NAIA CHAMPIONSHIP SERIES – FIRST ROUND
#5 SOU (10-0) vs. #13 Dickinson State (N.D.) (9-1)
1 p.m. Saturday | Raider Stadium | Ashland, Oregon
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ASHLAND – Southern Oregon's five-win turnaround this regular season over 2016 was tied for the biggest among all NAIA Championship Series qualifiers, but the Raiders outgrew all underdog labels long ago.

Considering their recent postseason history and unblemished 10-0 record, the target on the fifth-ranked Raiders' backs will be as visible as ever when the 16-team playoff kicks off Saturday. The 2014 national champions and 2015 finalists begin a new journey at 1 p.m. on the Raider Stadium turf, hosting 13th-ranked and 9-1 Dickinson State (N.D.) in the first round.

How They Got Here: Both teams earned automatic postseason berths – the Raiders by winning their first Frontier Conference title since 2012, and the Blue Hawks by winning the North Star Athletic Association championship for the third straight season with a record of 8-0. A total of 12 automatic bids were awarded; the other four qualifiers received at-large bids based on the final NAIA Top 25 coaches' poll.

Playoff Picture: The playoff is not bracketed; the next round's matchups and hosts, informed by rankings and geography, will be announced Sunday by the NAIA. Quarterfinal and semifinal games will be played on campus sites on Nov. 25 and Dec. 2, and the NAIA Football National Championship will be played in Daytona Beach, Florida, for the fourth year in a row on Dec. 16.

Series History: SOU has history with six teams in the playoff field, but DSU is the only one of those that the Raiders have seen exclusively in the regular season. The Blue Hawks were members of the Frontier for two years and mounted a 1-19 conference record in their time – losing to SOU in 2012, 45-7, and 2013, 66-21. The first matchup marked SOU's first-ever Frontier win in Ashland. Rocky Mountain is the teams' only common opponent this season: DSU defeated the Bears, 43-28, at home on Aug. 24; and SOU defeated the Bears, 24-23, at home on Sept. 30.

SOU Championship Series History: The Raiders are making their seventh appearance in the NAIA FCS and their fifth since it went to a one-division, 16-team setup in 1997. They bring with them a record of 11-5, including 6-0 in the first round and 5-1 at Raider Stadium. They'd never been past the second round before 2014, when they were the No. 8 seed, and 2015, when they were No. 7. During those runs they went 5-1 against higher-seeded opponents and went through the top-seeded teams both times. Their title-game win over Marian (Ind.) three years ago was the first for a public school since 1999 and the first ever for a team that had to play on the road in the quarterfinal and semifinal rounds.

DSU Championship Series History: The Blue Hawks are in the playoff for the 18th time, having compiled a record of 6-17. They're seeking their first postseason win since 2004; they've dropped six first-round games in a row, including losses the last two years at then-Frontier champion Montana Tech. The score of last year's game, played in Butte, was 28-21, though the Blue Hawks trailed 21-0 midway through the second quarter. (Their top performer on that day, tailback Jed Fike, subsequently transferred to Montana Tech.) DSU is 0-9 all-time on the road in the NAIA FCS and made its deepest run, to the semifinal round, in 1991.

Playoff Quickies:
– Saint Francis (Ind.) is the top seed and defending champion. Five other former champions are in the field: SOU (2014), Grand View (Iowa) (2013), Saint Xavier (Ill.) (2011), Georgetown (Ky.) (1991-2000-01) and Northwestern (Iowa) (1973-83).
– Over the last five years, host teams have gone 37-3 in the first round. Over the last three years, they're 24-0.
– This is the first time since 2011 that only one Frontier team is in the field. The last time there were no Frontier teams in the semifinal round was 2012. The conference has been represented in the championship game 10 of the last 15 seasons – eight times by Carroll and twice by SOU.
– Six teams enter the playoff with unbeaten records. There were three such teams last year, one in 2015 and none in 2014.

The Defense That Keeps Not Giving: A defense that makes SOU scarier than usual this year finished the regular season by holding Montana Tech – which finished with the fifth-best offense in the NAIA in terms of yardage and 12th-best in terms of scoring – to its lowest point total in over three years in a 24-10 victory. In their last four games the Raiders have given up a combined 53 points, the fewest in a stretch of that length since 2002. During the stretch they've been especially stingy when opponents reach the red zone, holding them to six scores in 17 trips; in their six previous games, opponents had scored 18 times in 22 trips to the red zone.

The Raiders, in keeping every regular-season opponent under 30 points for the first time since 1982, have been equally annoying to both passers and rushers. Opposing quarterbacks' combined completion percentage is 50.3, down from 58.5 last year and well under any season in the last decade, and SOU's sack total (46) and average (4.6) is the best in the nation, up from 30 sacks a season ago. Its rush defense is giving up 3.5 yards per attempt, also the lowest clip for a Raider team in a decade, and only one opposing tailback has netted over 60 yards in a single game this year.

It's Tro' Time: Senior SOU quarterback Tanner Trosin is coming off his two quietest games of the season, but he still comes into the playoffs ranked second in the NAIA in passing yards per game (346.6) and with the fourth-most passing yards in SOU single-season history. He's also shown a penchant for coming up big when it counts, as demonstrated during the 2015 postseason when, in SOU's three wins, he completed 71 percent of his passes for 339 yards per game and rushed 42 times for 216 yards and three TDs. The regular-season book on him closed at 22 passing TDs, seven rushing TDs and six interceptions – bringing his career totals to 44 passing TDs (4th in SOU history), 20 rushing TDs (6th in SOU history) and 18 interceptions in just two full seasons.

Briefly:
– Fourteen players on the current roster were around for SOU's first championship in 2014, and 12 more on the current roster joined for the run a year later.
– As a freshman in 2015, linebacker Devvon Gage led all Raiders with 42 tackles in the postseason. As a freshman in 2014, linebacker Isiah Carter was second among all Raiders with five tackles for losses in the postseason. Carter last week raised his career tackle total to 306 – becoming the fifth player in team history to break 300 – and Gage is up to 274, now No. 7 on SOU's all-time list.
– Receiver Matt Boudreaux's 179-yard, two-touchdown game at Montana Tech marked a career-best output and his second 100-plus-yard game of the season. Bronsen Ader has four such games, Jordan Suell three, and the trio has combined for 2,184 reception yards and 15 of SOU's 23 reception TDs. Jason Shelley has also come on late in averaging 74.7 reception yards over the last three weeks after averaging 25.8 in his first six games. He's pulled in four TD catches.
– The Raiders' first-half dominance continued last week: They've outscored opponents 83-20 in first quarters, 134-51 in second quarters, 53-48 in third quarters and 86-72 in fourth quarters.
– Rey Vega notched six rushing TDs and 390 rushing yards on 7.8 per carry in SOU's last four games. In its first six, he totaled two rushing TDs and 3.6 yards per carry.
– SOU's leading tackler, Tyson Cooper, had more than 10 tackles for the fourth time this season last week. He's made 10 tackles for losses – tied with Carter and one behind team leader Sean Rogers in that category. Rogers' 9 ½ sacks lead the Raiders and his average of one per game is fifth-best in the NAIA, while Carter is up to 8 ½. With 17 ½ career sacks, Rogers needs 1 ½ more to move into the top five in SOU history.
– SOU is 97-58 all-time at Raider Stadium. The Raiders won their five previous first-round home games by an average of 26.2 points.
– At No. 5, the Raiders are in possession of their highest-ever postseason seed. They started the year ranked No. 25.

About Dickinson State:
– Since taking over the Blue Hawks prior to the 2014 season, Pete Stanton has led the team to a 33-11 record. Prior to becoming the head coach, he instructed DSU's linebackers for 14 years.
– This year's squad has allowed the fewest sacks per game (0.7) in the NAIA and ranks sixth in both points allowed (17.5) and defensive pass efficiency.
– Their primary weapon is Karsten Mack Jr. – a sophomore running back who averages 103 rushing yards per game and a whopping 6.1 per carry with 14 touchdowns. Prior to resting on the sideline for the majority of last week's 70-7 defeat of Mayville State, he rushed 22 times for a season-high 206 yards and three TDs in a 28-25 win at Dakota State on Oct. 28.
– Sophomore quarterback Hayden Gibson set the DSU single-season record for passing yards (2,441) and completes 64 percent of his attempts. He's thrown for 24 TDs with seven interceptions, and has gone four consecutive games without a pick. Behind him and Mack, the Blue Hawks average 448.6 yards per game.
– Cain Boschee has five of the team's 19 interceptions. The Blue Hawks come into the week with a plus-14 turnover margin.
– Winners of seven straight, their only loss was a 37-3 final at now-No. 10 Northwestern (Iowa). Dakota State (S.D.), which finished at No. 23, is the only current top-25 team they defeated.