There’s only so much midnight oil to be burned; only so much videotape to be dissected; only so many brilliant ideas that can suddenly dawn on a coach or any of his players.

If you’re the seventh-ranked Mustangs of Morningside, heading into a national playoff quarterfinal Saturday at Bob Young Field in Sioux Falls, you focus on the positives, even if they don’t constitute a terribly overwhelming list.

Number One, after the rare privilege of being one of 16 NAIA playoff teams for a sixth consecutive year, you are now one of eight still vying for the 2009 national championship.

Number Two, two weeks after a 49-21 loss to top-ranked Sioux Falls spoiled your perfect record, you get a rare shot at a mulligan, even if this one must be played on the Cougars’ home field instead of the familiar environs of Olsen Stadium.

Number Three, decisive as that final tally may have looked to scoreboard watchers, the impact of six Morningside turnovers (compared to just one for USF) made all the difference in the world.

In retrospect, it was rather remarkable that Morningside lost the ball four times in its first seven possessions and still tied the game at 21-21 with 1:28 remaining in the first half.

Only one of those first-half giveaways paved the way to a relatively easy score for the Cougars, but another one stopped the Mustangs at the USF 33, when they had surged in front 14-7 and were marching toward a possible 21-7 advantage.

And, after being forced to punt on three of four previous tries on offense, this particular turnover seemed to tell the defending national champions they had better start taking advantage of all these breaks.

So, Coach Kalen DeBoer’s team kicked it in gear and put together scoring drives on their next four possessions, surging 68, 59, 56 and 65 yards, all in six plays or less, to take control of things.

Even then, after falling behind 35-21 shortly after halftime, Morningside had three more strong possessions, including two very serious scoring threats.

Kane Kuehl’s superb punt pinned USF at its one-yard line and the next play was a pass intercepted by Morningside’s Ben Rickord at the Cougar 32. Six plays later, it was fourth-and-one at the USF 8-yard line when Joe Don Hunter was stopped short of a first down.

Two possessions later, with the margin now a 42-21, Morningside marched from its 25 to the USF 12 before three passes fell incomplete and a fourth was picked off in the end zone.

So, there is plenty of room for improvement when Great Plains Athletic Conference runner-up Morningside plays the perennial league champs Saturday at 1 p.m.

Both teams made time for some turkey on Thursday, but morning meetings and a practice session came first for two programs who’ve grown accustomed to having this particular holiday complicated by postseason football.

“We’ve been playing football games on Thanksgiving weekend for nine years in a row now, you’d think we’d know the drill,’’ said USF’s DeBoer.

In the NAIA, that means you’ve reached these quarterfinals nine straight times. And, Morningside, I should add, has done so for the fifth straight time.

Sioux Falls, of course, has been downright remarkable in a nine-year stretch that has now seen the Cougars go 22-6 in playoff games. Since missing out on the playoffs in 2000 (and also 1999), they’re 9-0 in the opening round, 7-1 in the quarterfinals, 4-3 in semifinal action and have split in four championship games.

It doesn’t hurt, of course, that USF has had the luxury of playing at home in 19 of its 24 non-championship games since ’01. Last Saturday’s 63-21 rout of Minot State was the Cougars’ 10th consecutive home playoff contest aside from their three straight title game appearances -- last year’s in Rome, Ga., the new host, after two in Savannah, Tenn., the championship game site for a 12-year stretch.

Of course, Sioux Falls has won two of those last three finals, turning back Carroll (Mont.) 23-7 last December in a rematch of a 17-9 loss the previous year.

All of this adds up to yet another positive for Morningside, incidentally.

You see, no matter what the Cougars have accomplished in the past, the score will still be 0-0 when Saturday’s opening kickoff is launched.

And, the history of college football has rendered so many unbelievable upsets, nothing Morningside can do in this game could raise a ripple on that ocean of surprises.