ASHLAND – The Southern Oregon offense will face off against another elite pass rush Saturday when the Raiders face Eastern Oregon in a cross-state rivalry rematch at 1 p.m. at La Grande's Community Stadium.

Raider fans can keep up with Saturday's action with live stats and video from La Grande by following links available on the SOU Athletics website.

Southern Oregon, ranked 14th in the latest NAIA poll with a 6-2 record, will look for its second victory over Eastern Oregon this season. The Raiders defeated the Mountaineers 68-22 last month in Ashland as the offense surpassed 700 yards for the first of four straight games. Eastern Oregon came into that game ranked No. 24, but four losses in its past six games have dropped EOU to 4-4 this season and out of the national rankings.

Saturday's game is SOU's final road game of the 2012 regular season, prior to a season-finale home meeting with No. 7 Montana Tech on Nov. 10. Head coach Craig Howard knows each game will present a challenge as the Raiders aim for a Frontier Conference championship in their first year as conference members.

“We face two tough opponents to finish out our season, one at home and one on the road,” Howard said. “The game this week is Senior Day, so it's going to be an emotional, fun-filled day in La Grande, an emotionally packed game with a lot of intense football play between two teams that are rivals in the state of Oregon.”

Southern Oregon's offense has continued its record-setting pace, even as No. 6 Carroll prevented the Raiders from setting a single-game yardage mark for the fourth straight contest. The Raiders still tallied 719 yards in the 52-49 upset victory, their fourth straight game with more than 700 yards. They lead the NAIA in total offense and are on pace to shatter the national record for yards per game (653.9) and also lead the nation in passing offense (448.9 yards per game). The Raiders' 54.4 points per game average is the best in the nation, as is their 30.6 first downs per game and two total sacks given up.

Individually, Austin Dodge (Vancouver, Wash./Skyview) continues to stretch his own SOU season records in yards (3,289), touchdowns (27), completions (234) and attempts (347). Meanwhile, Cole McKenzie (Red Bluff, Calif./Red Bluff) and Patrick Donahue (Los Angeles, Calif./Franklin) are on the verge of rewriting the SOU single-season receiving records. Both have surpassed 1,000 receiving yards already – only the second and third receivers in SOU history to do so – and are within range of Spike Gordon's 1965 program record of 1,163 receiving yards. Donahue has already tied the program record of 70 catches, with McKenzie's 61 catches close behind, and McKenzie's 12 touchdown grabs are tied for the school record.

Colin Amsler (Stevenson Ranch, Calif./West Ranch) leads the nation in kick scoring with 83 total points, an average of 10.4 per game, and his 12 field goals this season are the fourth most in the NAIA. Mike Olson (Colfax, Calif./Colfax) ranks sixth in scoring per game (11.5 points), and his 92 total points rank seventh.

Defensively, the Raiders have claimed Frontier Conference Player of the Week honors in each of the past four weeks, led by back-to-back awards for Kalii Robinson (Los Angeles, Calif./Dorsey). The linebacker leads SOU's defense with 56 total tackles, including five for loss. Heston Altenbach (Coquille, Ore./Coquille) has added 47.5 tackles for the Raiders.


“We're getting a lot of notoriety for the points we're scoring and our offensive production, and our defense is doing well, too,” Howard said. “We're going to have to do a great job this week of defending Eastern Oregon. I know that Coach Camp and his crew will be ready.”

Eastern Oregon is coming off a 14-0 road victory over Dickinson State last weekend after a close 28-20 home loss to top-10 Montana Tech. The Mountaineers' pass rush ranks sixth nationally with an average of 3.5 sacks per contest, led by Wess Orr's eight total sacks. Howard McDonald leads the nation in tackles, averaging 16.6 per game. Quarterback Jason Simonis has thrown for 1,032 yards and seven touchdowns while completing 61.4 percent of his passes, and Sean Hurlbut and Christopher McGinnis-Parker have combined for more than 600 rushing yards.

The Raiders own a 46-14-3 all-time record against Eastern Oregon, with SOU's 46 wins against EOU almost double the Raiders' win total against any other opponent. With six wins, the Raiders have already clinched their first winning season since 2007 and have more wins than any team since the 2002 squad finished 8-3.

Going into the final two weeks, the Raiders have a chance to take home a conference crown and advance to the NAIA Championship Series for the first time in 10 years. They've reached their highest ranking since 2003 and have been climbing each week during a four-game win streak. But Howard knows the danger of focusing on the numbers and is instead looking only at the upcoming game.

“We're not looking at polls,” Howard said. “We're only looking at being 1-0 this week. We're going to La Grande on Friday, playing the game on Saturday, and we hope to come back to Ashland 1-0 this week.”