The No. 23 Eastern Oregon University football team travels to a road game following a loss at home to an unranked team for the first time since Sept. 22, 2007.
The Mountaineers (6-3) (6-2) fell to Rocky Mountain College in that game, 21-9. EOU has made winning a normal thing at Community Stadium in La Grande. Last week Eastern lost for only the second time in two seasons at home (8-2) to unranked Montana Tech, 28-24.
Eastern Oregon hopes to bounce back Saturday after a scary 730 mile trek on Halloween to Havre, Mont., and Montana State- Northern. The roughly 14-hour bus trip is the longest the Mountaineers will travel all season. Havre is only 35 miles away from the Canadian border.
EOU will be looking for its first win at MSUN Saturday. Eastern is 0-4 all-time in Havre. The last meeting at Northern was a 24-7 decision in favor of the Lights on Sept. 13, 2008. EOU came close to defeating MSUN on Nov. 10, 2007, but fell 17-15 ending a 1-10 season for Eastern. The Mountaineers have lost three of the last five meetings with Northern.
The series between Montana State-Northern and the Mountaineers is tied at 5-5 after Eastern won in La Grande this season over the Lights. After MSUN led 7-0 after the first quarter on Sept. 26, the then-ranked No. 23 EOU scored 45 unanswered points and won 45-14. Chris Ware threw for 395 yards, completing 32 of his 46 passes. The sophomore scored four touchdowns in the game for the Mountaineers.
The Lights (2-7) (1-7) began the season ranked No. 18 and rose to No.16 in the second rating of the season, but have lost six straight games and find themselves at the bottom of the Frontier Conference standings. MSUN is last in the conference in points per game (18.9) and fifth in points allowed per game (31.6).
Eastern Oregon's offense is 11th in the nation in scoring offense per game (36.9), but the defense is fourth in the conference in scoring defense per game (30.1).
Last week the Lights struggled on the road, where they are 0-4, and lost at Montana Western, 24-13. Northern outgained the Bulldogs 306 to 215 in total offensive yards, but turned the ball over twice and failed to take advantage of scoring opportunities. MSUN quarterback Jeff Van Nest completed 13 of his 31 passing attempts for 151 yards.
Saturday's Senior Day in Havre will kickoff at noon MT, 11 a.m. PT. The forecast at kickoff is 48 degrees with a 20 percent chance of rain. KCMB 104.7 FM will have a live local feed of KPQX 92.5 FM's broadcast from Havre. Pregame will begin on KCMB at 10:40 a.m. PT. The game will be broadcast live online at www.EOUSports.com.
