GAME 1 – SOU (0-0) at No. 12 College of Idaho (1-0)
12 p.m. PDT Saturday | Simplot Stadium | Caldwell, Idaho
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ASHLAND – What will the next era of Southern Oregon University football look like? If the Raiders' goal is to learn how they stack up under new management, they're going to the right place for the first week of their 88th season.

Berk Brown will make his debut as the 17th head coach in team history when SOU visits No. 12-ranked College of Idaho, winner of the last four Frontier Conference championships, for a 12 p.m. PDT kickoff Saturday at Simplot Stadium. He'll do so with seven starters back on defense and six on offense from last year's squad that went 3-7, facing one of the most established current outfits in the NAIA. The Yotes, who already opened with last week's 37-7 win over Lincoln (Calif.), returned their starting quarterback, 98 percent of their rushing production and 90 percent of their receiving production.

The game will be a non-conference counter. The Frontier Conference expanded to nine teams this year with the addition of Arizona Christian, making way for a new regular season format in which the Raiders play every team one in conference play for a total of eight FC counters. Since 2015, they've played only three non-conference games in the regular season – all against NCAA Division I schools. They'll play another on Sept. 16 against Willamette, their first home game of the season.

HEAD-TO-HEAD: The balance of power in SOU's rivalry with College of Idaho has swung wildly since the Yotes resurrected their program in 2014. The Raiders are 11-10 in the series, but have lost seven straight going back to 2018. Prior to that stretch, they'd won eight of nine by an average margin of 24 points. They own a 4-6 record in Caldwell and got their most recent win there during an undefeated regular season in 2017.

The Yotes denied two SOU upset bids last season. On Sept. 17 at Raider Stadium, the Raiders led then-No. 17 C of I 24-21 when play was halted prior to the fourth quarter by a 92-minute lightning delay, after which the Yotes scored three unanswered touchdowns for a 42-24 win. On Oct. 29 in Caldwell, the Raiders led then-No. 12 C of I 24-21 again until Jon Schofield ran in the go-ahead TD with 22 seconds left.

PRESEASON POLLS: The Yotes shared last year's Frontier title with Carroll (Mont.) and are the favorite to win it again, having collected five of nine first-place votes in the preseason coaches' poll. Montana Tech was second with three first-place votes, Carroll was third with one, and SOU was seventh ahead of Eastern Oregon and Montana State-Northern. Each of the top three in the poll cracked the initial NAIA Top 25: C of I at No. 12, Carroll at No. 15 and Tech at No. 16. Arizona Christian and Montana Western received votes, and defending champion Northwestern (Iowa) was the near-unanimous No. 1. The first poll of the regular season is scheduled for a Sept. 11 release.

ON OPENERS: The Raiders are 5-5 over their last 10 season-opening games and 10-10 over their last 20. They've dropped three in a row, collecting their last season-opening victory in 2018, which was also the last time they posted a winning record. The last time they opened with a road win against an NAIA Top 25 squad was 2008, when knocked off No. 21 Montana Tech 30-25 in Butte.

AGAINST THE TOP 25: As of now, the Raiders are slated to meet ranked foes four times – including in three of their four Frontier home games. They dropped all five of their games against Top 25 opponents last year and have lost seven consecutive such contests since defeating then-No. 18 Eastern Oregon 24-3 on Oct. 2, 2021. Their last road win against a ranked opponent was a 34-29 decision at No. 4 Lindsey Wilson (Ky.) in the 2017 national quarterfinals.

THE NEW GUYS: In his new post as head coach, Brown will be on the sidelines with the Raiders for the first time since he was SOU's defensive coordinator in the 2015 national title game. (He was also there when the Raiders won the title a year earlier.) He returned to the Raiders in January via Crater High School and brought with him another SOU alum and longtime assistant: Greg Stewart, the team's new offensive coordinator. Stewart was previously on staff with the Raiders from 2008-16, and he'll be on familiar ground at College of Idaho, where served for the last three seasons as run-game coordinator, offensive line coach and recruiting coordinator. SOU's defensive coordinator, Tyler Stinn, will also debut after spending the last seven seasons at Marian (Ind.), where he put together NAIA top-five defenses in terms of points allowed both of his seasons as coordinator. The Raiders only have one holdover from 2022 on their 12-person coaching staff: running backs coach Antione Perry, entering his third season with the team.

THE FRONTIER ERA: This season marks the Raiders' 11th as part of the Frontier. They've compiled a 62-38 conference record since joining, giving them a higher win percentage (.620) than any other FC team in that period. (Carroll sits at .615, and C of I at .595.) They've finished second place or better in six of 10 seasons and won titles in 2012 and '17. Frontier teams have totaled 17 NAIA playoff wins since SOU joined; the Raiders have accounted for 10 of those.

BRIEFLY:

• After an injury took him out early in Week 1 last year, Matt Struck was granted a medical redshirt and is back for one more season as SOU's starting quarterback. Over six starts in 2021, his first season with the team following a transfer from Missouri State, he averaged 238 passing yards and threw for 12 touchdowns. The Raiders have another solid option in junior Blake Asciutto, who ranked second on the Frontier leaderboard in both passing yards per game (206.7) and passing TDs (18) last season. In the eight games he started, Asciutto averaged a league-best 238.3 passing yards.
• Outside of their experience at quarterback and a veteran line anchored by All-Frontier tackle Hunter Geissler, the Raiders will depend on a new starring cast of skill-position players with last year's top-two in both rushing and reception yards no longer in uniform. Among their returners, starting running back Champ Robertson has a 100-yard game to his credit and averaged 5.5 yards per carry last year, while Avery McCuaig posted 4.0 yards per attempt in 2021. The top receiver back is junior slot man Adrik Lamar, who totaled 25 receptions for 330 total yards and a career-best 142-yard game in 2022.
• The team's top returning tacklers are lineman Noah Turnbull (44), linebacker Ty Glumbik (43) and safety Seth Miller (42), each back in their starting spots. On the ends, Turnbull has recorded 14 tackles for losses and Alejandro Sanchez has logged 10 ½ sacks over the last two seasons.

MORE ON THE YOTES:

• Despite their conference co-title and No. 18 final ranking, a tiebreaker lost to Carroll left the Yotes out of last year's NAIA Championship Series – the same scenario that kept them out in 2020 and '21. Under 10th-year coach Mike Moroski, they made their only playoff appearance in 2019 and advanced to the quarterfinals.
• They're most dangerous on the ground. Allamar Alexander and Hunter Gilbert combined for 1,584 rushing yards last year and 108 on 18 attempts last week against Lincoln. Their quarterback, Andy Peters, has completed 60 percent of his attempts for 13 touchdowns, 10 interceptions and an average of 186 yards over 10 career outings. He has an all-conference receiving threat in junior Brock Richardson, who registered team-highs of 43 receptions and 600 reception yards last year.
• The Yotes' defense looks a little different: they lost five of their six all-conference selections on that side of the ball.