ASHLAND – Southern Oregon and Montana Tech were a little late getting acquainted with each other on the football field. The development of their rivalry has been expedited.

The first four games in the series, which began in 2007, were decided by five points or less and two of them went to double-overtime. The most recent was a 46-28 Raider romp on the final day of the 2012 regular season that forced Montana Tech to share the Frontier Conference championship with SOU.

The Orediggers (1-3 overall, 1-3 Frontier) and Raiders (2-3, 2-2) figure to be on testy terms again for Saturday's 1 p.m. kickoff at Raider Stadium with both teams desperate for a win. The first 1,000 fans through the gates, which open at 11 a.m., will receive free Operation Red 2013 t-shirts. Kids ages 12-and-under will be admitted for free thanks to Oak Tree Northewest Bar and Grill, and fans who can't make the game can watch on KDRV Newswatch 12+ or at the SOU Athletics Portal.

Operation Red couldn't be here at a more appropriate time considering the circumstances within the conference and the Raiders' revival in the standings. The Raiders lost three straight games to start the season – two of them Frontier contests and all three coming down to their final possession – but that last loss, a 63-56 overtime stinger at NCAA Division I Sacramento State, triggered a turnaround that has seen them score 195 points in the last three weeks while putting up yardage totals of 599, 620 and 692.

Meanwhile they got some major help from one of their victims, Eastern Oregon, which pulled off a 35-31 stunner last Saturday against previously-unbeaten Carroll College. Now every Frontier team has at least one setback in conference play, and with six games to go the Raiders are just one game out of first place in the loss column. They also have a game left against every one-loss team except for Rocky Mountain.

"There's a little light at the end of the tunnel," third-year SOU coach Craig Howard said. "We're closer to controlling our own destiny so we're going to play a lot of big games. I know our players are excited to finally play on our home field and we want to put on a good show."

SOU is 8-0 at Raider Stadium under Howard.

The Orediggers can relate to the early-season funk, only they haven't quite snapped out of theirs yet. They were the preseason pick to share the conference title with Carroll, were ranked No. 7 in the NAIA preseason poll and won their first game at Eastern Oregon, 23-7. Since then, though, they've dropped games at Carroll (21-7) and on their home field to Montana Western (29-22) and Rocky Mountain (13-6).

The nation's No. 9 pass offense of a year ago isn't quite what it was, producing 205 yards per game, but the pass defense is the fifth-best in the NAIA, holding opposing throwers to just 140.3 yards.

That should make for an interesting showdown with SOU quarterback Austin Dodge (Vancouver, Wash./Skyview) and a Raider offense that's putting up 590 per game – the second-highest average in the NAIA.

Dodge is currently on one of the biggest rolls of his career and could have thrown the ball in a tea cup during last week's 66-21 win at Dickinson State, completing 32 of 39 pass attempts for 460 yards and five touchdowns. He's thrown 17 TD passes in his last three games (76 in 25 career starts), leads the NAIA in passing yards per game (382.2) and only four of his 237 attempts have been picked off.

"Tech is hungry to win – they're in a must-win situation – and they're just as good defensively as they have been, if not better," Howard said. "It's one of the best defenses in the country against one of the best offenses, so it's going to be a chess match."

The Raiders hope to get a boost offensively from redshirt-freshman Melvin Mason (Vacaville, Calif./Vacaville), who will return from injury for his first full game since rushing for 236 yards and two TDs at Sacramento State. Zach Marshall (Camas, Wash./Camas) and Sean Tow (Diamond Springs, Calif./Union Mine) have been prolific in the backfield in his absence, combining for an average of 178.5 yards over the last two weeks.

Howard is also hoping for more stellar play from the Raider defense, which got to Dickinson quarterbacks for 6.5 sacks last week and held them to 5-for-17 passing. Linebackers Blake Mylz and Laurence Calcagno (Canby, Ore./Canby) have 40 and 32 tackles, respectively, to lead the team and Trevor Kuyper (Redding, Calif./Central Valley) has three sacks.

Junior Pat Hansen leads the Tech rushing attack at 99.5 yards per game and 4.7 per carry.

Montana Tech leads the all-time series, 3-2, and won a 48-45 double-overtime decision in the teams' first matchup of 2012. They'll meet again on Nov. 16 in Butte, Mont., to cap the regular season.

HALL-OF-FAMERS IN THE HOUSE: Two teams, three individuals and a trio of football playing brothers will join the Southern Oregon University Sports Hall of Fame on Saturday morning at an induction ceremony on campus.

Former volleyball player Kristina Matchett, former baseball player and softball coach Larry Binney, former football players Nick Daniken and brothers David, Sammy and Ted "Baba" Searle join the 1993-94 wrestling team and the 1996-97 women's basketball team to comprise the 2013 class. The inductees will also be honored at halftime of the football game.

For more information on the inductees, click here.