Frontier Notebook: Frontier title chase still a mystery

The first quarter of the Frontier Conference football season is in the books. And while teams have learned plenty about themselves through their first three or four games, I'm not sure the league has learned anything about what might happen come November.

If anything, we've learned that there's a long way to go, a lot of big games to be played, and any number of different Frontier schools still have a chance at the Frontier championships.

Last Saturday's NAIA Game of the Week between then-No. 5 Rocky Mountain College and No. 7 Carroll College in Billings taught us that.

RMC had a chance to grab the Frontier by the throat, playing a one-loss Carroll squad in its home opener at Herb Klindt Field. But instead of the Battlin' Bears seizing control of the Frontier, Carroll snatched all that away with a Carroll-like 33-8 road win. The game resembled the Carroll team that Frontier fans are used to seeing, a team that dominates the line of scrimmage on both sides of the ball, moves the chains and controls time of possession, and flat-out wears a team down to a frazzle.

That's exactly what the Saints want to do every week, and that's exactly what they did to the Battlin' Bears last Saturday in Billings.

So now, if Rocky doesn't have control of the Frontier, and Carroll already has a loss on its slate, it's Southern Oregon's turn to run away with the league title. The Raiders are 3-0 in the Frontier, with a win over the Saints, and they will be favored this Saturday when they invade Blue Pony Stadium to take on the Montana State University-Northern Lights.

However, it would be wise to think SOU won't escape the Frontier unscathed either. The Raiders get Rocky at home, but that game isn't until Nov. 1. Before that, in just three weeks, SOU has to make the trip to Helena to play the Saints for a second time, and that game could be the difference between the Raiders winning the league title, sharing it, or not winning it at all.

Interestingly, through the first quarter of the season, the standings would suggest two losses could still clinch the Frontier championship. And, at this point, only two Frontier teams, Northern and Montana Tech are below .500 in the standings, meaning even UM-Western, Eastern Oregon and College of Idaho can't be considered out of the picture at this point.

In fact, no one can be counted out. The Raiders certainly can't and won't overlook the Lights Saturday. Despite a 50-30 setback at Western last Saturday, Northern has one of the top defenses in the Frontier Conference, and defense is key to slowing down, and having a chance to beat the high-powered Raiders. If Northern can do that Saturday, then the Frontier standings will be even more muddled. But one thing is clear, the Frontier is loaded with good teams, from top to bottom, and the league is already shown that with four teams ranked in the NAIA Top 25 and another receiving votes this week. And while there's plenty of big games left to play, it looks as though the race to the Frontier championship is going to have to wait to be settled until well into November.

And while the Lights have played excellent pass defense this season, allowing just 206 yards per game, they are now faced with stopping the best quarterback in the NAIA in SOU's Austin Dodge.

Barring injury or any other disaster, Dodge is set to smash at least eight different NAIA offensive records at some point this season. Dodge will blow by the total career passing yards mark of 13,388 as he was less than 2,000 yards shy of that one when the season started.

Air Emergency

The Lights know exactly what's coming when Southern Oregon takes the field Saturday in Havre. The game will be SOU's second trip to Havre since joining the Frontier, and the Raiders fourth foray into Blue Pony Stadium in the last 15 years.

And it's no secret what the Raiders will do. They will throw the ball without fear, they will go fast and they will try to put as many points on the scoreboard as possible. That's the task the Northern defense is faced with Saturday. If he stays on his pace of throwing for four touchdowns every outing, he'll break Chris Reisert's record of 120 career TD passes Saturday in Havre. Dodge is just three shy of that now. And he needs less than 400 yards of offense to break Carroll great Tyler Emmert's record of 13,979 career total yards gained.

Other NAIA records in jeopardy because of the great Dodge include total completions, passing yards per game, total offensive yards per game, touchdowns responsible for and career passing attempts.

Of course, Northern will do everything it can Saturday to prevent Dodge from racking up the huge numbers he's accustomed to. And the Lights have a chance to do just that if their pass rush can continue to be what it has been so far this season.

Defensive end Tyler Craig is having a monster sophomore campaign, as he leads the Frontier with six sacks, while Patrick Barnett and Will DeVos each have three tackles for loss.

Northern interim head coach Jake Eldridge, who has had to game plan for Dodge as the Lights' defensive coordinator the last three seasons, understands just what it takes to slow the senior quarterback down, let alone stop him from bombarding the opposition with passing yards and big plays.

"You have to be able to generate some pressure on him (Dodge)," Eldridge said. "Maybe not necessarily with sacks, because their offensive line is very good and he's very mobile in the pocket. But if you can get to him, throw his timing off and disrupt the timing with his receivers, that's one way to at least slow them down a little bit. That's what we hope to do, get some pressure on him."

Catch the Ball

If you like watching wide receivers do their thing, then Blue Pony Stadium is certainly the place to be Saturday as no less than five of the top statistical receivers in the Frontier will be in action.

On the side of the Lights is senior Trevor Baum. In his first and only season as a wide receiver, Baum is running wild on the Frontier. He's caught 39 balls for 604 yards this season, and he averages 16 yards per grab, to go along with nine catches per outing. Baum is coming off a 200-yard performance against Western last Saturday, and he's hit paydirt three times. On the other side is sophomore Jake Messerly, who also has two 100-yard games this year. Messerly is a speedster and a big-play threat, and in his career at Northern, he already has six catches that went for 70 yards or longer.

Meanwhile, the SOU receivers, as expected, are no slouches either. Brothers Matt and Ryan Retzlaff were both All-Conference a year ago. Both are Oregon State transfers, who each went over a 1,000 yards a season ago and combined to haul in 40 touchdowns. But the most gifted receiver in the league might be Dylan Young, who already has nearly 600 yards and four touchdowns this season. Young is a threat to go the distance from anywhere on the field, and he's someone who has to command a lot of attention from opposing defenses. The Raiders also acquired the services of former Portland State star Victor Dean this season. Dean lit up the Big Sky Conference at times a year ago, and at 6-6 and 215 pounds, he's an NFL-sized WR with blazing speed.

Instant Impact

The College of Idaho suffered its first loss of its innaguaral season when the Yotes were thumped by SOU, 56-28 last Saturday in Ashland, Ore.

But, no matter where the Yotes finish in their first season in the Frontier, they certainly have a star at quarterback.

Junior TeeJay Gordon is the definition of a dual-threat QB, and his running ability is giving Frontier defenses fits they probably weren't prepared for when facing the Yotes for the first time.

While he's an adept passer, the 5-11 Gordon, out of Manteca, California, has already rushed for 359 yards on 50 carries this season. He's also thrown for 603 yards and the Yotes are averaging eight yards per play every time Gordon has the ball in his hands. And with eight total touchdowns already, Gordon has quickly established himself as one of the most dangerous weapons in all of the Frontier Conference.