth win of the season and seventh in a row, they received two votes in this week's AFCA Division III poll.
 
The Last Time it Happened
Macalester is seeking its first conference championship since 1947.
Vying for a conference championship is something Macalester football is unaccustomed to doing. Not only have the Scots played as an independent for the last 12 years, the school's last football time came in 1947, when they shared the Minnesota Intercollegiate Athletic Conference title with St. Thomas. Macalester also won the 1925 MIAC title outright.
 
Up Next
The winner of Saturday's game will receive an automatic berth in the NCAA Division III playoffs, which get underway Nov. 22.
 
Socially Acceptable
You can follow Macalester Athletics on a variety of social media platforms, including Facebook, Instagram, Twitter and YouTube. To find information and links to the sites, go to http://athletics.macalester.edu and click on the "Multimedia" tab at the top of the page.