GAME 9 – No. 8 SOU (7-1, 4-1) at No. 21 Carroll (6-1, 5-0)
12 p.m. PDT Saturday | Helena, Montana | Nelson Stadium
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ASHLAND – Southern Oregon has earned the right to play significant football games in the month of November again, the latest in a series of checkpoints that have been hit during the team's resurgence. Another is in sight as the No. 8-ranked Raiders attempt to take over first place in the Frontier Conference on Saturday at No. 21 Carroll (Mont.).

The first NAIA Top 25 matchup in nine years between SOU (7-1 overall, 4-1 FC) and the Saints (6-1, 5-0) kicks off at noon PDT and 1 p.m. local time at Nelson Stadium. The Raiders have won two of their three games against nationally-ranked opponents but haven't defeated one on the road since 2017, the year they last won an FC championship. They enter the week tied for second place with Montana Western, which hosts Carroll next week in Dillon.

HEAD-TO-HEAD: The Raiders are 9-9 all-time against the Saints, including an 8-7 record in Frontier play, but looking to snap a four-game skid in the series. They're 3-6 at Nelson Stadium, having collected their last win there in 2018. The series has yielded more classic games than any other Frontier rivalry since SOU joined the conference; 10 of the last 14 were decided by one score, including last year's 21-13 Carroll win in Ashland.

This fall's matchup pits SOU's prolific running game against Carroll's elite rushing defense. The Saints are allowing the ninth-fewest points (14.7) and fifth-fewest rushing yards (72.0) in the NAIA, holding opponents to 2.1 yards per carry. They have yet to allow more than 133 rushing yards in a game and their last three opponents combined to net 144 on 101 attempts. The Raiders, behind star sophomore Gunner Yates, are producing 5.7 yards per rush (the eighth-best clip in the country) and have yet to net fewer than 150 in a game. They're seventh in points (47.9) and 14th in average total yardage (471.4) on the NAIA leaderboard.

Carroll's offense had been a major question mark before last Saturday's 43-29 win at then-No. 12 College of Idaho, where quarterback Jack Prka broke a school record with 461 passing yards and threw for five touchdowns. C of I was the Saints' first nationally-ranked victim; they have three more to play before the end of the regular season.

NAIA TOP 25: The addition of Carroll at No. 21 gave the Frontier five teams in this week's Top 25 for the first time this season. No. 4 Montana Western, No. 8 SOU and No. 13 Montana Tech each moved up two spots. College of Idaho dropped 12 to No. 24 and stands as the only ranked squad that has three losses on the season. The Yotes will try to avoid a fourth at Eastern Oregon, the only other matchup on this week's schedule between teams with winning FC records.

QUICK HITS:

• The Raiders have won seven of their first eight games for the eighth time in team history. Six of the previous seven teams that did it went on to reach the postseason. Dating back to last season, they're 12-2 in their last 14 games. They were 4-10 in the 14 games that preceded the stretch.
• In last week's 57-15 win over MSU-Northern, Gunner Yates established a new SOU single-season record by bringing his rushing touchdown total to 23. The sophomore also clinched SOU's first 1,000-yard season in 10 years. Yates has rushed for multiple TDs in all eight games and logged three in each of the last four. On the NAIA rushing leaderboards, he is tied for first in TDs, No. 3 in yards per game (129.1), and No. 3 in yards per carry (6.8) among those with at least 100 attempts. With 24 total TDs, he needs two more to break that Raider single-season record.
• Blake Asciutto has thrown 208 passes since his last interception, which occurred in the first quarter of the Raiders' first game. He has accumulated 14 touchdowns and 1,975 yards since, and his completion rate of 66% is up considerably compared to the 55% career rate he brought into the season. He is one of 10 quarterbacks in the NAIA who have passed for over 2,000 yards; he is the only one of those with fewer than four interceptions.
• SOU's defense leads all teams with 11 takeaways in Frontier play. No other team has more than eight.
• Dating back to last season, only one of the Raiders' last 13 opponents has score more than 27 points.
• Sawyer Cleveland ranks third among Frontier players in receptions per game (4.8), sixth in reception yardage per game (71.1), and eighth in yards per catch (15.0).

MORE ON CARROLL:

• Sixth-year Saints coach Troy Purcell has a 36-17 record at Carroll. He brought the team to the NAIA Championship Series during the pandemic-shortened 2020-21 season and again in 2022, when the Saints shared the Frontier title. They came up a win short of a playoff bid last year, losing three of four games to end the regular season after starting 6-0, and were picked fifth in this year's FC preseason poll.
• The Saints lead the Frontier with 23 sacks in conference play. Redshirt-freshman linebacker Henry Gross has team-highs of nine tackles for losses and 4 ½ sacks, and All-Frontier senior linemen Garrett Worden and Hunter Peck have combined for 6 ½ sacks. They'll go against a Raider offensive line that has surrendered just three sacks in its last four outings.
• Fourth-year starter Jack Prka ranks second among NAIA quarterbacks in completion rate (74.1%) and fourth in yards per attempt (10.8). He's thrown for 13 touchdowns and two interceptions. In five career starts against SOU, the senior has averaged 188 yards per game and 6.2 per attempt with seven TDs and four picks.
• The Saints are 4-1 at home this season and 20-7 at home overall under Purcell.