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By David Boyce  |  Northwest vs. Central Missouri  |  Saturday, Sept. 20, 2014  |  1 p.m.  |  Bearcat Stadium  |  Maryville, Mo.
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MARYVILLE, Mo. - The question caused Northwest Missouri State senior linebacker Eric Reimer to laugh and then pause for a few seconds for a serious response.
 
At the weekly media luncheon, football coach Adam Dorrel introduced Reimer as a 4.0 student.
 
Reimer, though, admitted he has made a couple of Bs. His grade-point average is 3.92.
 
Since he has only made a few Bs and suffered only a handful of losses in football during his time at Northwest, it makes sense to wonder which one is tougher for him to deal with.
 
He said a loss bothers him more. Reimer and the rest of the Bearcats definitely don't want to lose Saturday when they return home to take on Central Missouri at 1 p.m. on Family Weekend.
 
Northwest professors, please don't worry that Reimer has lost focused and has forgotten what is really important.
 
"It does bother me when I get a B," said Reimer, who is majoring in marketing and management.
 
Reimer wants to succeed in whatever he does.
 
"Throughout my whole life, I wanted to be good at everything I do, whether it was academics or football or anything like that, I wanted to do the best that I could," Reimer said. "I felt like doing less I wasn't reaching my full potential."
 
A championship football team needs players like Reimer who takes pride in their work on the field and in the classroom.
 
"It means a lot to us as coaches and here is why," Dorrel said. "It helps with the rest of your football team because they see him as a role model. It helps in recruiting because mom and dad look and say these guys are practicing what they preach.
 
"You have a guy who is a good student and a good athlete, it just reinforces what we say. You can be good at football and a good student, too."
 
On the football field, Reimer is off to a great start. He leads the team in tackles with 16 and has a sack.
 
"I think he is tackling really well," Dorrel said. "I think his preparation is great and his leadership has been phenomenal."
 
It is going to take all the Bearcats playing at a high level to continue their winning ways. Two years ago, Central Missouri stunned the Bearcats with a victory in Warrensburg.
 
Last year, Northwest needed to overcome a first half deficit to beat the Mules 28-24. It was the closest game Northwest had all season.
 
The Bearcats enter this contest 2-0 and riding a 17-game winning streak, dating back to last season. It's the longest current winning streak in NCAA Division II.
 
Meanwhile, Central Missouri, after a tough 10-9 loss at Missouri Western, bounced back with an impressive 50-31 victory against Emporia State.
 
"Their backs are against the wall a little bit," Reimer said. "They always play us well and are ready for the game. They come out firing.
 
"This is a big week of preparation for us. We have to do our job. If we do that, we have athletes and playmakers on our team that we will make plays. It will be a fun week."
 
Reimer and Dorrel both said the Bearcats played better in the second week of the season in their win at Missouri Southern.
 
"Execution, we definitely played better," Reimer said. "We always had the hustle. We played hard both games. It is just make sure you are doing your job. That is where we got hurt the most against Nebraska-Kearney when we weren't doing our job. That is when they exposed us."
 
In recent years, the Northwest-Central Missouri game has been intriguing for the fans and the media because of the Mules coaching staff. Former Northwest offensive coordinator Dave Svoboda is the head coach at Central. And former Northwest star quarterback Josh Lamberson is the offensive coordinator at Central. Dorrel is also friends with Kyle Westphal, who is a defensive back coach. Westphal was a graduate assistant coach at Northwest in 2006.
 
From a media standpoint, it is fun to speculate that Dorrel, who played at Northwest when Svoboda was the offensive coordinator, is trying to prove the student now knows more about offense than the teacher does.
 
Dorrel leaned back in his chair and laughed loudly at that armchair psychology.
 
"I enjoy the game," Dorrel said. "I get to see Josh. I get to see Kyle Westphal. I am very close to both of those guys. As short as it is before the game, I still get to talk to them for 10 minutes. In our profession, that is a rare deal. You enjoy seeing them, but after that it is let's go.
 
"We don't approach it any different. It is an MIAA game. It is Family Day. We want to do well, but it has nothing to do with who is coaching the other team."
 
The players might see it a tad differently.
 
"Obviously, the coaches know them so it is a big week for them," Reimer said. "They always want us to be ready and bring our best game against Central Missouri. It is another week and every week you are preparing for the game. But we don't want to lose to Central, that's for sure."
 
Reimer is savoring each week and the different storylines that come with it. He tries not to think about it being his last season of college football.
 
After he is finished, he plans to return to Wisconsin and seek a job or an internship in his field. He started the process over the summer, but kind of put it on hold during the football season. He doesn't want to feel the sting of a loss.
 
"That is the hard part because you are so focused on football and you want to finish your last season well and you are still finishing school," Reimer said. "I try not to think about it too much because I don't want it to end.
 
"When you do sit back and think about it a little bit, you do realize how much time you have put into the game and how well you want to finish your last season and leave a legacy for the younger guys to build on."