Game 8 – No. 23 SOU (4-3, 4-3) at Montana Tech (3-4, 3-4)
12 p.m. PT Saturday | Alumni Coliseum | Butte, Montana
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Someone's three-game skid will come to an end Saturday in Butte, Mont. The bad news, for Southern Oregon and Montana Tech, is that means they'll be meeting under drastically different circumstances than when they last saw each other six weeks ago.

The 23rd-ranked Raiders (4-3) and Orediggers (3-4) will kick off at 1 p.m. Mountain Time on Saturday at Memorial Coliseum, both in desperate need of a pick-me-up. SOU won the first matchup, 44-12 on Sept. 15 in Ashland when both teams started the day 2-0, but has joined the Diggers in falling on hard times since.

As bleak as it seems, the Raiders still aren't out of the Frontier Conference title race. They're looking up at three teams – Montana Western (6-1), Rocky Mountain (Mont.) (5-2) and Eastern Oregon (5-2) – but working in their favor is the fact that each of them will be beating up on each other over the final three weeks: UMW still has to play at Rocky and SOU, and against College of Idaho, which has won three straight; Rocky still has games against UMW and at EOU; and EOU has a home date with Rocky and two other games on the road.

The Raiders' recent drop in the rankings makes them a longshot to re-enter position for an at-large bid to the 16-team NAIA Championship Series, so their best hope is to force a tie atop the standings. If they can make that happen, a tie would be broken first by head-to-head results and second by total points allowed in Frontier games, and the winner would get the automatic postseason bid.

SERIES HISTORY:

• In a matchup that originated in 2007, the Raiders are 7-5 with a 6-3 mark in Frontier games. SOU is 4-2 in Butte, where it has won three consecutive games.
• SOU and Tech have accounted for the last three Frontier championships and shared one in 2012, SOU's first season in the conference.
• In this year's first matchup, Tech trimmed SOU's halftime lead to 16-12 in the third quarter before the Raiders ended the game with four unanswered touchdowns. SOU compiled 276 rushing yards, its highest total in three years, as Quaderius Clemmons rushed 10 times for 121 and Wyatt Hutchinson took off 12 times for 73.

TOP 25 WATCH: In successive weeks, the Raiders have dropped from second, to seventh, to 14th, to 23rd in the NAIA coaches' poll. Rocky is now the FC's highest-ranked team at No. 15, followed by No. 16 Montana Western and No. 18 EOU. In top-25 matchups around the country this week, No. 21 Siena Heights (Mich.) visits No. 2 Marian (Ind.); No. 5 Bethel (Tenn.) visits No. 10 Lindsey Wilson (Ky.); and UMW visits Rocky.

BRIEFLY:

• Over the last two decades, no team has won the Frontier title with more than two losses. 2004 and '12 were the only seasons in which the champion finished the regular season with more than one loss.
• In the last five years, eight three-loss teams have been admitted to the NAIA Championship Series field. There were no such teams last season.
• There was some good news out of last week's 45-34 loss at College of Idaho: senior running back Rey Vega scored three touchdowns, becoming the seventh player in team history with 30 TDs in a career and taking over sole possession of the No. 5 spot on the team's career rushing TD list (26). He totaled more than 100 rushing yards for the third time this year and seventh time in his three seasons as a Raider.
• Over their first four games, the Raiders posted a 5-to-3 turnover margin. Over the last three, they've had a 2-to-6 disparity.
• With nine tackles last week, Tyson Cooper moved into the No. 10 spot on SOU's career list with 266. His average of 8.1 per game this season is the fourth-best in the Frontier. Fellow linebacker Devvon Gage is up to 336 tackles, 10 away from taking over SOU's No. 2 spot.
• Marcus Montano has converted 12-of-15 field goals; only one kicker in the country has made more.
• In addition to his 294 passing yards last week, Wyatt Hutchinson netted 100 on the ground. His passing-yardage total was the highest for a Raider who also rushed for 100-plus yards since at least the 2000 season.
• Bronsen Ader pulled in a season-high 85 receiving yards last week and is up to 1,899 in his four-year SOU career. With 101 more, he'd become the ninth Raider to reach 2,000.

ABOUT MONTANA TECH:

• Since knocking off Eastern Oregon on Sept. 8, 24-17, by outscoring the Mountaineers 24-3 in the second half, the Diggers have only defeated last-place Montana State-Northern.
• They've been unable to find consistency at quarterback, with four individuals who have seen action in at least three games and combine to generate 199 passing yards per game. Jet Campbell, who previously served as a receiver, started last week's 35-17 loss at EOU and completed 22-of-40 passes for 244 yards, a TD and an interception.
• Dion Williams this season has become the team's career leader in every major receiving category. He's averaging 72 yards per game, and he and Trevor Hoffman have four TDs apiece.
• Jed Fike is the Frontier's leading rusher at 124 yards per game and has been held under 100 just once – at SOU, where he totaled 67 yards on 19 carries.
• The Diggers have generated 14 takeaways and turned the ball over 23 times.