Evangel and Lindenwood are set to hook up Saturday afternoon in Springfield, in a game that should sort out some of the questions about the direction of the HAAC's second half. The Crusaders stand at 4-1 in conference play, tied atop the Heart standings with Graceland - a team which was soundly defeated by the Lions two weeks ago.

Lindenwood has been the enigma of the league so far in 2005. After running the table in conference play a year ago, and returning 17 starters from that team, the Lions have been Jekyll and Hyde this fall. League losses to Culver-Stockton and William Jewell have been sandwiched around big wins over highly-ranked Graceland and Benedictine teams. At 2-2 in the league, LU can simply not afford another loss if they have any hopes of defending that HAAC championship belt.

One could have made big bank in the summer betting on Lindenwood to be 2-3 at any point in forseeable future, but it seems that this team is waging a huge battle with the evil three-headed monster of turnovers, field position, and maybe ... loss of that mental edge which is so important in team sports.

When expectations are so high - and "high" may not be doing justice to the preseason expectations of the Lions - and a team doesn't play well out of the gate, it gets in the team's collective head quickly. Self-doubt rests over there on the opposite side of the psyche from confidence, and the 2005 Lions have been unable to put that ugly cousin to rest after a slow start at Culver.

"Last year we were so much more aggressive on defense, and never turned the ball over on offense," said LU head coach Patrick Ross (the Lions only turned it over 11 times in 12 games all of last season). "This year we've just seemed to be a step short on defense at critical times, and we've not only turned it over in every game, we've turned it over in disastrous field position. To the credit of our kids, they've practiced well and are battling to break out of the pattern, but none of those other teams are likely to give us anything but full guns."

The Crusaders, long one of the Heart's power teams, appear to be back to fully-loaded status. Sophomore quarterback Derek Rassmussen has played well in taking over the reins behind the center, leading the Heart in passing yardage at 289 yards per game. Senior tailback Demetric Phillips is third in the league in rushing, averaging 127 yards per outing, and senior wideout Brian Hartzler, one of the HAAC's fastest players, is racking up an eye-popping 28 yards per catch - with six of them ending up in the house. That's a load of ammo to handle on offense

Evangel has been playing pressure defense for years, and this edition is no exception - outstanding senior linebacker Robb Richardson is the ringleader, and the Crusaders are not afraid to bring it and lock their secondary people up in man coverage. One of the interesting games within the game on Saturday will be the matchup of Lion wideouts George Mumphard and Steven Kennedy against the EU defensive backs.

A win over the Lions in this game would give the Crusaders the inside track, at least to a showdown with Graceland later in the fall, because they've already played Missouri Valley (51-48 win) and MidAmerica Nazarene (33-28 loss), the other one-loss teams. Lindenwood also would benefit greatly from a victory - the Lions already own two quality wins in league play, and a third would remove the Crusaders from one-loss status and give Lindenwood a tie-breaker edge over EU, Graceland and Benedictine, with games against Valley and MidAmerica looming before Halloween.

"It's a strange year in the conference, and that's a credit to the all of the good coaches in the Heart," said Ross. "Teams get better from year to year, some of the teams that weren't competitive before are now playing everyone tough, and everyone plays so hard. We know we're going to have to go down to Evangel and play our best football of the year to get out of there with a win. I think we're looking forward to that challenge."

The Lions have played very well on offense in 11 of the last 12 quarters - the lone exception being a trip to the Twilight Zone in the opening period against William Jewell. That fumbling, sharp stick in the eye resulted scoring drives of 11, 21 and 31 yards for the Cardinals, and the Lions found themselves down 21-0 after 15 minutes.

Those other 11 quarters, though, have been a pleasure to watch in the film room. After busting up a good Graceland defense for 271 yards on 43 carries the week before, senior tailback De De Dorsey sliced through Jewell for 166 yards on 26 totes last week. Over the last three contests, the Lions are averaging 415 yards per game in total offense, and the offensive line featuring four juniors and one senior has jelled into a unit that can move the football on the ground.

The most perplexing question around the Lion camp right now is not about the offense, as it was early in the season. A late 15-play, 80-yard drive by Jewell to take the game by the throat last week was the killer in that game. Last season, that kind of drive against the LU defense was about as likely as palm trees suddenly sprouting all over St. Charles.

There have been flashes of brilliance - the second halves against Olivet Nazarene and Benedictine, the first half against Graceland, for example - but that swarming mentality of 2004 just hasn't been there for sixty minutes at a time. An end to the torrent of giveaways (the Lions are -9 in turnover margin for the season) early in games would no doubt cripple the field position monster which the Lion defense has been fighting all year.

Whatever gremlins the Lions have been battling, it's time to get things sorted out, because it's not like anyone in the Heart is going to pass on their shot at taking a punch at the defending champions. If pride does indeed cometh before the fall, maybe the Lions got too proud, too soon. Could be the planets are out of alignment. There are lots of theories out there as to how this team could possibly be on the ropes after five games. Maybe, it's just one of those years the football gods looked down and said, "We're going to humble those guys."

The great thing is, though, if you're a Lion fan, the champion is never done until he's knocked out - and this team has shown some chin already this season. If the Lions can weather the next round, then gather some strength before the final rounds, that champion's heart may still be a factor.

Game time is set for 1:30 at J.F.K. Stadium in Springfield, Mo.