12 p.m. Saturday – #8 SOU at Eastern Oregon – Live Stream/Stats

ASHLAND – The Eastern Oregon football team has long been out of the hunt for its first berth in the NAIA postseason, but that won't stop the Mountaineers from trying to find consolation in spoiling Southern Oregon University's fun – again.

The eighth-ranked Raiders (7-2 overall, 7-2 Frontier) and Mountaineers (4-6, 4-5) will end the regular season Saturday with a noon kickoff at Community Stadium in La Grande. The change of scenery could actually be refreshing for SOU, which was an upset victim of EOU's in its regular-season home finales the last two years at Raider Stadium.

In 2013, a 38-37 Mountaineers win extinguished the 25th-ranked Raiders' already slim playoff hopes in their penultimate game. In 2014, a 31-27 Mountaineers win dropped the Raiders from fourth to eighth in the final NAIA Top 25 poll, ultimately costing them a couple home playoff games but serving as fuel on their drive to a national championship.

The Raiders' wake-up calls came earlier this year. After losing the season-opener at Carroll, they fell behind EOU 35-14 entering the fourth quarter of their second game and had to mount an unthinkable rally to win 38-35. That was the beginning of a seven-game win streak, which ended last week in Ashland when Montana Tech clinched a share of the Frontier Conference title in Ashland, 21-17.

Fumbling around with the Mountaineers again would certainly cost the Raiders their right to a first-round home game Nov. 21 in the 16-team NAIA Championship Series, and could cost them a spot in the playoff altogether. Twelve conference champions get in automatically if they are ranked in the top-20, and the next highest-ranked teams fill out the rest of the field with at-large bids. As of now, five teams on top of their respective conferences are outside of the top-16 in the rankings, including three outside the top-20.

(*Note: The paragraph above has been corrected and clarified since original publication.)

The seven top-25 teams that lost last week dropped an average of six spots as a result. The final poll will be released Sunday along with first-round playoff pairings. Win, and instead of sweating the Raiders can gear up to host a postseason game for the second year in a row after going 11 years at Raider Stadium without one. Tickets would go on sale Monday.

Around the Frontier: In Saturday's only other Frontier Conference game relevant to the postseason, No. 6 Montana Tech (8-1) hosts No. 10 Montana Western (7-2). Should UMW pull off the upset and SOU take care of business, the result would be the first three-way tie for the Frontier title since 2004.

The tiebreaker for the Frontier's automatic bid to the playoffs would go to the team that has allowed the fewest points in conference play. Up to this point, UMW has allowed 153, Tech has allowed 159 and SOU has allowed 206.

Series History:
– Saturday's contest will mark the 70th all-time between SOU and EOU. The Raiders lead the series, 50-16-3, and are 22-10-2 playing in La Grande. The last time EOU defeated SOU in La Grande was Nov. 15, 2008.
– The last four meetings have all been decided by four points or less with both teams winning two apiece. Prior to that stretch, SOU had won six straight, including the previous three by an average of 42.3 points.
– SOU's last trip to La Grande on Sept. 13, 2014, was a 35-31 win that SOU didn't lead until Melvin Mason's touchdown with 2:11 left. The Raiders also survived EOU's dropped pass in the end zone with two seconds left.
– This year's first meeting was highlighted by SOU quarterback Tanner Trosin's breakout performance. He came off the bench to complete 17 of 20 passes for 173 yards and rushed 14 times for 116 yards and three TDs. He's started every game since.
– EOU began competing in the Frontier in 2006 and SOU became a member of 2012. Both teams have posted a Frontier record over .500 four times.
– The Raiders have faced EOU more than any team except Western Oregon, which SOU played most recently for the 76th time in 2010.

Upon Further Review…: Montana Tech took advantage of an off day for the Raider offense in last Saturday's 21-17 decision: The Raiders went the entire second half without a touchdown and were held under 20 points for the first time since Oct. 15, 2011 – a span of 49 games with 20 or more. They came into the day ranked second in the NAIA in third-down conversion percentage (54.5) before converting just 4 of 13 third-down tries. The Raider defense succeeded for the most part in slowing down the NAIA's leading rusher, Nolan Saraceni. The Diggers rushed 55 times for 352 yards but thrived on big plays, accumulating 210 of those yards on just six rushes.

Quick Hits:
– SOU has not lost consecutive games since the beginning of the 2013 season. Its average margin of victory following losses over the past four years is 33 points.
– Last week, AJ Cooper became the sixth Raider to intercept a pass this season. The Raiders have 11 picks as a team, led by Karrington Jones' five (which ranks fourth in the NAIA).
– Tanner Trosin has rushed for an average of 78.3 yards the last three weeks. In the previous three weeks, he averaged 32.7 yards.
– Teran Togia now leads the Raiders in catches with 31 for 303 yards and four TDs.  Adonis Griffin (27/411/3) has made catches of 40 yards or longer in three of his last five games.
– All-conference receiver Matt Retzlaff returned to the Raider lineup last week with three catches for 48 yards. Battling injuries, he had missed three of the previous four games.
– With his touchdown run last week, Melvin Mason is up to 36 rushing TDs and 42 total TDs for his career. He's scored in seven of SOU's nine games this season.
– SOU's defense has forced 12 fumbles and recovered 11 of them. Jaylenn Hart (who, along with David Weider, led the Raiders with nine tackles) forced his second last week.

About Eastern Oregon: The Mountaineers have alternated wins and losses the last eight weeks and are coming off a 21-10 win over College of Idaho, which made them 2-2 at home.  They're led, as always, by all-conference running back Jace Billingsley, who has rushed 64 times for 376 yards in his last two games against SOU. He ranks second in the NAIA in all-purpose yards (1,777). But with Billingsley seemingly banged up, Alfred Gross (who did not appear in EOU's first meeting with SOU) rushed 17 times for 115 yards last week. Zach Bartlow is completing 61 percent of his passes for 227 yards per game with 16 passing TDs, eight rushing TDs and six interceptions.

Defensively, the Mountaineers are giving up 392 yards per game and have been outscored 86-17 in first quarters. Gary Posten leads the team with 122 tackles, ranking seventh in the NAIA at 12.6 per game. Byron Benson has three of the team's 10 interceptions, and they've only forced four fumbles and recovered one.