It's tough to put too much on a season-opening game, but Saturday's Southern Oregon and Eastern Oregon battle in La Grande does have a lot riding on it.

Kickoff is set for 1 p.m. on Saturday and live video will be available on www.souraiders.com.

For the Raiders, this marks the first of five NAIA games - the most the program has had in years. It also is a chance to chase away any thoughts left over after last year's 2-7 season.

"Every NAIA game is important to us," fifth-year SOU head coach Steve Helminiak said. "It's like this is a league game."

For Eastern Oregon, it's a chance to avenge a 32-28 setback last year in Ashland that put a damper on what turned out to be an impressive 7-4 season.

"For them last year's game is one they feel they should have won and because they didn't it hurt them when it came to playoff berths," Helminiak said. "I'm sure they don't want that to happen again."

Southern Oregon will be handing the keys to the offense over to junior Mike McDonald (Burbank, Calif./Burbank) after he beat out last year's starter Paul Sweeney (South San Francisco, Calif./Sared Heart Cathedral) during Fall camp.

"I think we are leaps and bounds ahead of where we were at this point last year in terms of the quarterback position," Helminiak said. "And I'm talking about both Mike and Paul. Right now we are going with Mike because he can improvise a little more and gives us another threat."

McDonald will have plenty of weapons to work with on the offensive side of the ball.

Junior running back Brandon Baldwin (Palo Cedro, Calif./Foothill) is coming off a sophomore season in which he rushed for 1,191 yards and ranked third in the NAIA at 132.3 yards per game. Junior Michael Springer (El Dorado, Calif./Union Mine) and junior Marshawn Friloux (Bellflower, Calif./Bellflower) have also caught the coaching staff's eyes during camp.

"It's always great to return a 1,000 yard rusher, but with Springer and Friloux we feel like we have a whole different dimension to our running game," Helminiak said.

Helminiak has also been impressed with the play of receivers Vance Beach (Mesa, Ariz./Dobson) and Danny Keenan (Pacifica, Calif./Terra Nova), tight end Justin Avriett (Pleasanton, Calif./Amador Valley) and a re-tooled offensive line.

Even with back-to-back 1,000-yard rushers, Helminiak knows the offense has plenty of room to improve over the last couple years.

"We have been too one dimensional and we've turned the ball over way too much," Helminiak said. "I really think this year we will be more balanced and that should help our overall success."

Defensively, new defensive coordinator Berk Brown will have plenty of new faces to throw in the defensive mix.

In the secondary, Randy Fesser (Portland, Ore./Heritage) and James Wheeler (Los Angeles, Calif./William Hart) have emerged as the leaders. At linebacker, Sam Latham (Murrieta, Calif./Murrieta Valley), Kalli Robinson and Jake Kyle (Fall River, Calif./Fall River) all are new starters, while returners Jarrod Maroni and Juwuan Brown (Long Beach, Calif./Long Beach Poly) anchor the defensive line.

"We have some new faces and plenty of speed," Helminiak said of the defense. "The guys run to the ball really well and we have a chance to be better than last year at some different positions."

The SOU defense will have its hands full with the Eastern Oregon offense that returns All-American quarterback Chris Ware and All-Conference wide receiver Kirk Miller and running back Kevin Sampson.

"It's all about Chris Ware, he's the man for them," Helminiak said. "The passing game, the running game, it's all on him and he's a nightmare to contain."

Kicker Tyler Crowley (Palo Cedro, Calif./Bishop Quinn) returns to anchor the special teams.

After the Eastern Oregon game, the Raiders are off a week before traveling to Simon Fraser on Sept. 11.