IFL: Billings at Omaha Beef

When: 7 tonight

Where: Civic Auditorium

Radio: None

Scouting the Beef: The division-leading Beef (10-3) have plenty to play for in the IFL’s game of the week. A win would clinch a Central Division championship, a first-round bye in the playoffs that start next week and home field — where they’re 7-0 this season — through the conference championship game. A loss in the rubber match to the league’s top team would drop the Beef to the No. 2 seed in their division, force them into a first-round game next weekend and put them on the road the rest of the way. Omaha forced four turnovers in the mid-April win — the only loss of the season for the Outlaws — and limited Billings quarterback Chris Dixon to one touchdown pass just two weeks after he torched the Beef defense for seven scoring passes in a 52-40 win in Montana.

Scouting the Outlaws: The numbers don’t lie for a Billings team with the IFL’s best record (12-1). The Outlaws are tops in scoring offense, rushing offense and total offense and are in the top five in almost every statistical category. Dixon is the straw who stirs the drink for the Outlaws. He is second in the league in total offense and in rushing and passing average, one spot ahead of Omaha’s James McNear in all three categories. Dixon’s primary targets are James Walton and Robert Redd. Walton is the league’s highest-scoring receiver with 32 touchdown receptions, while Redd is in the top four in the IFL in receptions per game and receiving yards per game. Billings will be coming off back-to-back bye weeks, something Omaha had to deal with earlier this season. In their previous four games — all wins — the Outlaws outscored their opponents 65.0 to 26.3.

Notes: The organization is asking fans to wear orange as part of the Beef’s annual Orange Out night. ... Beef defensive back Brett Hafford is No. 1 in the league in tackles at 78.5 in 11 games. The 5-foot-10, 192-pound Hafford, out of Stephen F. Austin, led the team in tackles a season ago. ... Teammate Spetlar Tonga, a linebacker, is 10th in tackles. ... With its last win, Billings surpassed the league season-high seven-game winning streak that Omaha put together from mid-April to early June. ... Billings has broken the 80-point mark twice and has scored more than 70 points six times. No other team has done that more than twice. — Nick Rubek