GAME 7 – SOU (3-3) at No. 24 Montana Tech (4-2)
12 p.m. PDT Saturday | Alumni Coliseum | Butte, Montana
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ASHLAND – The Southern Oregon University football team goes for its third consecutive win and its first against Montana Tech in four years on Saturday afternoon at Alumni Coliseum.

The No. 24 Orediggers (4-2) represent the Raiders' third shot at a nationally-ranked opponent, and they'll get another one next week when they visit No. 7 College of Idaho for their final Frontier Conference road game. In their most recent outing, which preceded a conference-wide bye, the Raiders (3-3) played their best football of the season to hammer defending FC champion Montana Western, 49-14, in Ashland. Extending the streak requires another big step in their progression: they'll have to defeat a member of the NAIA Top 25 for the first time since Oct. 2 of last year, which was also the last time they beat a team with a winning record.

HEAD-TO-HEAD VS. TECH: The Raiders and Diggers have split 16 all-time matchups, and Montana Tech has a 7-6 edge in Frontier play. Tech won 34-14 last year in Ashland, scoring all of its points in the first half and holding SOU to 189 yards of offense – the team's lowest-ever total in a Frontier contest. The Diggers own a four-game winning streak in the series and are 4-4 against SOU at home. The Raiders' most recent win in Butte clinched an undefeated run through the conference in 2017.

BRIEFLY:

• Christian Graney is following up on a record-setting outing against UMW that netted a Frontier Offensive Player of the Week award. He made 10 catches for 267 yards, the highest single-game total in SOU history, with touchdown receptions of 57 and 70 yards. He now ranks second in the conference in receptions per game (5.7), reception yards per game (90.7) and reception TDs (4). (Graney was also second in receptions among all Frontier players in 2019 and '21.) With 154 career receptions, he's No. 7 on SOU's all-time list and needs just six more to take over the No. 3 spot.
• Senior linebacker Jake Regino's performance against UMW made him the NAIA Defensive Player of the Week, SOU's first since 2017. He totaled 15 tackles, a strip-sack and an interception, and over SOU's last four games he's accumulated 56 tackles – the most for a Raider in a four-game stretch during the Frontier era (2012-present). Regino tops the Frontier leaderboard at 11.8 tackles per game; only one other FC player is averaging more than eight.
• Freshman running back Gunner Yates has scored TDs in the Raiders' last three games. Against UMW he became the first Raider since 2017 to run for multiple TDs in back-to-back outings. His average of 5.1 yards per carry is the sixth-best in the Frontier.
• Blake Asciutto is the Frontier's only quarterback with at least five games played who is posting more than 200 passing yards per game, his average sitting at 246.3. He has a four-touchdown pass for most passing TDs in the circuit (14) and has thrown for just three interceptions; only one other QB in the country has passed for more TDs with three or fewer interceptions. His 416-yard game against UMW marked the highest total for a Raider since 2017.
• The Raider defense has allowed just three first-half touchdowns over the last five games combined. They're giving up only 5.8 yards per pass attempt, the team's best mark since joining the Frontier.

MORE ON THE DIGGERS:

• The Diggers have been without quarterback Jet Campbell – a four-year starter with 40 TD passes and 13 rushing TDs to his name – for their last three games, but Blake Thelen, a Montana State transfer, has thrived in his place. As a starter, Thelen has thrown for seven TDs and no interceptions with 220 yards per game and 8.7 per attempt. He plays behind an offensive line that has surrendered just five sacks.
• Blake Counts, a junior all-conference selection, is one of the top backs in the circuit. He's logging 85 rushing yards per game and went for 108 two weeks ago at College of Idaho, punching in his fourth and fifth TDs of the season.
• The Frontier's top receiver statistically is Trevor Hoffman, another all-conference performer who averages 92.8 yards and six receptions. He hasn't been held to fewer than 68 yards this year.
• The Diggers haven't allowed more than 28 points in a game this season, their only losses coming against first-place College of Idaho and second-place Rocky Mountain (Mont.) by 11 points combined.  

RAIDERS ON THE ROAD: SOU is 27-21 overall in Frontier road games, including a 3-9 record against ranked FC opponents. The Raiders are 2-1 on the road this year. They've never before pulled off a Frontier regular-season upset on the home field of a team that was ranked higher than them.