Football | 11/04/23 | 6:57 AM

HELENA, Mont. - The No. 12-ranked Carroll College Football team will face another in a long line of ranked matchups during the 2023 season on Saturday, hosting No. 13 Montana Western at 1 p.m. at Nelson Stadium in Helena.

The No. 12 Fighting Saints (7-1, 5-1) rebounded from a loss the prior week with a 21-13 win over Southern Oregon last weekend in Ashland, Ore. They will look to build off of that win this afternoon against the No. 13 Bulldogs (7-1, 5-1) in a clash of two of the Frontier Conference's best.

Both the Saints and Bulldogs sit one half game behind No. 7 College of Idaho, the only school to have beaten both teams this season.

Entering the weekend, the Bulldogs boast the nation's No. 4-ranked total offense (468.0 ypg). Even though they lost the back-to-back Frontier Conference Offensive Player of the Year, Jon Jund, Western seems to have not skipped a beat with their new gunslinger, Michael Palandri.

Palandri has put together an impressive season, throwing for 2061 yards and 19 touchdowns to this point in the year. On the receiving end, nearly half of his total yardage has come from true freshman Eli Nourse. Nourse is leading the NAIA in receiving yards per game (113.6), and has 909 total receiving yards with 10 touchdowns to boot.

Slowing down the duo of Palandri and Nourse will be the main focus of the nation's No. 15-ranked defense, and it is a responsibility they are not unfamiliar with. 

The Frontier as a whole has seen some tremendous quarterback play this season, and Western is just another test for one of the NAIA's stiffest defensive units. Carroll is holding opponents to just 296.5 total yards of offense on the season, led by Hunter Peck's (Windsor, Colo. / JR) 5.5 sacks, and Tucker Jones' (Hamilton, Mont. / R-JR) 50 total tackles.

Shutting down the Bulldog offense will be a tall order, but offensively the Saints believe that they can match the output from the side wearing red.

The Carroll passing game, while not flashy, was effective in last weekend's 21-13 win at SOU. Jack Prka (Coeur d'Alene, Idaho / JR) threw for 119 yards and two touchdowns against the NAIA's No. 11-ranked defense.

Prka should have some more opportunities through the air this week, as the Bulldogs enter the game with the nation's No. 89-ranked pass defense, allowing 267.7 yards per game, just two yards less than the Saints' total yardage allowed.

Passing will not be the only focus. Carroll will surely still utilize a heavy dose of Duncan Kraft (Billings, Mont. / R-SR) who is currently fourth in the Frontier Conference with six touchdowns on the year, and averages 59.1 yards per game on the ground.

Saturday's game will be the 110th meeting between the two programs, with few having carried as much weight in terms of postseason implications for both teams. The newly-expanded NAIA Football Championship Series will see 20 teams enter the postseason, and both the Saints and Bulldogs aim to get their shot at a national championship run.

Every game in the series since Head Coach Troy Purcell took over the Carroll program has resulted in a victory for the home team, with each game being decided by one score. Carroll hopes the home-field winning trend continues on Saturday.

Kick-off from Nelson Stadium is slated for 1:07 p.m. and the game will be broadcast locally on SWX. The SWX broadcast will be simulcast on the Fighting Saints Network - presented by Point S Tire & Auto Service, and live stats can be found HERE.

Catch Voice of the Saints, Nick Dietzen, and Carroll Hall-of-Famer Gary Turcott call the action live on Rewind 94.9 FM or online HERE.

Visit www.carrollathletics.com this evening for a recap of the action, and to stay up to date with everything going on in Carroll Athletics.