Therefore, today’s game will hinge on whether the Crusaders can keep the Presidents’ multitude of aerial weapons under wraps.

And that’s a question no one seems to be able to answer.

Fourth-ranked UMHB (11-1) and No. 18 W&J (11-1) will square off at noon today at Tiger Field in an NCAA Division III quarterfinal that - at the very least - should be entertaining.

The Presidents bring the nation’s fourth highest-scoring offense (43.8 points per game) to face a Crusaders defense that ranks 11th, holding opponents to just 14.3 per game.

Given that UMHB averages 39 points (12th nationally) and W&J yields more than 20 (79th), the key matchup will be the Crusaders’ defense against the Presidents’ offense.

One of those units will go home disappointed, and its team will go home until next year.

“They’ve always been able to move the ball,” said UMHB coach Pete Fredenburg, whose program is 2-0 all-time against W&J with playoff wins in 2004 and ’06. “They’re very well-coached and they play really hard.

“We’ve got our hands full. We’ll have to play really well.”

The Presidents roll up an average of 491 yards per game, 185 of those on the ground. In last week’s second round, the Crusaders stuffed a Wesley (Del.) attack that came in averaging 222 rushing yards and finished with just 19.

If it can duplicate that performance, UMHB’s primary concern will be finding a way to cover W&J’s trio of play-making receivers.

Craig Besong (71 catches, 1,135 yards, 16 touchdowns), David Ravida (82-920-8) and Luke Espe (64-768-7) have wreaked havoc on defenses, and senior quarterback Bobby Swallow - 275-of-413 passing for 3,551 yards with 36 TDs and only five interceptions - has had no problem distributing the ball.

“Having three receivers who can do the things that they have done gives you a chance against anyone,” W&J coach Mike Sirianni said. “It looks like Mary Hardin-Baylor has one really good cornerback in (Brett Parker), but he can’t defend both sides.

“They will have to pick one, and we’ll have two more capable guys on the other side.”

Fredenburg didn’t mask his concern about the task at hand.

“However they deploy, you have to be ready to match up,” he said. “Obviously, it will create some issues. We’ll try to figure some way to handle it.”

Of course, the job will be made easier if UMHB bottles up the run and pressures the quarterback as it did last week when it posted seven sacks. Causing a few turnovers - the Crusaders forced six against the Wolverines - wouldn’t hurt, either.

That could be easier said than done. In their second-round road upset of No. 3 Millsaps (Miss.), the Presidents ran for 235 yards, never turned the ball over and gave up just one sack.

“We’re big underdogs and we know that,” Sirianni said. “But nobody would have thought that we would go to Millsaps as underdogs and win.

“To win this week, we can’t turn it over like Wesley did. We have to protect the football, and we have to be able to run it.”

In the teams’ last meeting - a 30-27 second-round result in 2006 - UMHB weakside linebacker Jerrell Freeman gave the Presidents fits with his speed and athleticism.

This year’s key for the Crusaders could be middle linebacker Eric Henri, who is similar in style to Freeman and returned two fumbles for scores last week.

“I believe Eric Henri is one of the top linebackers in the nation,” Fredenburg said of the American Southwest Conference Defensive Player of the Year. “He was all over the field last Saturday. When you’re always around the play and the ball pops out, then you have a chance to make something special happen.”

On the other side of the ball, W&J must find a way to slow down a UMHB offense that averages 261 rushing yards per game and churned out 302 against a Wesley team that was allowing only 86 per game.

Executing their option attack behind a physical line, quarterback Josh Saenz and running backs Bryson Tucker, Matt Hurst and Roger Sanchez are all averaging more than 5 yards per carry.

The Crusaders rushed for 290 yards in a 52-16 quarterfinal road win over the Presidents in ’04 and for 382 in ’06. Sirianni hopes that won’t be the case today.

“The biggest difference this year is we’re better on defense than either of those other two teams,” he said. “Our scheme is more fundamentally sound.”

Today’s winner will host a semifinal against either No. 5 Wisconsin-Whitewater - the defending national champion - or unranked Wartburg (Iowa) next week, when a berth in Stagg Bowl XXXVI will be on the line.

“This team is really growing and developing,” said Fredenburg, the only head coach in the 11-year history of the UMHB football program. “I said a few weeks ago that it was all coming together at the right time. Last Saturday was our finest effort all year long and it couldn’t have come at a better time.”

NOTES: UMHB, which is hosting a quarterfinal for the first time, is in the third round for the third straight year and fourth time in five years. . . . W&J is making its first quarterfinal appearance since 2004. . . . Presidents running back Curt Jones has scored 25 TDs and 156 points. He has rushed for 1,289 yards and averaged 145 in the last four games. . . . The Crusaders are 6-1 all-time at home in the postseason and have won six straight playoff games at Tiger Field, where they are 35-4 overall since the start of 2001.