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Louis DesPrez
@SOURaiders @SOU_Football #NAIAFootball
As predicted, SOU remained at #9 in the latest NAIA Football Coaches’ Top 25 Poll (despite being #2 in rankings that look at schedule strength). A victory at Rocky Mountain this weekend will likely cause movement to #8 or #7 as the Raiders can move past the loser of the Doane – Morningside game and Reinhardt could lose to Faulkner on the road.
Jordan Suell and #24 Jacques Carter battle for the ball
@jacquescarter96 @JordanSuell2 @SOURaiders @SOU_Football #NAIAFootball
The Raiders continued to rack up penalties and lose the turnover battle in yesterday’s game. SOU was penalized for 115 yards, nearly twice the College of Idaho total. The Raiders were also -3 in turnovers. If they can get these parts of their game fixed, they can win out. The two loses were caused by penalties and turnovers as well.
One potential cause of some of the penalty calls against the Raiders late in the game may have had to do with this earlier call. The ruling on the field was that Jordan Suell made this 44-yard reception. From these photos, it’s clear that the call was correct. However, the DB, Carter, ran to the bench saying he caught the ball. The College of Idaho coaches were furious with the officials and gave them an earful about this “blown” call (that led to 7 points for the Raiders). Maybe the officials were trying to even things out later? I don’t know, but they got this call correct. If they hadn’t, I don’t think Southern Oregon may have been able to win with a -4 turnover margin.
Jordan Suell catches the ball between his legs while Carter’s hands are only on Suell
Jordan Suell hits the ground with the ball secure between his legs and arms, a completed pass
Sean Tow averaged over 7 yards a carry in Saturday’s win over the Yotes
Details about yesterday’s Raider win can be found here.
USF fell apart in the second half of yesterday’s game with Marian. That caused them to drop a couple of places in Massey Ratings. The NAIA coaches will likely do something similar, paving the way for Marian and Baker to receive home field advantage throughout the playoffs. Neither Marian or Baker have an even halfway decent opponent on their remaining schedules. SOU will still be #9 in Monday’s coaches poll. USF will likely drop to #5.
Gonzalo Garcia
@G11Gonzo @SOURaiders
This didn’t come out as good as I wanted, but one of these days I will capture a bicycle kick in all of its glory.
SOU’s soccer teams are on the road this weekend. They will return to playing in Ashland on October 7.
Rey Vega
@SOURaiders @SOU_Football @the_reyvega
Rey Vega ran for 157 yards on just 14 carries, a 94-yard run making up much of that total. He also caught 3 passes for another 87 yards.
Armando Gauger, Julius Rucker, Isiah Carter, and Devvon Gage
@SOURaiders @SOU_Football #NAIAFootball
As predicted back on Saturday, the Raiders moved up three spots in the new NAIA Coaches’ Poll.
Looking at the eight teams ahead of the Raiders, here is some more fortune telling:
#1 Marian has only one challenging game on their schedule. They play at #3 Saint Francis a week from Saturday. If they win that game, they will almost certainly run the table.
#2 Morningside plays an NCAA DII school this Saturday. Morningside will probably lose, but they likely won’t drop more than a couple spots in the poll. After that, their only decent opponent is #5 Doane on Oct. 8.
#3 Saint Francis has an easy schedule other than Marian. It may take a huge upset by Davenport on November 5 in order for SOU to ever pass them in the coaches’ poll.
#4 Baker already got past their only competition (Grand View in week 1).
#5 Doane will likely lose at Morningside. Other than that, they may not lose despite not being in Massey’s top ten.
#6 Reinhardt has to get by Lindsey Wilson and Faulkner on the road. They will likely lose at least one of those games, if not both.
#7 Lindsey Wilson has Reinhardt in addition to games at Faulkner and Campbellsville. They should lose one, if not two, of those.
#8 Grand View got crushed by Baker, but they have an easy schedule other than that Baker game. If the Raiders and Grand View win out, it will be unfair for the coaches to give Grand View a higher ranking simply because SOU got beat by an NCAA DI team, especially considering the difficulty of SOU’s schedule vs. Grand View’s.
#9 SOU has six or seven more tough games (out of just eight) after starting the season against three strong teams.
In summary, even if the Raiders win out and finish 9-2, I think they will only end up at #5 or possibly #6. The system really isn’t fair if that happens. Punishing the prior year runner up for a narrow first game road loss and defeat at the hands of an NCAA DI team on the road in favor of teams with easy schedules and (probably eventually) only one loss makes no sense. The bad news for Southern Oregon is a #5 finish likely means only one home playoff game (again!). The good news is SOU will be better prepared, compared to teams with weaker schedules, for the playoffs (again!).
Jack Singler and Matt Retzlaff (both seniors) celebrate their first TD together since high school
@SOURaiders @SOU_Football @JSing03 @Matt_Retzlaff
Details here. Don’t miss the Coach Howard interview video about the importance of keeping the fan interest level high. đŸ˜‰
After the game Coach Howard told the Raiders it’s time to “run the table”. Eight more wins in a row is not out of the question, but it won’t be easy. Massey gives the Raiders just an 8% chance of running the table in the regular season. Next week appears to be easier than previously imagined with Carroll College losing to Montana Northern today. However, the Raiders still need to clean some things up if they want to make it back to Daytona. Although they almost lost this game to Montana Western, they also could have won it by 20 or so points had they not given the ball up, or been penalized, in a few key situations.
New Massey Ratings will come out on Sunday. New coaches’ poll will come out on Monday. The Raiders will likely move up to #9 in the NAIA Coaches’ Poll with #9 Saint Xavier, #10 Eastern Oregon University, and #11 Kansas Wesleyan all losing today.
Brit Floyd @ Britt Festival (June 2015)
@brittfestivals @BritFloyd @FretHub @GetTheLedOut
Just a little throwback Thursday today to perhaps my favorite show of the 2015 Britt season. Speaking of cover bands at Britt, tomorrow is Get the Led Out (The American Led Zeppelin) and there are still tickets remaining.
Unlike the original Led Zeppelin (which never sounded very good live IMHO), I think this 6+ piece will be able to more closely replicate the incredibleness of Led Zeppelin’s studio albums than a 4-piece band.
Tom Ashbrook
Ian Cattell
Bobby Harrison
Megan Smith
@SOURaiders @SOUWomensSoccer
Southern Oregon will be in Portland this weekend before opening their CCC games next weekend in Ashland. The 3-2 Raiders will play Corban at 3 on 9/23 and Northwest Christian at 4 on 9/24. Both games will be at Raider Stadium. The Opening Welcome for new SOU students and their families will take place at Raider Stadium following the Friday game. Hopefully some of those students and family members will come early to watch the action.
