Southern Oregon at Azusa Pacific

Saturday (Oct. 18), Cougar Stadium, 6 p.m.

Records:

Azusa Pacific – 4-1

Southern Oregon – 1-3

THIS WEEK: Nationally-ranked Azusa Pacific, still smarting from its first defeat of the season, has no time to lick its wounds. The Cougars host NAIA rival Southern Oregon on Saturday (Oct. 18) in a game with national playoff implications that kicks off at 6 p.m. in Cougar Stadium.

DON’T BE FOOLED: A one-time glance at the records does not provide a proper analysis of the upcoming Azusa Pacific-Southern Oregon. The Raiders are certainly the best 1-3 team in the NAIA, and while their chances of a third-straight NAIA postseason berth are at best a flickering ember, they are more than capable of inflicting similar fatal damage on Azusa Pacific playoff hopes.

HISTORY LESSON: There is much more to the Azusa Pacific-Southern Oregon game than just a match-up of 2 NAIA powers. In fact, the 2 foes might be termed “arch-rivals” though SOU already has one of those with Western Oregon. Nonetheless, what has transpired over the past 4 seasons certainly has elevated this brief series into an annual meeting of high intensity. In the early going, Southern Oregon soundly beat Azusa Pacific in the first 2 meetings, yet it was Azusa Pacific that garnered eventual NAIA playoff berths in 1999 and 2000 while Southern Oregon stayed home. In 2001, Southern Oregon, frustrated by its back-to-back near playoff misses, exacted some heavy revenge by handing Azusa Pacific its worse home loss ever and put its stamp on its first NAIA playoff berth since 1986. Last year, the Cougars won 9 of 10 games and yet didn’t make the playoffs, leaving one to believe that the lone loss, a last-minute setback at Southern Oregon, cost Azusa Pacific its postseason spot.

SERIES NOTES: Southern Oregon leads the all-time series with Azusa Pacific, 4-0, having won every meeting since the series started in 1999. In that initial meeting, the Raiders snapped Azusa Pacific’s school-record 11-game home field winning streak by downing the defending NAIA national champion, 41-32, in Azusa.

The following year Southern Oregon thumped the Cougars, 31-0, in Ashland, Ore., to hand Azusa Pacific its first shutout defeat in 5 years, and yet Azusa Pacific still advanced to the NAIA playoffs later in the season.

In 2001, Southern Oregon crushed Azusa Pacific, 64-21, in the Canyon City. The Raiders went on to replace Azusa Pacific in the NAIA postseason as the Cougars stayed home for the first time in 3 seasons.

Last year, Raider placekicker Steve Baker launched 38-yard field goal with 28 seconds left to life Southern Oregon to a 17-14 victory in Ashland.

COMMON FOES: Just 5 weeks into the season and Southern Oregon and Azusa Pacific already have a pair of common opponents. Both teams lost at upstart Humboldt State. The Raiders fell 31-10, and the Cougars followed with a 21-7 setback last week. However, the 2 teams had different results against the University of San Diego. In the season opener, Azusa Pacific downed San Diego, 24-14, in San Diego. Two weeks later, USD beat Southern Oregon, 24-19, also in San Diego.

NO PLACE LIKE HOME: In 39 seasons of Cougar football, Azusa Pacific has played its home games in 4 different locations (Duarte High School 1965; Hillside Field 1966-68, 1970-1986; Charter Oak High School 1969; and Cougar Stadium 1986- ). The 21-12 victory 3 weeks ago over Pacific Lutheran was Azusa Pacific’s 100th home victory. The Cougars are currently 101-65-4 in Azusa, which includes an impressive 27-5 mark over the past 5 seasons. The Cougars have won 7 straight at home and have not lost in Azusa since Southern Oregon’s last visit in 2001.

ABOUT THE COACHES: Fifth-year Azusa Pacific head coach Peter Shinnick, son of former Baltimore Colt linebacker and UCLA All-American Don Shinnick, has fashioned a 32-14 record to date. Shinnick reached 30 wins quicker than any previous Cougar mentor, and only Cougar Hall-of-Famer Jim Milhon (1978-94) has won more game at Azusa Pacific (81). Shinnick led Azusa Pacific to the 1999 NAIA semifinals and put the Cougars back in the NAIA playoffs in 2000.

A former Raider defensive back, Jeff Olson is in his eighth year at Southern Oregon and currently owns a 43-29 record. He has taken the Raiders to back-to-back NAIA Playoff appearances the past 2 seasons, a first in program history. Both times, SOU advanced to the quarterfinals before falling to Carroll College.

NATIONAL RANKINGS: Azusa Pacific was ranked No. 8 in the NAIA Top 25 Poll last week. For the Cougars, it is their highest ranking in the NAIA coaches’ poll since they were ranked No. 5 on Sept. 5, 2000. However, the Cougars are expected to fall when a new poll is be released on Tuesday (Oct. 14) by 1 p.m. (PDT).

Southern Oregon opened the season ranked No. 5 in the NAIA Preseason Poll. However, 3 straight defeats to open the campaign dropped the Raiders from the Top 25 for the first time since 1999.

LAST GAME: Humboldt State’s high-powered offense got the best of Azusa Pacific’s nationally-recognized defense and the end result was the Cougars’ first defeat of the season, a 21-7 setback in Arcata. The Lumberjacks took the opening kickoff and drove 67 yards on 12 plays to take a quick 7-0 lead. The Cougars answered to knot the score at 7-7 before the end of their quarter. However, HSU used a pair of short-field situations to tally a pair of second quarter TDs and finished off the Cougars to assume a 21-7 halftime lead which it held throughout the second half.

Southern Oregon picked up its first win of the season with a 61-0 blasting of Montana State-Northern. Raider RB Dusty McGrorty rushed for a school record 250 yards and scored 4 TDs to lead SOU, which led 34-0 at halftime. A trio of Raider QBs combined to complete 17-of-19 passes for 266 yards and another 5 TDs.

NATIONAL STATS: According to last week’s NAIA statistical leaders, the Cougars ranked among the nation’s best in several categories. Senior Nate Farris, who did not return a punt against Humboldt State, leads the NAIA in punt returns (28.3 avg.). Sophomore Ben Buys was 12th in rushing and 18th in scoring. Junior David Ignash was 17th in scoring (5.8 avg.). As a team, the Cougars are fifth in rushing defense (68.0 avg.) 9th in scoring defense, and 19th in rushing offense.

For Southern Oregon, Dusty McGorty continues to lead the nation in rushing (212.0 avg.) Senior QB Dan Woodward is 15th in passing. Senior WR Andrae Thurman is second in the NAIA is pass receiving. As a team, the Raiders are 11th in total offense.

A new NAIA statistical report reflecting games played through Oct. 11 will be released by the NAIA on Wednesday, Oct. 15.

BUY A TD: Despite coming off his poorest outing of the season (63 yards on 17 carries at Humboldt State), sophomore RB Ben Buys (Englewood, Colo./Denver Christian HS) is still putting together one of the finest seasons ever by a Cougar running back. Through 5 games, Buys has an even 600 yards and needs 400 more yards in the next 4 games to become only the seventh Cougar ever to rush for 1,000 yards in a season. He is currently ninth on Azusa Pacific’s all-time rushing chart with 1,455 yards

Additionally, his 8 100-yard rushing games (in just 14 career games) is fourth on Azusa Pacific’s all-time list. Only 1998 NAIA Player of the Year Jack Williams (15), Okoye (13) and Jim Farmer (9) have registered more 100-yard games in Cougar football history.

Buys, who has 6 touchdowns this season, including a pair of multi-touchdown games this season, now has 22 rushing TDs for his career, fourth best in Cougar football history, and has tallied 136 points in his career, eighth-best on Azusa Pacific’s all-time scoring chart.

GREEDY GUYS: A year ago, the Azusa Pacific defense, regarded as one of the 10 best in program history, forced 17 turnovers (10 fumbles and 7 interceptions) in 9 games played, just shy of 2 take-aways a game. Through 5 games this year, the Cougar defense has already produced 15 turnovers (8 fumbles and 7 interceptions) and averaging over 3 take-aways a game.

FARRIS OF THEM ALL: Senior WR Nate Farris, who a year ago averaged 25.5 yards a reception, continues to be the Cougars’ big-play guy this year, though he has added other formats to his attack. While he does continue his fine work as a receiver, averaging a fine 20.8 yards over his 8 catches, Farris has found additional success rushing the ball and returning punts. An NAIA champion in track & field’s 600 meters, Farris averages 10.8 yards on 6 rushes this season and is averaging 28.3 yards a punt return, which includes a 76-yarder that he took to the end zone vs. Pacific Lutheran. For his career, Farris is averaging 24.3 yards on 33 receptions, 10 of which went for touchdowns.

RETURN OF THE SACKMASTERS: All-American DE Nick Tavaglione and Anthony Diggs have teamed for 9 of the Cougars’ 14 sacks this season. Against Humboldt State, the Cougars had 9 tackles for loss, including a season-high 5 quarterback sacks. Tavaglione, who currently leads the team with 6 sacks, has 16 in his 14-game career at Azusa Pacific.

LITTLE BIT OF EVERYTHING: Senior CB Brian Rocheleau (Yucca Valley, Calif./Yucca Valley HS) is playing All-American-like football. The 5-foot-8, 160-pound Rocheleau has stood head-and-shoulders above on defense. He is coming off a career-high 10 tackles at Humbold State Saturday, a game in which he also collected his first-ever interceptions. On the season, he leads the team with 8 pass deflections to his credit to go along with 26 tackles. Against Pacific Lutheran 4 weeks ago, he caused a fumble on the Lutes’ second possession to stop a drive that had moved to the Cougar 10-yard line. Then late in the game, he put the breaks on another PLU drive by recovering a fumble again at the Cougar 10-yard line with 3:25 left in the game. Rocheleau also set up the Cougars’ first score by returning a PLU punt 16 yards late in the second quarter. Rocheleau will have to be at his best Saturday against a Southern Oregon team that is completing 57% of its passes and accumulating over 240 yards a game through the air.

ABOUT THE RAIDERS: Southern Oregon is not really a 1-3 team. The Raiders suffered narrow losses to Linfield (47-42) and San Diego (24-19) along with the aforementioned setback at Humboldt State (31-10), and to be truthful, the Raiders could easily be 3-1 instead. Their high-powered offense, which posted 61 points on Montana State-Northern last week, is averaging 471 yards a game and 43 points a contest. All-American RB Dusty McGrorty spearheads the ground attack with an NAIA-leading 212 yards a game. Raider receivers Andrae Thurman (28 catches) and Bobby Poeltl (16 grabs) have combined for 44 receptions, nearly equaling Azusa Pacific’s entire receiving corps’ 51 receptions.

The Raiders feature the fine kicking game of Steve Baker, who is averaging 45.4 yards a punt to go along with a pair of field goals this season.

On defense, linebacker David Zauher has 2 interceptions and 31 tackles through 4 games, and leads a unit that is surrendering just 90 rushing yards a game and only 2.9 yards a carry.

SHINNICK SAYS: “This is what college football is about, you get to play one game a week, put the past behind you and take advantage of a full week to get ready for what’s ahead. Southern Oregon is coming in with a lot of excitement and enthusiasm about their future.

“This game is important since it’s the next game. But every game is important. Last week was the most important game and now this week will be that game. This group isn’t too used to having to bounce back from defeats, so this is where our senior leadership has to come in and take this team to the next level.

“Our defense has to be very disciplined against Southern Oregon and meet McGrorty at the point of attack. To be honest he doesn’t get touched very much. He has an o-line and a tight end doing a great job in front of him. One of the things we did well at Humboldt State was swarm to the ball when their receivers caught a pass, and we’ll need that same kind of swarming, 11 guys making the tackle against McGrorty.”

ON THE AIR: Azusa Pacific’s student-run radio station KAPU will carry the Azusa Pacific-Southern Oregon game. Click here to listen to Mike Dennis and David Nyhoff call all the action starting at 5:50 p.m. on Saturday (Oct. 18)

TICKET PRICES: Tickets for the Southern Oregon game and all Azusa Pacific 2003 home contests are sold at the gate on game day, starting at 4:30 p.m. Prices are $5 for adults, and $3 for seniors and students with ID. Children age 12 and under are free. All Azusa Pacific students, faculty and staff are free as well. There is no charge for parking.

DIRECTIONS: To attend the Azusa Pacific-Southern Oregon game, take the 210 Freeway and exit Citrus Ave. in Azusa. Go north (toward the mountains). The main entrance into the campus and the stadium will be on the right, less than a mile.