FLORENCE, Ala. -- Saturday's Gulf South Conference battle between North Alabama and Delta State has taken on new significance after a shake-up in the league standings last weekend.
    With three weeks of play left in the 2017 regular-season, there are no unbeaten teams remaining in GSC play and seven of the league's nine teams are still in contention for a shot at the conference title.
    West Alabama's 41-39 loss to Florida Tech and Delta State's 34-13 rout at home at the hands of Valdosta State have tightened up the GSC race considerably.
    UNA, the four-time defending GSC champion, comes in 3-2 in league play and has still has a chance to try and win a fifth straight title with a strong showing over the final three weeks.
    Delta State has lost two of its last three games after a 5-0 start.
    That leaves West Alabama (5-1) as the only one loss team with Delta State 4-2 and UNA, West Florida, Florida Tech, Valdosta State and West Georgia all 3-2 in the GSC.
    Only three times in conference history (1975, 1996, 2010) has a team won the GSC football crown with two losses but 2017 could possibly be the fourth.
    So despite a 3-4 overall record, the Lions enter their game with Delta State still playing for a GSC crown.
    Kickoff is set for 6 p.m. at Braly Stadium.
    "Our players are excited that they still have a chance to play for a conference title," UNA head coach Chris Willis said. "We've faced a tough schedule and had to deal wth a lot of injuries but we're still in the GSC race and our players feel good about that."
    Through seven games of the season, UNA has faced the toughest football schedule in Division II with an opponent's winning percentage of .690. The Lions non-conference games were against the No. 5 and No. 9 ranked teams in the nation. That schedule doesn't get any easier against a 6-2 Delta State team that has made great strides on the defensive side of the ball.
    "Delta State is a good football team and they know they still have a lot to play for as well,' said Willis. "Their defense is like night and day compared to last year. They have a strong front seven and they are extremely good against the run. Offensively, they have the best running back in the GSC in Chris Robinson. He can hurt you running the ball or catching passes."
    The UNA offense has been devastated by injuries, losing starting quarterback Blake Hawkins for the season in the second game and numerous linemen for all or part of the season.
    The Lions defense has played galantly despite its own injury problems, returning three interceptions for touchdowns to support the scoring effort. UNA ranks among the Division II national leaders with 14 interceptions and 21 total take-aways as a defensive unit.
    That defense will be tested against a Delta State team that comes in to Braly Stadium averaging 30.5 points and 406.1 total yards per game.
    DSU running back Chris Robinson, the 2016 Division II scoring champion, has rushed for 629 yards and nine scores in 2017.
    The Statesmen defense has been extremely stingy against the run, allowing just 86 yards per game, but is giving up more than 250 yards per game through the air.
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    UNA leads the all-time series with Delta State 33-26-1 and the 60 meetings are the second most times that the Lions have faced any opponent.
    UNA has won the last two meetings by sizeable margins, winning 49-19 in Cleveland, Miss., last season and 43-17 in Florence in 2015.
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    This will be the first time that UNA head coach Chris Willis,  a 1999 Delta State graduate who also received his Master's degree from DSU, will face his alma mater as head coach of the Lions.
    Willis also served as an assistant football coach with the Statesmen under Steve Campbell from 1999-2001. He has been on the staff at North Alabama since 2002.
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    After a road trip to Pensacola, Fla., next Saturday to take on West Florida, UNA returns to Braly Stadium to close out its regular season on November 11 against Mississippi College at 1:30 p.m. That date also serves as UNA's Preview Day.