Azusa Pacific at Carroll, Saturday (Sept. 10)

Records:

Azusa Pacific – 0-1

Carroll –1-0

THIS WEEK: The top game in the NAIA this week will take place in Helena, Mont., when No. 4-ranked Azusa Pacific visits 3-time defending national champion and top-ranked Carroll College in a rematch of last year’s semifinal playoff game. Kickoff is set for 1 p.m. (MDT) in Carroll’s Nelson Stadium.

CHAMPIONSHIP CALIBRE: Azusa Pacific and Carroll have combined to win 4 of the past 7 NAIA championships. The Cougars captured the 1998 crown while Carroll collected titles in 2002, 2003 and 2004.

TELEVISION: The Azusa Pacific-Carroll game will be televised lived locally in the Helena area by Omega Television Productions. The game can be viewed lived in Southern California via a satellite feed. Click on the Omega links for broadcast coordinates.

SERIES NOTES: Carroll leads the series with Azusa Pacific, 2-0, capturing the first-ever meetings last year. As the No. 1-ranked team at the time, Carroll downed the Cougars, 12-0, in Azusa on Oct. 2. Nine weeks later the 2 teams met again, this time in Helena, Mont., and in the semifinals of the NAIA Football Championship Series. Carroll won 14-10, marching 82 yards over the final 5minutes to score the game-winning TD with 1:21 remaining. Two weeks later the Saints won the NAIA title game in Savannah, Tenn., beating St. Francis (Ind.), 15-12.

Azusa Pacific is 2-3 all-time vs. Carroll and its Frontier Conference mates. The Cougars beat Rocky Mountain College of Billings, Mont., for the 2 victories and lost once to the Battlin’ Bears to go along with last year’s 2 losses to Carroll to account for the 3 setbacks.

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 26 NAIA teams over the past 7-plus seasons and are 16-10 in those games since 1998.

ABOUT THE COACHES: Azusa Pacific head coach Peter Shinnick, son of former Baltimore Colt linebacker and UCLA All-American Don Shinnick, is now in his seventh season at the Cougar helm. Shinnick has just brought Azusa Pacific through its best 6-year span in program history, guiding the Cougars to victory in 47 of the past 65 games, which includes an impressive 28-6 record over the past 3 seasons. In Shinnick’s tenure, the Cougars have appeared in 64 of 75 NAIA Coaches Top 25 Polls, including the 37 in a row, which has translated into 4 NAIA playoff berths, 2 of which had the Cougars advance to the semifinals. Shinnick has coached 22 All-Americans, 11 scholar-athletes and 73 school records have been broken since his 1999 arrival.

Mike Van Diest is in his seventh season as well at Carroll, where he has fashioned a very impressive 65-16 record. He has led the Saints to 3 straight NAIA titles, making Carroll 1 of only 2 schools in NAIA history to win 3 consecutive national championships (Texas A&I is the other). Van Diest, who has guided Carroll to 5 straight NAIA semifinal appearances, is a local product of Helena (Mont.) High School. He has served on the coaching staffs at Wyoming, Montana, Northwestern and Massachusetts. His son, Shane, is a freshman defensive back for the Saints.

NATIONAL RANKINGS: Azusa Pacific is ranked No. 4 in the NAIA Coaches Preseason Top 25 Poll that was released Aug. 16. The Cougars have appeared in 37 consecutive NAIA Polls dating back to Sept. 17, 2002.

Carroll is the NAIA’s No. 1-ranked team. The Saints have been in the top spot for 23 of the past 29 coaches polls and have been in the NAIA Top 25 for 54 straight weeks since Nov. 17, 2000.

NATION’S TOP DOG: This is only the fourth time in program history that Azusa Pacific has played a No. 1-ranked team. In 1999, top-ranked Georgetown (Ky.) thumped Azusa Pacific, 66-35, in an NAIA semifinal playoff game in Azusa. Last year, No. 1 Carroll downed Azusa Pacific, 12-0, in Azusa. Later in the season, however, Azusa Pacific beat up No. 1-ranked Sioux Falls (S.D), 24-3, in the quarterfinals of the NAIA playoffs.

LAST WEEK: Azusa Pacific, ranked No. 4 in the NAIA last week, was stunned in its season-opener, falling on the road at San Diego, 30-6. It was the Cougars’ worse loss in terms of margin of defeat and most points surrendered since Oct. 27, 2001, when Southern Oregon belted the Cougars, 64-21. It was also the Cougars most lopsided road setback since falling at Western Oregon, 44-14, Sept. 23, 2000. Though down 7-6 early in the second quarter, Azusa Pacific was in control of play on both sides of the line before the wheels began to fall off. USD reeled off 23 unanswered points to run away, taking advantage of 4 turnovers, while holding the Cougars to just 69 yards of total offense in the second half.

Carroll appeared to be in midseason form with a 44-14 season-opening win at Eastern Oregon Friday night. The Saints jumped out to 37-7 halftime lead and cruised in for its eighth straight win and its 31st in the past 33 games. All-American senior QB Tyler Emmert completed 17-of-26 passes for 250 yards and 3 TDs, including strikes of 34 and 31 yards to U. of Montana transfer Tyler Peterson. The Saints were up 37-0 before EOU scored with 11 seconds left in the first half.

UP THE LADDER: By completing 17-of-31 passes for 222 yards at San Diego, senior QB Sean Davis became only the sixth Cougar ever to throw for over 3,400 yards in a career. In 27 games at Azusa Pacific, including 24 as a starter, Davis is 273-for-521 (.524) for 3,408 yards and 21 TDs. In 2 games vs. Carroll last year, Davis was 29-for-54 for 259 yards, 3 interceptions and one TD.

GETTING HIS KICKS: Senior place-kicker Mike Betancourth, who a year ago led the NAIA with 19 field goals made, pushed his school-record consecutive field goals made streak to 12 straight by converting his first 2 attempts at USD Saturday evening. However, his third try from 35 yards out clipped the right upright to snap the streak. Earlier in the game, Betancourth nailed a 45-yarder for the second longest boot of his career (he a 52-yarder vs. Valley City State last year) and the fourth over 42 yards since coming to Azusa Pacific last year.

ALL-AMERICAN PLAY Senior LB Stephen Holte, an NAIA All-American first teamer from a year ago, picked up right where he left off from last year. Against USD, Holte tallied a game- and career-high 12 tackles (6 solo) to lead the Cougars.

ABOUT THE SAINTS: Carroll returns 8 starters from an offense that averaged nearly 400 yards a game last year, and no returnee is bigger than senior QB Tyler Emmert, who as 2003 sophomore led the Saints to their second of 3 NAIA titles and was named the NAIA Player of the Year. Emmert threw for 2,998 yards and 17 TDs as a junior last year, and in 2 games vs. Azusa Pacific he was an identical 19-for-31 in both contests, throwing for 166 yards in the victory at Azusa and 200 yards in the semifinal win in Helena. He scored the game-winning TD on a 1-yard run with 1:21 left in the semifinal.

Defensively, Carroll is stacked once again and is led by LB Gary Cooper, an NAIA All-American first team pick last year when he recorded 148 tackles in 14 games. Cooper paced a defense that allowed just 9 points a game over the final 7 contests of the 2004 campaign.

FOR PETE’S SAKE: “Let’s go, we’re off to Carroll,” said Cougar coach Peter Shinnick. “Let’s look ahead and prepare for what I think is the best team we’ve played in my time at Azusa Pacific. We know what we’re getting in Carroll. We’ve been there. We’ve played them. We know what to expect. There’s no ‘ifs, ands or buts’ about it, they are the best team we’ve played since I’ve been here.

“San Diego is a very good football team. They will win a lot of games this year. I expected us to be much cleaner and more efficient than what we showed. Offensively, we just had too many missed assignments. We have opportunities to score touchdowns but one missed assignment each time forces us to kick field goals instead. If we would have had touchdowns instead of field goals, I think everything changes for us. Defensively, San Diego hit a couple of big plays on us, and that hasn’t happened in a long time. But we can correct those mistakes. There is a lot of improvement we need to do.”