Oct. 18: Undefeated Azusa next up for SOU

By Joe Zavala

Ashland Daily Tidings

Jeff Olson has 10 minutes to talk, sounds pumped and is as open with the media as football coaches come, but he's not about to blurt out what everyone else in Raider land is thinking.

No, the Southern Oregon University football coach insists, Saturday's homecoming game against Azusa Pacific won't necessarily decide the independent championship.

He's right, the game may end up deciding nothing. More than likely, however, it will determine plenty -including who will earn an automatic berth to the national playoffs.

The game, SOU's first at home since its Sept. 7 season opener, will kick off under the lights at Raider stadium at 6 p.m. and will feature two of the country's top NAIA programs.

"I hope we can keep the fans interest," Olson said.

That's probable.

The fifth-ranked Raiders (4-1) and 14th-ranked Cougars (5-0) are loaded on both sides of the ball and are characterized by spectacular offenses built and steered to score, and score often.

SOU has averaged 32.2 points per game while Azusa is scoring at a 39.4 clip and has yet to be held below 34. The Raiders average 416 yards per game of total offense - 215 on the ground and 201 through the air - while the Cougars have averaged 423 - 179 rushing and 244 passing. Finally, SOU features one of the top running backs in the nation - junior Dusty McGrorty - who has run for 630 yards on just 102 carries thus far, while Azusa is led by a quarterback - senior Luke Winslow - who ranks 10th in the country for total offense based on his 73-for-118, 1,175-yard, 10-touchdown passing numbers.

"They remind me a lot of us," Olson says of the Cougars. "They're running the ball a lot more this year and they're huge up front. They use a double tight end formation to set up their running game with a high-percentage passing game. They certainly have a dangerous collection of skill players led by an experienced

quarterback. They have greatly upgraded their talent level on defense.

"It should be quite a game."

Despite the short history between the schools - SOU has won all three games since the series began in 1999 - subplots abound.

Southern was the first team to play Azusa after the Cougars won the 1998 national championship and promptly handed Azusa its first home defeat in two years, 42-31. Later that season the Raiders were stunned when the Cougars were awarded by the national pollsters an invitation to the NAIA playoffs, leaving SOU high and dry.

The Raiders beat Azusa the following year, and in 2001 steamrolled the Cougars 63-21 before eventually advancing all the way to the national quarterfinals.

This year, the Raiders enter the game as the top-ranked independent, but the Cougars are the closest pursuers of that distinction, which translates into an automatic playoff berth based on next month's final top-25 poll.

SOU could lose and still qualify for the playoffs, but a second loss would leave the Raiders no room for error and could result in another 1999 fiasco.

After two down years by their standards, the Cougars appear to be back in business.

APU has equaled the school's best start since 1981 and are 3-0 on the road. Azusa's 197 points are the most ever scored by a Cougar team through its first five contests, and they're limiting opponents to just 125 rushing yards per outing.

The resurgence of the Cougar ground game coincides with the arrival of junior NCAA Division I transfer linemen Rene Arguelles (Fresno State) and Dave Wilford (UCLA) and the emergence of 6-foot-1, 225-pound sophomore running back Ben Buys, who leads the country in scoring with 12 touchdowns.

Four of Buys' scores came last week in the team's 35-22 home win over Humboldt State, the only like opponent SOU and APU share (the Raiders beat Humboldt 27-17 at home Sept. 7 and 20-10 on the road, Sept. 28).

With a matchup that looks dead even on paper, Olson says his team's confidence following three straight wins over the Cougars, along with the home field advantage, may be the difference.

"Our kids certainly have the mindset that they look forward to the challenge, and we've played well against Azusa for three years," Olson said. "It should be a great crowd. I know our guys are anxious to play here (in Ashland).

"One of the things we tell our guys is, `You're going to play in some big games while you're here,' and this is one of them."