ELMHURST, Ill. -- The Augustana Vikings football team will be back in action following their bye week as they get set to visit the Elmhurst Bluejays on Saturday, September 17 in their CCIW opener.

Augie sits at 1-0 on the season following a season-opening victory over Rhodes back on September 3. The Vikings jumped out to a 31-7 halftime lead over the Lynx for the second consecutive season, thanks to three touchdown passes through the air from Cole Bhardwaj and a fumble recovery for a touchdown right before the half from Johnny Breeden. Rhodes made it a game in the second half, scoring two fourth-quarter touchdowns to cut the margin to just six.  The Lynx had a chance to put together one last scoring drive with 90 seconds remaining, but the Vikings prevented them from getting a first down and forced a turnover on downs.

The Lynx out-gained the Vikings 408-355 and had 16 more plays on offense. Rhodes also had the ball for seven more minutes than Augie. Bhardwaj finished his afternoon 18-35 through the air with 248 yards and three scores. Mike DiGioia had 63 yards on the ground for Augie on 12 carries, while Bobby Inserra was the team's top pass-catcher with 99 yards on six grabs to go with his touchdown reception. Josh Timm secured a game-high nine tackles, followed by Michael Hudson with eight and Nick Harper with seven. Chase Tatum added a sack for the Viking defense.

Elmhurst enters Saturday with an 0-1 record following a 63-0 loss to UW-River Falls in their season opener. The Bluejays trailed just 8-0 after one quarter of action, but allowed 39 second-quarter points to dig themselves into a big halftime deficit. River Falls put up six points in third and 10 points in the fourth on their way to the shutout victory. Elmhurst quarterback Connor Buyck was held to 33 yards through the air on 7-19 throwing. He was sacked five times. The Bluejays mustered just 79 yards of total offense.

Augustana won last year's meeting between the two in Rock Island by a score of 48-7 on Senior Day. Bhardwaj threw for four touchdowns and had 25 completions in the win. Seven different Vikings had a reception, led by Ian Gorken's six to go with 79 yards and two touchdowns. Tatum finished with eight tackles and three sacks on the day to lead the Vikings defense.

The Vikings lead the all-time series 56-8-1 and are 6-2 in their last eight encounters.

Start time is scheduled for 1:00 p.m. Live video and stat links can be found here.