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THIS WEEK IN CARROLL FOOTBALL
The fourth-ranked Saints host Eastern Oregon Saturday at Nelson Stadium in a contest that looked, at the beginning of the season, like it would be for playoff contention. The Saints and Mountaineers have gone in opposite directions early in 2015 and the 1-3 Mounties will look to play spoilers against the No. 4 Saints. Carroll is 3-1 and is tied for the lead in the Frontier Conference while EOU finds themselves in seventh place in the eight-team conference.

LAST GAME: NO. 6 SAINTS TOP MONTANA NO. 16 UMW 10-9
The cliché says that the only thing that matters is having one more point than the other team and Saturday in Dillon Carroll College football did just that when the No. 6 Saints didn't allow Montana Western to score a touchdown and held on to win a defensive battle 10-9 at Vigilante Field.

The Saints played bend-don't-break defense, allowing Western to tally 390 yards of offense but held the Bulldogs to just three field goals to hold on for the win.

Carroll scored just one touchdown, a 35-yard pass from Mac Roche to Connor Fohn on the first drive of the second half to give Carroll the 10-9 lead that would hold for the remainder of the game.

Montana Western had chances, in the third quarter Seth Mason missed a 37-yard field goal into the wind and Carroll remained on top.

In the fourth quarter, the Bulldogs were driving with 1:34 to play at the Carroll 45-yard line when, on fourth and less than a yard, JD Ferris attempted a QB dive to get the first down.

The Saints defense held and the Bulldogs missed the first down by the just inches.

ABOUT EASTERN OREGON
Eastern Oregon has maybe the most explosive offensive player in the Frontier Conference in Jace Billingsly. He ranks second in the conference in both rushing yards and receiving yards and leads the conference with eight touchdowns. 

Defensively EOU has struggled, giving up 465.2 yards per game, seventh in the conference, but linebacker Gary Posten leads the conference with 13.4 tackles per game.

QUICK FACTS
• The Saints host the 1-3 Eastern Oregon Mountaineers who bring in losses to the College of Idaho, NCAA FCS Sacramento State, No. 2 Southern Oregon and Rocky Mountain. Their lone win came over No 17 Montana Tech.  

• Jace Billingsly leads the Mounties with 475 yards rushing and 258 yards receiving.

• EOU is third in the conference for scoring offense but sixth in the conference in total offense.

• UMW forced eight of those turnovers in the first game of the season against Rocky Mountain in Billings.

• The Saints were picked to win the Frontier Conference by the Frontier coaches. EOU was picked to finish third behind Carroll, and Southern Oregon.

• After tallying an atypical 15 penalties against Southern Oregon, the Saints had only three penalties for 27 yards against Montana Tech and four penalties for 40 yards against Rocky and 5 penalties for 45 yards against Montana Western.

• The Carrollallowed Montana Western to gain 390 yards but only nine points and the Bulldogs didn't score a touchdown.

• After four games, Mac Roche Ranks 17th in the NAIA for passing yards per game with 237 yards.

• Ryan Walsh ranks 11th in the nation for kick off yards per attempt at 29.8.

• Roche ranks in the top 50 in the NAIA in passing yards per game, total passing, total offense per game, total offense and pass efficiency.

• Roche was named the Frontier Conference Offensive Player of the Week for his performance against SOU.

• Beaugh Meyer is 15th in the nation for tackles for loss per game at 1.8.

• Southern Oregon's 20 points against Carroll in week one was the lowest point output since a 2011 loss to Mary Hardin Baylor.

• Roche's four touchdown passes against Rocky Mountain is the high to date for the Frontier Conference.

• James Dowgin is second in the Frontier for tackles per game at 10.8. Greg Tucker is fifth with 8.5.

• Connor Fohn scored his first touchdowns as a Saint against Rocky Mountain and followed that up with a third quarter go-ahead score against Montana Western. The first was a 50-yard touchdown in the third quarter. The second was the game-winning 55-yarder with seven second remaining.

• Fohn broke out with 148 receiving yards on four catches against Rocky and followed that up with 137 yards against Montana Western.

• Fohn is now second in the Frontier Conference behind Rocky's Andre McColloch for receiving yards per game.

• Tight end Eric Dawson is second on the team with 14 catches and is second on the team with 194 receiving yards.

• Dawson is 11th in the Frontier for receiving yards per game at 48.5.

• Colter Hamel has 13 touchbacks on 19 kickoffs this season including one that went through the uprights against Rocky Mountain.

• Beaugh Meyer is tied for ninth in the Frontier for sacks per game at 0.4 and is second in the conference in tackles for loss per game at 1.8.

•  Five Saints receivers: Connor Fohn, Eric Dawson, Troy Arntson, Connor McGree and Conner Poulson caught their first passes in a Carroll uniform against Southern Oregon.

• Head Coach Mike Van Diest has the best winning percentage (.859) of any active college football coach with more than ten years of experience. His winning percentage is also the fifth-best of all time behind Larry Kehres - .929 (Mount Union 1961-2012), Knute Rockne  - .881(Notre Dame 1918-1930), Frank Leahey  - .864 (Boston College, Notre Dame (1939-1953) and Bob Reade .862 (Augustana 1979-1994).