ASHLAND – The Southern Oregon football team was picked second behind Montana Western in Monday's Frontier Conference West Division coaches' poll, 10 days ahead of its highly-anticipated 2025 debut.

Montana Tech was tabbed the favorite in the East Division, which features four of the conference's five newcomers: Dakota State (S.D.), Dickinson State (N.D.), Mayville State (N.D.) and Valley City State (N.D.).

The Raiders' biggest rivalries will remain intact despite the Frontier's new structure. Behind Montana Western and SOU, College of Idaho was picked third, Carroll (Mont.) fourth and Eastern Oregon fifth. Arizona Christian slid into the No. 6 spot ahead of newcomer Simpson (Calif.).

With seven teams in each divisions, every team will play three home and three away divisional games. The East and West champions will get automatic berths in the 20-team NAIA Championships Series.

Montana Western – which won last year's Frontier title, taking its only loss at SOU, and returns a pair of offensive All-Americans in quarterback Michael Palandri and receiver Eli Nourse – received five of seven West Division first-place votes. SOU and Carroll collected one apiece.

The 2025 season will be Berk Brown's third as head coach of the Raiders. In his second, they went 8-3 and were on track to make their first postseason appearance in seven years before dropping their regular-season finale in overtime at College of Idaho.

They return perhaps the NAIA's top offensive weapon in reigning Frontier MVP Gunner Yates, a junior running back who broke SOU's single-season rushing touchdowns record with 27 and led the country in rushing yards with 1,488.

The Raiders also bring back eight starters on defense, including Frontier sacks leader Gabe Foster. Spencer Kuffel, a safety who topped the Frontier's interceptions leaderboard with six in 2023, will make his return after missing last season due to injury.

SOU opens at Raider Stadium on a Thursday night – 6 p.m. on Aug. 28 – against Simpson in the first of four non-divisional games. Montana Tech, Montana Western, Eastern Oregon and Carroll are the other opponents slated to visit Ashland this fall.

The preseason NAIA Top 25 poll will be released Aug. 25.

 

2025 Frontier Conference Football Preseason Coaches' Poll – East Division
Rank	School (First Place Votes)	Total Points
1	Montana Tech (4)	34
2	Dickinson State (N.D.) (3)	33
3	Rocky Mountain (Mont.)	25
4	Dakota State (S.D.)	21
5	Mayville State (N.D.)	14
6	Valley City State (N.D.)	13
7	MSU-Northern	7

  

2025 Frontier Conference Football Preseason Coaches' Poll – West Division
Rank	School (First Place Votes)	Total Points
1	Montana Western (5)	35
2	Southern Oregon (1)	30
3	College of Idaho	26
4	Carroll (Mont.) (1)	23
5	Eastern Oregon	16
6	Arizona Christian	11
7	Simpson (Calif.)	6