The timing is lousy. But the game is huge, just the same.

Not even Chuck Broyles is crazy about the earliest date ever for the Fall Classic at Arrowhead between his Pittsburg State Gorillas and the Northwest Missouri State Bearcats.

"It's without a doubt something we look forward to," Broyles said this week during a news conference promoting Saturday evening's game. "I just don't know if we look forward to playing Northwest Missouri the first game of the conference."

The MIAA is a long road, but the biggest pothole in that route for both teams could be Saturday. After all, the winner of this game has gone on to win or share the conference title the majority of the years of this neutral site series.

So much for building drama.

Even without a normal theatrical buildup, the flashy overture in Arrowhead Stadium will be fun. Players, cheerleaders and band members alike enjoy the thrill of being on an NFL-type stage.

And whether Northwest vs. Pittsburg is Act I or Act IX makes no difference to Northwest coach Mel Tjeerdsma. Either way, it's an important meeting between two MIAA titans.

"In one respect it may be good," Tjeerdsma said. "If you lose this game it gives you the rest of the schedule to recover."

But what if you win, Coach?

"If you win, it doesn't really guarantee anything, because there's a lot of tough games in our conference," Tjeerdsma said.