MIDDLETON -- Coaches are fond of saying that preseason polls are worthless.

You can add Middleton coach Kurt Gundlach's opinion to the list.

At the midpoint of the Big Eight Conference season, it's not Sun Prairie or Beloit Memorial or Janesville's Parker or Craig that stand atop the league standings.

Despite undergoing what some might call a massive rebuilding project, it's Middleton (4-0 overall and in the Big Eight) that finds itself looking down on the rest of the pack.

When it comes to trying to explain how the Cardinals have surged to the top of the standings, there is ®MD-IT¯something to be said for strength in numbers.

"There's no doubt. It looks like we're doing it by committee,'' Gundlach said after Middleton toppled Craig, 20-6, last week. "Every game somebody is doing something to pick us up.''

The Cardinals were tied for seventh in the first Associated Press Division 1 poll of the season. But they moved into a tie for fifth this week after knocking off previously unbeaten and fifth-ranked Craig.

"The better team won,'' admitted Craig coach Dan Thorpe after the game. "You have to do two things. You have to run the ball and you have to stop the run. We weren't able to do that.''

The Cardinals, who host Beloit Memorial (2-2, 2-1) in a Big Eight game Friday at 7:30 p.m., won't overwhelm anyone statistically.

Place-kicker Brandon Hellenbrand, who has converted all six of his field goal tries and is 12 of 13 in PATs, probably has the most gaudy numbers on the team.

But the defense comes at opposing offenses in waves, and the three-pronged running attack of Matt Meinholz, Kyle Brodd and Trent Beuthin has been equally effective.

Gundlach, though, said quarterback Jeremy Ziegler has played a key role in the Cardinals' quick start. In his first year as a starter, Ziegler has completed 26 of 47 passes for 447 yards and five touchdowns with only two interceptions. He has also run for a TD.

"Jeremy does so many things for us,'' said Gundlach, singling out Ziegler's 26-yard TD pass to Ryan Oliversen against Craig.

"Craig had that played well, but he picked it up himself. You get a kid like that at quarterback who does things on his own, it makes everybody around him so much better.''

Gundlach and defensive coordinator Tom Cabalka also point to the Cardinals' defense as a source of pride this season.

Middleton is allowing just 4.8 yards per play and 128.3 yards of total offense per game, both tops in the Big Eight. The Cardinals, who have allowed only three TDs in four games, have held opponents to 61 yards per game on the ground.

"Our whole team is explosive. We can do different things at different times,'' Middleton defensive back Matt Niesen said. "We have a lot of different weapons.''

But even Niesen admitted the team wasn't sure how it would fare this season.

"We knew we were either going to be pretty good or we were going to be bad,'' he said. "We really didn't know.''

That all changed after Middleton dumped Sun Prairie, 27-6, in the teams' season opener.

"After the first game, we knew we could beat people,'' Niesen said. "We were happy with ourselves and had high goals after that game.''