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Tanner Trosin
@SOURaiders @SOU_Football
Where: Raider Stadium
When: 10/24/15, 1 p.m.
Who: College of Idaho vs. #2 Southern Oregon University Raiders
First 1,000 fans get a set of bam bam thunder sticks.
Raiders are currently tied with Montana Tech for first place in the Frontier Conference. Raiders are a 10-point favorite. Montana Tech are at Carroll and 7-point underdogs. #1 Lindsey Wilson are also 7-point underdogs today. A big Raider win today could mean they will be moving on up.
@SOURaiders @RaiderVB @SOU_Football @SOUWomensSoccer @TyanaAndrews
Joseph Lealofi a split second before sacking preseason All-American Mac Roche in SOU’s OT victory over Carroll College
@SOURaiders @SOU_Football @R_U_Football
Not much to report on the new rankings as what I said yesterday came true. The coaches are bound and determined to keep Lindsey Wilson in the number one spot, even though they haven’t fared as well against their same opponents as Reinhardt. The coaches seem to care much more about a school’s history and current year record than actual performance, home field advantage, strength of schedule, and other factors (who a school lost to and how for starters) that should matter. Lindsey Wilson being the only top 8 team from last year to still be undefeated, despite their weak schedule, is the only thing keeping them on top. All of that will be mute if Reinhardt beats Lindsey Wilson this Saturday. But will that put Reinhardt in the #1 spot? No. Why? Because Reinhardt wasn’t a top team last year. Reinhardt will get to prove themselves in the playoffs. If they do well in this year’s playoffs, the coaches will love them next year. Make sense? No, I guess not.
For SOU it doesn’t really matter. Sure, being ranked #1 would be nice, but with the final game being played in Daytona again, both the #1 and #2 teams will get home field throughout the playoffs. If SOU can continue to win, they should end up in one of the top two spots in the final rankings. That said, Morningside is barely behind SOU in the #3 spot, and they have a much easier schedule than SOU from here on out. The coaches won’t consider that, and so Morningside could slip past SOU in the rankings at some point even without an SOU loss.
Sean Tow scored two TDs and averaged 4.3 yards per carry in the Southern Oregon victory
@SOURaiders @SOU_Football @Seantow17
Details about the game can be found here.
Now let’s take a look at the rankings and potential playoff implications.
First the rankings… The coaches’ poll comes out Monday, but with Lindsey Wilson and Southern Oregon both winning, the #1 and #2 spots probably won’t change. Massey Ratings predicts that #1 (in the coaches’ poll, #8 on Massey) Lindsey Wilson will lose their next game to #8 (in the coaches’ poll, #2 on Massey) Reinhardt by almost a full touchdown. Massey gives Lindsey Wilson only a 31% chance of victory. SOU is a 10.5 point favorite over College of Idaho with a 79% chance of victory, according to Massey, this coming weekend.
Carroll College took a big hit in Massey Ratings, dropping from #2 to #7. Unfortunately for Carroll College, no team with 3 losses made the NAIA football playoffs last year unless they received an automatic bid via a conference championship. That seems exceedingly unlikely for Carroll so another SOU vs. Carroll match up this year has become remote. Note that the NAIA football playoff system doesn’t consider Massey Ratings or any other unbiased rating system. Eastern Oregon didn’t get in last year even with a top 16 ranking in the coaches’ poll.
With the nation’s strongest NAIA conference teams beating up on each other, there is now a possibility that only one Frontier Conference team will make the playoffs. Montana Tech, the only other Frontier Conference team with only one loss, still has games left against Eastern Oregon, Carroll, and SOU. They will likely end the season with 3 or 4 losses and no invitation to the playoffs. Montana Western has the easiest schedule of the Frontier Conference, only having to face SOU, Carroll, Eastern Oregon, and Montana Tech once each. However, they already have two losses and still have to get by decent teams like Rocky Mountain and College of Idaho. They finish the season against Montana Tech so it will be very difficult for them to end up with just two losses as well.
In conclusion, while Massey still has 6 Frontier Conference teams in the top 13 positions, only one Frontier Conference team is a lock to make the 16-team playoffs.
@SOURaiders @SOU_Football @bangout_marcuss
Higher resolution version of the game-wining field goal against Eastern Oregon University:
Marcus Montano
@SOURaiders @SOU_Football
The first 1,000 fans at tomorrow’s football game at Raider Stadium in Ashland will receive a free cowbell. This means that if you are one of the first 5,000 fans at the game, you want to bring ear plugs. Without them, you will be moving to the visitors section on the other side of the field or suffer from hearing loss. However, with rain in the forecast, you may want to be sitting under the roof.
Speaking of rain, what’s with the weather whenever the Fighting Saints and Raiders meet? There was some weird weather when Carroll came to SOU a few years ago, an extremely hot day in Ashland last year, the infamous snow game with negative temperatures in Helena last November, and the thunder and lightning in Helena last month.
play resumes in Helena, Montana after lightning delayed the game on 9/5/15
SOU vs Carroll
@SOURaiders @SOU_Football @CCSaints @FConference
The new Coaches’ Poll came out today. Carroll College’s home loss to Eastern Oregon University dropped Carroll from #4 to #11 in the official rankings. Massey Ratings isn’t buying it, however. They still have Carroll at #2 and SOU at #1. Of course Massey has Eastern Oregon at #7. With the most difficult schedule in the NAIA, Massey understands EOU’s 2-4 record a little better than the coaches who haven’t given EOU any votes.
Montana Western took SOU into overtime, but the coaches punished them as well. Montana Western is now down to #22 even though their only two losses were to SOU and Carroll. Massey has Montana Western at #4.
Clearly the NAIA coaches don’t want to see more than two Frontier Conference teams in the post season (and why would they as the only time a Frontier Conference team lost in the post season last year was when they had to play another Frontier Conference team!!!). Massey has 5 Frontier Conference teams in the top 7 (and 7 in the top 14)!
Carroll plays at SOU this Saturday. The last two times this happened, the Raiders came out with a victory.
#6 Karrington Jones had two interceptions today for the Raiders
Mylz Blake blocked an extra point attempt and had some key tackles against Montana-Western
Laura Morse, Lauren McGowne, and Emma Gasman celebrate a Tyana Andrews kill in last night’s victory over Northwest
@SOURaiders @RaiderVB @LMcGowne @SOU_Football @SOUWomensSoccer @ERMAHGERDitsAVE
It’s a Saturday in October, which means good weather and lots of sporting events on tap. Only one will be in Ashland; the 16-2 SOU Volleyball team will be taking on Evergreen at 5.
Before then men’s soccer will play at noon in Washington, simultaneously football will be playing in Montana, and women’s soccer will play at 2 (also in Washington).
Inaugural SOU Men’s Soccer Team
Avery Dutton
Matt Retzlaff making the tackle for the #2 Raiders
@SOURaiders @SOU_Football @Matt_Retzlaff
The entire Frontier Conference had a bye yesterday, but that doesn’t mean things won’t change in tomorrow’s coaches’ poll.
#3 Faulkner lost, at home, to an unranked team. That will drop them down a ways. The coaches will likely put them near the bottom of the top 10 even though Massey Ratings has them at #14, not far from the #9 they had them at before the loss.
#1 Lindsey Wilson won, not surprisingly, to another winless team. Lindsey Wilson’s opponents now have a combined record of… 1-19. That’s not a typo. The one win of one of the teams they beat came against an 0-5 team. In other words, it’s not mathematically possible for them to have had an easier schedule so far. Lindsey Wilson will likely lose, at least once and probably twice, over the next four weeks as they finally begin to play decent teams.
#4 Morningside could tie or pass idle Southern Oregon as they beat the #14 team on the road. Massey Ratings has Morningside at #4, but the coaches love the Great Plains Conference. Don’t be surprised to see them at #2 on Monday.
Meanwhile the Raiders will be traveling to Montana Western this weekend. Massey has this as #1 @ #3.