Going into this past weekend's games, Marquette and Minnesota-Duluth had a very simple goal—win and you host a Great Midwest playoff game; lose and you're on the road.

Good thing they played each other. In an exciting encounter, Marquette emerged 44-24 winners to take 2nd in the Great Midwest North division, behind Wisconsin-Whitewater. Marquette has only lost once this league season.

"It was a big win for us," said Marquette's Easton McChesney. "We knew they had some strong runners and prepared defensively for that all week, and it panned out well for us. We came out a little rusty offensively, but our forward pack was able to dominate the scrums, giving our back line the opportunities they needed to score."

Andrew Best scored twice on the wing and earned player of the game honors. But it was a team effort.

"It was a huge team victory for us with tries coming from both the forward pack and the backline."

A home game in the quarterfinals is a nice advantage. The Great MW holds a final four weekend November 9, but this weekend it's all about who has to go on the road. Marquette will host Northern Iowa, while Duluth will have to trave to Chicago to take on Loyola. That's what that game meant.