ASHLAND – The highly-anticipated fourth installment of the Mills Bowl is a month away, and tickets are on sale Wednesday at souraiders.com/tickets.

Named for the late SOU Sports Hall-of-Famer Chuck Mills, the Raiders' football coach from 1980-88, the game features Southern Oregon University and Kwansei Gakuin University. Kickoff is set for 6 p.m. on May 4 at Raider Stadium.

Tickets will be available at 9 a.m. Wednesday. Tailgate spots will be sold on a first-come, first-serve basis starting at 3:30 p.m. on the day of the game for $20 per space. SOU's 2023 tailgate season-ticket holders will be contacted via email regarding their spaces.

The contest – being played in lieu of SOU's traditional spring game – is not technically an exhibition, but because KGU is an international opponent, it will not be tallied on the Raiders' win-loss record and statistics will not count.

Mills was the driving force behind the original three-game series between SOU and KGU from 1985-88. In 1986, the Fighters became the first-ever Japanese team to play a college football game on American soil. The matchup paved the way for Ashland High School's ongoing cultural exchange with a Japanese all-star team, known as the Pacific Rim Bowl. Mills had previously taken teams to Japan as the head coach at Utah State and Wake Forest, and his influence there was such that the country's Heisman Trophy equivalent is his namesake.

KGU is an established powerhouse, having captured a record 34 national championships. In December, the Fighters won their sixth in a row.

The Raiders are fresh off an encouraging 6-4 season, tying for fourth place in the Frontier Conference standings under first-year head coach Berk Brown. They won five of their final six games and capped the campaign with a 31-16 upset of College of Idaho, which went on to advance to the NAIA semifinal round.