When a football team scores 48 points and its quarterback throws for six touchdowns and 562 yards, it’s difficult to imagine it losing a game.

But that was the frustrating predicament that Carthage found itself in last Saturday night.

Junior quarterback Evan Jones continued his season-long aerial assault, but the Red Men committed seven turnovers in a 63-48 loss to then No. 14 North Central at Art Keller Field.

The Red Men (4-2, 1-2 CCIW) will try to rebound from that defeat vs. Augustana (3-3, 1-2 CCIW) at 6 tonight at Ericson Field in Rock Island, Ill.

That will be a huge undertaking for Carthage, which is 0-17-1 at Augustana since last winning there in 1970.

However, the Red Men are 3-0 on the road this season.

While Jones (359.0 yards total offense per game) and wide receivers Jeff Koeneman (9.0 receptions per game) and Nick Merchut (114.0 receiving yards per game) rank among the NCAA Division-3 leaders in those respective categories, the stingy Vikings rank second in the College Conference of Illinois and Wisconsin in scoring defense (12.5 ppg).

Augustana is coming off a 7-0 home loss to Illinois Wesleyan last Saturday. Like Carthage, the Vikings hurt themselves with four turnovers and a running-into-the-kicker penalty that kept alive Illinois Wesleyan’s only scoring drive of the game.

Augustana’s offense hasn’t played nearly as well as its defense. The Vikings rank seventh in the eight-team CCIW in scoring offense (19.7 ppg), eighth in passing (129.5 ypg) and fifth in rushing (156.5 ypg).

Junior Robert Wood is the CCIW’s third-leading rusher (77.8 ypg) and Vikings’ top offensive threat.