RIPON, Wis. - The Red Hawks don't have much time to think about last week's 52-27 loss at St. Norbert, which clinched the conference title for the Green Knights. Instead, they are busy focusing on the task at hand, which is coming back to Ripon with a victory at Grinnell. For some teams, going from a game against a team in the top half of the conference, to a game against a team in the lower half may cause a lack of focus, but that is not the case for the Red Hawks.

"Our approach is always to take one game at a time, win or lose. Each week, we put the previous game behind us and move on to the next one," head football coach Ron Ernst said. "We're not going to dwell on that loss or feel sorry for ourselves. We have a game to play and I expect us to play at the top of our game and I'll be extremely disappointed if we don't."

Grinnell enters the game with a 1-6 record in the Midwest Conference, having lost four consecutive games. They currently rank last in the MWC in six different statistical categories, including points scored and points allowed. Ripon on the other hand leads the MWC in five different categories, including rushing offense and third-down conversions. The Red Hawks enter this weekend's game with a 5-2 conference mark, putting them in a three-way tie for second place. In this league though, any team can lose if they're not prepared properly, and the Red Hawks expect Grinnell to be more than prepared when the two teams face off on Saturday.

"Every team that has been coached by Greg Wallace has always been extremely well coached and has always played hard for 60 minutes," Ernst said. "Their record is not great, but pound for pound, coach Wallace and his staff get the most out of their team than any group I've ever seen. I'm expecting to go in there to face a very tough Grinnell team because of the type of job that his coaching staff does and the kind of man he is."

One hurdle the Red Hawks will have to make before even playing the game is making the trip to Grinnell, Iowa, which is one of the longest Ripon faces among conference schools. Coach Ernst and his coaching staff don't think that will factor in however, as they try to prepare their team to be mentally tough.

"We've played pretty well the past few times we've played at Grinnell, so I don't think the trip really factors in at all. If you allow it to, then that becomes a state of mind. We have the same routine that we follow for every road trip, so I don't think it will be a factor at all," said Ernst.

The last time Ripon faced Grinnell, it was a record setting day for the Red Hawks, who defeated the Pioneers 55-14 last season in Ripon's final home game of the season. In that game, Ripon ran for a school record 535 yards on 73 carries, while throwing the ball just two times. The Red Hawks also controlled the clock for 35 and a half minutes. In order to have the same kind of success this weekend, the Ripon defense must keep Grinnell's offense off the field.

"They've got a good passing attack and they do a lot of things on offense that we'll have to take away. Their scheme is very complex and they'll throw a lot of different things at us that we'll have to prepare for," Ernst said. "It's going to be a real battle to take away what they do best, but we've got to go in there and get the job done. I expect a very tough ball game, but I also expect us to do what we have to do to win."