Lights football to play at University of Oregon stadium

After having their game at Southern Oregon University delayed last week because of fires in the area, the Montana State University-Northern football team will finally get to play the Raiders this weekend. However, the game will not be played in Ashland, Oregon, but will be played at Autzen Stadium in Eugene where the University of Oregon plays their games.

The game was moved from Ashland to Eugene because the poor air quality caused by the fires had not subsided yet. Unfortunately, the game in Eugene will not allow fans as part of the agreement with Oregon's administration in an attempt to suppress a surge in COVID-19 cases. Regardless of where the Lights play this week, MSU-N head coach Andrew Rolin expects a battle in their first game against SOU since 2019.

"They're talented and just like everybody else in the conference, you better show up each week ready to compete and ready to win and do your job," Rolin said. "My expectations are for us to go out there and do our absolute best to win the game."

SOU enters the game with an 0-1 record after losing to Rocky Mountain College, 42-28, in their season opener. This will be the Raiders' second game since 2019 since they decided to forgo the shortened season this past spring. The last time MSU-N and SOU played in 2019, the Raiders won 27-19.

On defense, the Lights will look to slow down SOU's passing attack. In their season opener, the Raiders threw for 357 yards with a revolving door at quarterback. Trent Banner completed 72 percent of his passes for 98 yards, one touchdown and one interception. Matt Struck also got many snaps in their season opener as he completed 46.6 percent of his throws for 259 yards and a touchdown.

Whoever gets the snaps at quarterback for the Raiders will have several playmakers to throw to. In the season opener, Sawyer Clevelan caught three passes for 137 yards and a touchdown. Ben Graziani should be a threat in the red zone after he caught a nine-yard touchdown against Rocky Mountain College.

"They're going to air it out a little bit. They like to put the ball in the air," Rolin said. "They've always had talented receivers and quarterbacks."

The Lights will also need to overcome the Raiders' defense led by Stokes Botelho. In their season opener, Botelho led the team with 10 tackles while also snagging an interception. Other defenders the Lights will need to watch out for include Tua Laolagi and Hykeem Massey who each forced a fumble.

"Defensively, they've got a lot of speed. They rally to the football and they cover pretty well," Rolin said. "They've always been a pretty athletic and explosive team."

Before the game's postponement, this weekend was set to be the Lights' bye week. When they finally get on the field, it will have been two weeks since the last time they played. With an extra week of preparation for SOU, Rolin has used that time to work on MSU-N's execution and to make slight adjustments to their game plan.

"We take advantage of the time that we're given," Rolin said. "Just gave us one more week of preparation and our game plan and maybe made a couple tweaks, offensively, defensively and on special teams from our original plan."

Like the Raiders, the Lights enter the game with an 0-1 record after they lost, 42-14, to College of Idaho in their season opener. One of the biggest issues for the Lights in that game was their second-half offense that failed to score and turned the ball over three times. If the Lights can hold onto the ball as well protect the quarterback and run the ball, Rolin feels confident the offense can be more consistent this time out.

"If we do all those things offensively, big plays will come," Rolin said. "We've got a great game plan, we just need to execute it."

The Lights are looking to make a leap this year as a program, but if they are going to do that, they need to start stringing wins together. After an extra week of practice, this weekend's game could be a good chance for MSU-N to win a conference game but they will need to put it together as a team.

"We have what it takes to string it together and be more consistent and execute at a higher level than our opponent but we've got to go do it," Rolin said. "It's really going to come down to the work that you put in each week and I feel like we've practiced at a higher level the past couple weeks."

MSU-N football will play SOU this Saturday at noon at Autzen Stadium in Eugene, Oregon.