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THIS WEEK IN CARROLL FOOTBALL

The Carroll College Saints hit the road one week after a bye to face the College of Idaho Yotes in Caldwell, Idaho. The Saints will be looking for a big bounce back after falling to No. 2 (then No. 3) Southern Oregon at home a few weeks back. This weekend's battle in Caldwell will also give the Saints a chance to avenge a 21-6 loss to COI from a season ago.  

LAST GAME: NO. 3 RAIDERS SPOIL SAINTS' HOMECOMING

The consolations were few and far between on Saturday as the Saints fell 27-0 against No. 3-ranked Southern Oregon on homecoming, but they were there. 

"We didn't play well enough to win by any stretch of the imagination," Saints coach Mike Van Diest said. "There's no secret or magic words I can say to take the pain away. You don't ever want to lose on homecoming. You don't ever want to lose on your field."  

But there were shards of positivity.  

The Saints (3-2, 2-2 Frontier) held the Raiders (4-0, 4-0)  to just seven points in the second half after giving up 20 in the first. 

Carroll took care of the ball and moved it down the field, albeit coming away empty-handed on a few trips in the second half.

And the Saints' defense, despite the scoreboard and yardage totals, showed more positives than negatives on a Saturday that felt like a gut punch at times. 

Southern Oregon took its opening drive and ate up nine minutes of clock, but came away with just three points. 

The Saints threw an interception on their first pass of the game, but, again, the defense held the Raiders out of the end zone and limited the damage to a field goal. 

Trailing just 6-0 after some letdowns early, the Saints had their chances to scrap back into the game.

"It was only six to nothing," Van Diest said. "I thought we did some good things."

SOU broke through with a touchdown on a third-and-five in the second quarter when Wyatt Hutchinson hit Isaac Hurd for a 55-yard touchdown.

"I put our defense in a bad situation," Van Diest said. "I put a young linebacker in man to man coverage with no help." 

The offense just never found a rhythm in the first half. The run game tried to get on track, but when forced into passing situations, the Saints had troubles on third-and-long. 

Major Ali led the Saints with 53 yards rushing, but couldn't help the Saints to find the explosive play to break through on Saturday. 

"Definitely one of the best defenses in the conference," Ali said. "They have a lot of talent. We had some poor execution on some plays. Sometimes it's one guy here or one guy here. We saw today that adds up."

A frustrating first half ended with SOU leading 20-0. 

Second half saw the Saints move the ball better on offense, but their only shot at putting points on the board was stymied when Josh Kraft had his field goal attempt blocked. 

QUICK NOTES

 Every Frontier Conference team was on a bye last week. 
• Carroll is now 3-2. The last time the Saints started 3-2 was the 2015 campaign, though that season ended roughly with a 4-6 record overall. 

• Hangup: The Saints were rolling until meeting up with the Southern Oregon Raiders. Carroll fell 27-0. After the game, Saints coach Mike Van Diest challenged his team to be more physical. 

• Carroll had its highest scoring outing against Montana-State Northern a week earlier, scoring a season-high 32 points. 

• 65-35: Carroll has shown a commitment to the run, electing to rush the ball 65 percent of offensive snaps. 

• Carroll College head coach Mike Van Diest is 2-2 against the College of Idaho. 

• The power of the takeaway: Carroll is 2-0 when it creates a positive turnover margin.

• In for another big day? Major Ali and the rest of the Saints' offense was relatively contained against SOU, but with COI allowing 206 rushing yards per game, the Carroll run game could be in for a big day. 

• Redshirt sophomore Kolby Killoy made his fourth consecutive start last weekend against Southern Oregon and had a tough day, completing 10-of-20 passes for 123 yards and an interception. He was sacked twice. 

• Killoy is now 2-2 as a starter since Reese Hiibel went out with an injury.  

• Carroll junior linebacker Chase Bowen is averaging 10.2 tackles per game, the third best mark in the Frontier Conference, and No. 19 mark in the NAIA. 

• Cornerback Ryan Beaulieu is ranked No. 2 in the NAIA in passes defended per game (2.3). 

• Defensive back Drew Melton is also ranked highly in passes defended per game, coming in at No. 12 in the NAIA with 1.8 each contest. 

• Another DB, Isazah King, is also in the Top 20 of passes defended, ranking No. 18 with 1.6 knockdowns per game. 

•  The Saints' defense ranks No. 14 in run defense per game, allowing 106 yards on the ground. 

• Carroll returns three all-conference performers from a season ago, two on offense and one special-teamer.

• Carroll lists 35 true freshmen on the roster. 

• In one of the smallest classes in recent history, the Saints list only 10 seniors on the roster,  all of those as starters on the two-deep.

• Coach Mike Van Diest has the sixth-best winning percentage (.801) of any active college football coach with more than 10 years of experience. He ranks 23rd all-time from any division. 

• Van Diest has the highest winning percentage of any coach in NAIA history with 10 or more seasons. Second is Charlie Richard who coached at Baker (Kan.) from 1980-90, 92-94.

• Van Diest was selected to join the NAIA Hall of Fame this season. He will be inducted this winter. 

• The Battlin' Bears forfeited their opening week win over Carroll College. Rocky Mountain College self-reported an academically ineligible player, giving the Saints their first win of 2018. 

• COI coach Mike Moroski is in his fifth season. He owns an 18-31 record.

• COI, though winless, has played tight games against some of the Frontier's best. COI fell by one point to Rocky, 42-41, and lost by a touchdown against Southern Oregon 35-28.

• COI will be celebrating homecoming when Carroll comes to town. 

• COI quarterback Darius-James Peterson, in a losing effort, earned National Player of the Week recognition. He had 179 rushing yards and rushed for four touchdowns while passing for two more. He set the school record in touchdowns scored in a single game in the 42-41 loss to Rocky Mountain College.