Two years ago…
Sam Boehnke and Abbie Hanser
Ashland Daily Photo - A picture a day from beautiful Ashland, Southern Oregon USA in the Rogue Valley
| The above will search Ashland Daily Photo. |
Idaho or bust
Devvon Gage leads the Frontier Conference with 71 tackles
@SOURaiders @SOU_Football #NAIAFootball @DevvonGage
I’m on the road to Idaho today. The Raiders take on College of Idaho in the first of many must-win games tomorrow. Details here.
Feast for the farm
FEAST FOR THE FARM
October 28, 2016 6-9pm
A benefit to raise a barn at The Farm at SOU
The Feast and Silent Auction will be held at
EdenVale Winery-Voorhies Mansion Gardens
2310 Voorhies Road
Medford, Oregon
Three course wine dinner featuring local foods prepared by Finnish Chef Jukka Moilanen from the Saimaa University of Applied Sciences, along with SOU students in a Culinary Tourism class.
Music provided by local folk band Savanna.
Admission is $60 per person, $100 per couple, and additional donations are welcome.
To RSVP or donate to the benefit use this link.
Churchill Hall
The Southern Oregon University arch and Churchill Hall
@SOUAshland
Autumn on campus
Shasta Hall in the Southern Oregon University Housing Complex
@SOUAshland @SOUhousing #SOULiving
Coaches pummel Raiders in latest poll
@SOURaiders @SOU_Football #NAIAFootball
The NAIA football coaches, with their infinite wisdom of focusing nearly entirely on wins and losses and not strength of schedule or who beat who, have put the Raiders at #17 in the latest poll released today. I thought they’d put Southern Oregon at #12 or #13 even though Massey has them at #4. All the way down to #17 means no home playoff games, even if the Raiders win out. The Raiders may need to win out just to make the playoffs. If the season were to end today, a #17 ranking would fall short.
Let’s look at some of the teams the coaches think are better than the Raiders:
#9 Doane has played one team ranked higher than them. Doane lost 69-7. SOU beat the team Doane lost to (Morningside) last year on the road in the semifinals.
#10 Georgetown’s six wins have come against opponents with a combined record of 9-34. The only team with a winning record that they have faced beat them by 14 points.
#11 Missouri Valley is not a top twenty team according to Massey.
#12 Dickinson State lost to Montana Western by 26 points. SOU beat Montana Western. Dickinson State hasn’t played any ranked team, or even decent team since, en route to their 6-1 record.
#14 Kansas Wesleyan has the 82nd most difficult schedule in the NAIA. (SOU has the most difficult schedule according to Massey.) There are only 87 teams in the NAIA. That said, KW still has a loss, to a team that hasn’t been ranked, and SOU beat KW by 44 points last year in the playoffs! Massey doesn’t have Kansas Wesleyan in their top 50, yet the coaches have them at #14.
#15 Dakota Wesleyan lost to Doane (see above) by almost 30 points.
#16 Bethal has yet to play a team with a winning record. Not to worry, Massey predicts they will lose each of their last four games.
I’m not saying that SOU should be ranked higher than Montana Tech or Eastern Oregon at this point, but the coaches clearly are dinging the Raiders way too much for losing to an NCAA DI team and for two close loses to a very good Eastern Oregon team. They see the three loses but don’t consider enough who those loses were at the hands of or the fact that the Raiders have accumulated more yards than all of their opponents, even in the losses.
2 weeks to go
My neighbor’s lawn ornaments are ready. Are you?
Down but not out
The Raiders lost to their football nemesis yesterday. Details here. Matt Retzlaff broke the SOU career receiving-yards record in today’s photo.
Southern Oregon has outgained all seven of their opponents in total yardage. However, SOU has a negative turnover ratio in five games, three of which were losses.
Surprisingly, Massey still has Southern Oregon at #4 in the country. Of course, Massey considers strength of schedule, and SOU has the toughest opponents of anyone in the NAIA. The coaches won’t be as generous in their rankings come Monday. I’m guessing they will drop the Raiders to #12 or #13. With just four games to go, what will this mean?
The Raiders can still win the Frontier Conference if they win out and Western Montana beats Eastern Oregon. That’s also probably the only scenario that will earn the Raiders a home playoff game in the postseason. One more loss and the Raiders will still have a chance at the postseason but no games will be in Ashland.
Massey has the Raiders as a 7-point favorite at College of Idaho Saturday.
2016 SOU Sports Hall of Fame
Nicole Whitney Chamberlin addresses the attendees at the banquet
@SOURaiders
This year’s hall of fame class will also be recognized at halftime at tonight’s football game.
Jack McWhorter, Tara Elder Hammond, Debbie Rohlfing Jensen, Nicole Whitney Chamberlin, JD Alley
Big game Saturday
Keegan Lawrence and Armando Gauger
@k_law21 @SOURaiders @SOU_Football #NAIAFootball
Details here.
Massey gives SOU a 64% chance of winning and has the Raiders as a 5-point favorite.
The only team in front of the Raiders in the rankings that has a chance of losing is Lindsey Wilson who travels to Faulkner. Even there, Massey gives Faulkner only a 30% chance of victory. The rest of the top teams will receive easy victories.