Azusa Pacific at Southern Oregon
Saturday (Sept. 25)
Raider Stadium, 6 p.m.

Records:

Azusa Pacific – 3-0

Southern Oregon – 2-1

THIS WEEK: Refreshed and energized off a statement victory over Humboldt State, nationally-ranked Azusa Pacific now heads north to take on long-time nemesis Southern Oregon, Saturday (Sept. 25) in Ashland, Ore., for a 6 p.m. kickoff.

SERIES NOTES: Southern Oregon leads the all-time series with Azusa Pacific, 4-1, which includes a 2-0 clip in Raider Stadium. The Raiders dominated the series in the early going and frustrated Azusa Pacific at every turn. The Cougars started making a series of it in 2002 with a narrow 3-point loss and then last year, after spotting the Raiders a 14-0 first quarter lead, rallied back to post its first-ever victory over SOU, 23-14, in Azusa.

MORE SERIES NOTES: In the first 3 meetings of the series, Southern Oregon beat Azusa Pacific by 9 (41-32), 31 (31-0) and then 43 (64-21). In that initial meeting of 1999, No. 11-ranked Southern Oregon snapped No. 5 Azusa Pacific’s 11-game home field winning streak. However, by season’s end it was Azusa Pacific which qualified for the NAIA playoffs while Southern Oregon stayed home.

The following year, Southern Oregon thumped Azusa Pacific, 31-0, in the Cougars’ first-ever visit to Ashland, Ore. It was the first time a Cougar team had been shut out in 5 years and 51 games. Yet again, Azusa Pacific received the berth into the NAIA playoffs while SOU was left out in the cold.

In 2001 Southern Oregon left no doubt in the NAIA raters’ minds as to which was the best independent on the west coast, crushing Azusa Pacific, 64-21, in the Canyon City. The 43-point loss was the worst by an Azusa Pacific team since Southern Utah State slapped a 54-6 verdict on the Cougars in 1967. As a result, Southern Oregon claimed its first NAIA playoff berth since 1987.

In 2002, Azusa Pacific nearly collected its first victory over SOU, but a Luke Winslow interception (1 of only 2 he had on the season) led to a Steve Baker field goal in the final minute to lift No. 5-ranked Southern Oregon to a 17-14 victory over the No. 14 Cougars. It was the Cougars’ only setback of the season but when NAIA playoff bids were handed out, the Cougars were left home while Southern Oregon qualified again.

LAST YEAR: Azusa Pacific finally snapped its losing string to Southern Oregon with a 23-14 victory in Azusa. The Cougars fell behind 14-0 in the first quarter and then reeled off 23 unanswered points. Running back Ben Buys rushed for a career-high 243 yards on 38 carries and scored 2 touchdowns while place-kicker David Ignash converted on field goal attempts of 39, 40 and 30 yards. The Cougar defense held Southern Oregon to just 25 yards total offense in the second half.

vs. NAIA: Azusa Pacific, the only NAIA school in California that sponsors football and only 1 of 3 west of the Rockies, doesn’t get many opportunities to play fellow NAIA member institutions. In fact, the Cougars have played just 20 NAIA teams over the past 6-plus seasons and are 13-7 in those games since 1998, with 4 losses coming against Southern Oregon.

ON THE ROAD AGAIN: Azusa Pacific has won 8 of its past 11 road games and 9 of its past 13 dating back to the 2001 season. Since 1996, Azusa Pacific is a fine 26-15 on the road.

ABOUT THE COACHES: Azusa Pacific head coach Peter Shinnick, son of former Baltimore Colt linebacker and UCLA All-American Don Shinnick, is in his sixth season at Azusa Pacific. He has fashioned a 39-15 record to date 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 and again last year.

Jeff Olson is in his ninth season at his alma mater Southern Oregon, where he has fashioned a 43-33 record to date. However, since the final game of the 1998 campaign, Olson’s Raiders are 37-16 with 2 NAIA playoff appearances to their credit. Southern Oregon is seeking its sixth straight winning campaign, a first in program history.

NATIONAL RANKINGS: Azusa Pacific was ranked No. 9 in the NAIA Coaches Top 25 Poll of last week. The Cougars have appeared in 25 consecutive NAIA Polls dating back to Sept. 17, 2002.

Southern Oregon was ranked No. 18 in last week’s NAIA poll. A new poll is release by the NAIA national office on Tuesday (Sept. 21) at 1 p.m. and can be obtained via the NAIA website.

LAST WEEK: Azusa Pacific avenged its only regular-season loss of 2003 by relying on a suffocating defense to beat Humboldt State, 17-10, in Azusa. The Cougars held Humboldt to just 194 yards total offense (158 of which came on 2 HSU drives that netted just 7 points; the Lumberjacks amassed 36 yards on their 7 other possessions combined). The Cougars entered the game fourth in the NAIA in rushing defense (39.5 avg.) and improved their numbers by limiting HSU to just 21 yards on 35 carries.

Southern Oregon rebounded from a 32-0 loss at Humboldt State the week before by knocking off NAIA-member Rocky Mountain, 13-7, in Billings, Mont. The Raider defense held Rocky Mountain to just 129 yards in total offense and forced to 2 turnovers late in the game to preserve the win.

NO PLACE LIKE HOME: With the victory over Humboldt State, Azusa Pacific moved its home field winning streak to a program record 12 straight, besting the former standard of 11 home wins in a row set by the 1998 and 1999 Cougars. Ironically, that streak was snapped in Southern Oregon’s 41-32 victory over Azusa Pacific in the 2 program’s initial meeting back in 1999. Also, the Raiders were the last team to beat Azusa Pacific in the Canyon City when SOU laid the aforementioned 64-21 thrashing on the Cougars, Oct. 27, 2001. Since then, the Cougars have posted back-to-back seasons of perfect play at home, a first in the program’s 40-year history. Since 1998, Azusa Pacific is 33-5 at home.

IN THE MIDST: Azusa Pacific is in the midst of a highly-charged and very significant 3-game set. Last week, the Cougars hosted Humboldt State, the only team to beat the Cougars during the 2003 regular season. This week, they face what is becoming their arch-rival in nationally-ranked Southern Oregon, a program which has beaten Azusa Pacific 4 of the past 5 years and kept the Cougars out of the 2002 NAIA playoffs with a last-minute field goal. Additionally, Azusa Pacific has never won in Ashland, Ore., in 2 previous trips there. Following the SOU game, the Cougars return home to host 2-time defending NAIA champion and currently top-ranked Carroll College, which more than likely will enter the Oct. 2 game in Azusa with the nation’s longest collegiate winning streak at 23 games.

“We saw this stretch coming last spring and began talking about it then,” said sixth-year Cougar coach Peter Shinnick. “We said it then and have repeated it to the guys all the way through, ‘we have to focus on the present.’ We’re going to really zero in on Southern Oregon this week and not even consider Carroll until next week. It’s what we did last week with Humboldt, and to be honest, it’s the only way to work through our schedule.”

ON THE DEFENSIVE: Echoes of the past are being heard in relationship to this year’s Cougar defense. In 1980 and ’81, Azusa Pacific’s defense ranked among the best in the NAIA, holding opponents to just 168 yards of total offense per game (1981), which included a mere 18.3 on the ground, while producing 4 straight shutouts at one point. Additionally, the 1980 defense set an NAIA single-game record with minus-147 yards rushing thanks in part to 17 QB sacks against Occidental in 1980. This year’s set of Cougar defenders might be likened to the Cougars of lore. Through the opening 3 games this year, Azusa Pacific is holding the opponent to per-game averages of just 33.3 rushing yards and 208.7 yards of total offense. They’ve yielded just 3 touchdowns, 2 of which followed Azusa Pacific turnovers inside the Cougar 20-yard line. Their success thus far has brought members of the 1980-81 Cougar defenses back to the sidelines to make their own evaluations and comparisons.

MORE DEFENSE: The most impressive fact of this Cougar defense is that of the opponents’ 35 possessions this year, 33 have traveled no more than 44 yards in length, and 27 of the opponents possessions have ended after just 1 first down. The Azusa Pacific defense has held on 33-of-47 third-down situations this season.

RETURN OF THE SACKMASTERS: The previously mentioned 1981 Cougar defense set the school season record with 56 sacks in 10 games. The 2004 Cougars are just off the pace with 15 in 3 games. However, in the past 2 games each, Azusa Pacific has collected 7 sacks of the opposing QB. Junior DT Chuck Asiodu, a transfer from Mt. SAC via Colorado State, leads the way with 4.5 sacks all in the past 2 games. Additionally, he has 4 forced fumbles and again all in the past 2 games. Junior LB Steve Holte, who has led the team in tackling the past 2 seasons and continues to do so this year with 28 in 3 games, has 3.5 sacks this season, more than he collected over the past 19 games and 2 seasons as a Cougar.

BUY A TD: With 2 more TDs last week against Humboldt State, senior All-American candidate Ben Buys moved to within 1 TD of Christian Okoye’s school record of 34 career rushing touchdowns. Buys already has 5 TDs in 3 games this season and has 33 for his 19-game career at Azusa Pacific. Additionally, with 119 rushing yards on 26 carries (4.6 avg.) vs. Humboldt State, Buys posted 12th 100-yard game of his career, third-best in program history and just 3 shy of Okoye’s 15 set from 1984-86. Buys now has 2,180 rushing yards of his career, fifth best in program history. He needs just 57 yards against Southern Oregon to move into fourth place. A year ago he rushed for a career-high 243 vs. Southern Oregon for the third best single-game performance in program history.

WHAT A KICK: Junior college transfer Mike Betancourth is a one-man kicking gang for Azusa Pacific. Not since the early 1990s has Azusa Pacific had one player handle both punting and place-kicking duties and not since the great Brad Kramer of the mid-1970s has any Cougar been as successful at both duties as Betancourth … at least through 3 games. In 10 punts this season (a rather low number through 3 games), Betancourth is averaging a hefty 43.9 yards a kick, which is well ahead of the 41.6 school-record pace first set by Bruce Webb in 1969 and matched by Kramer in 1974. Though he had his string of 5 straight successful field goal attempts snapped by a blocked kick against Humboldt State, he is nonetheless 5-for-6 this year in field goals and a perfect 4-for-4 from beyond 30 yards.. In the Cougars’ opening-week victory over San Diego, he converted a 23-yarder, his first attempt in 2 years, to tie the game at 17-17 with less than 4 minutes to play. He then made 3 more attempts at Olivet Nazarene, including boots of 44 and 42 yards to become only the second Cougar ever to kick 2 40-yard field goals in the same game (Michael Wade hit 49- and 44-yarders vs. San Diego in 1993).

GETTING THE HANG OF IT: Cougar QB Sean Davis, who a year ago assumed the starting mantle in place of the program’s all-time leading passer (Luke Winslow), is settling in quite nicely as the Cougars’ signal-caller. Davis endured the growing pains through the first 6 games of his career as Azusa Pacific’s field general. However, over the past 7 starts Davis has matured quite nicely, completing 86-of-161 (.534) passes for 1,085 yards and 4 TDs. He needs 151 more yards to become only the 11th Cougar QB to pass for over 2,000 yards in a career.

ABOUT THE RAIDERS: Other than a brief span when the Raiders dropped 4 of 5 games to open the 2003 season, Southern Oregon has been one of the NAIA’s best programs, winning 22 of 27 games since the end of the 2000 campaign. The Raiders relied on an outstanding running game to go along with a physical defense to make them a fixture in the NAIA Top 25. In fact, the SOU ground game was so good that their past 2 running backs are not only the top 2 rushers in Raider football history, but both of them led the NAIA in rushing, Griff Yates in 1997 (1,713 yards, 7.9 avg./carry) and Dusty McGrorty in 2002 (1,560 yards, 5.4 avg.). McGrorty finished his career last year with 5,414 career yards, breaking Yates’ standard of 4,559. However, there is neither Yates nor McGrorty in the Raider backfield this year, and the Southern Oregon offense has hiccupped in the early going. The Raiders are averaging just 96 rushing yards a game and 2.8 yards a carry. As a result, they’re averaging just 11 points a game through 3 contests. Fortunately, senior QB Brandon Griffith, a 4-year member of the Raider program but a first-year starter, has had a hot hand, completing nearly 60% of his passes to date, averaging over 190 yards passing each contest. His favorite target thus far has been senior WR Bobby Poeltl, who needs 1 more reception to reach 100 catches for his career. On the season, Poeltl has 21 grabs (7 a game) for 258 yards (12.3 avg.) and 2 TDs

Other than the setback to Humboldt State in which the Raiders committed 5 turnovers including a couple deep in their own territory, the SOU defense has been nearly impenetrable, yielding just 1 TD in the Raider victories over Si Tanka-Huron (21-7) and Rocky Mountain (13-7). Senior LB David Zauher, whose grandfather Larry Brink was the MVP of the 1951 NFL championship game as a member of the Los Angeles Rams, tops SOU in tackling with 29 take-downs.

SHINNICK SAYS: “For the most part, we did what we wanted to do against Humboldt State,” said Shinnick, “and that was to keep the ball out of their hands. They had a great offense that wanted to control the time on the field, but we were able to take that away from them. We still had missed assignments on both sides of the ball and on special forces. Yet as I told the guys after the game, this is just the beginning of a very long road for us.”

“This is obviously a big week because we have to go on the road and play a national ranked team. Southern Oregon want to bump us off and get the advantage that we currently have as the nation’s top independent team. They still like to pound the ball and they have a very active defense. What happened against Humboldt State is not indicative of their talent. All you have to do is watch the film. They turned the ball over a ton of times. Had they not done that, the game would have been very different.”

“I really like the direction our offense is headed right now,” said Shinnick. “Last year we ran the ball very well, and during the off-season we tried to figure other ways to get the ball into peoples’ hands while playing to Sean’s strength. So now we’re coming at defense with many different looks and make them accountable for all our people on the field.”

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 Alex Charles call all the action starting at 5:55 p.m. Saturday (Sept. 25)

TICKET PRICES: Tickets for the Southern Oregon game are sold at the gate on game day, starting at 4:30 p.m. Prices are $5 for visitor seating, $15 for reserved and $10 for general admission.

DIRECTIONS: To attend the Azusa Pacific-Southern game, out of the Los Angeles area, take the 5 north into Oregon. Take Ashland Ave (exit 14), and turn left (west). Go approximately 2 miles. Turn right on Siskiyou Blvd. Go 1 block and turn right Wightman Ave. Raider Stadium is 2 blocks down on the right.