It's been a long time since the Eastern Oregon University football team has been in a game as big as the one the Mountaineers are in Saturday.

EOU will play in the program's first "NAIA Game of the Week" when it travels to Helena, Mont., and face No. 2 Carroll College. The perennial power Saints need no introduction to a big stage game and are no strangers to facing a team ranked in the top 20.

Carroll made its 56th consecutive appearance in the national top 5, 107th straight appearance in the top 25, this week at No. 2. The Saints have sat at No. 2 since falling to the current No. 1 Sioux Falls University in last year's national championship game. Carroll has appeared in six of the last seven national title games, winning five. The Saints have won nine shared or outright Frontier Conference titles.

This season the Saints have outscored their opponents in the first half of their five games, 72-23. Carroll has exploded in the second half totaling 99 points in five wins, and gave up 41. CC has had some trouble early with Frontier Conference opponents so far. The Saints have outscored their four conference foes, 31-23, in the first quarter in 2009.

Last week Montana-Western gave Carroll quite a scare at the Saints' homecoming game. A defensive heavy first half left the score 3-3 at halftime. Dane Broadhead connected with Corey Peterson on a 9-yard pass to give the Saints a 10-3 lead with 40 seconds left in the third quarter. The Bulldogs' Micah Mamiya threw a 34-yard strike to Craigh Cornelius 15 seconds into the final quarter to even the score. Two minutes later Broadhead found Lat Wipplinger on a 22-yard pass to complete the scoring at 17-10.

Western controlled the stat book totaling 308 yards of offense, compared to Carroll's 284. The Bulldogs had 80 plays from scrimmage and CC had 66. Each team turned the ball over twice, a fumble and an interception. Broadhead was efficient completing 13 of his 16 passes for 146 yards with two touchdowns. Mamiya was 24 of 51 with 226 yards in the air.

The Saints have given up an average of 252 passing yards in the past three victories. Enter Chris Ware. The Eastern Oregon quarterback has thrown for 1,076 yards in the past three contests, an average of 359 yards per game.

Carroll has been dominant over Eastern this decade. The Saints are 10-0 against EOU since 2000 and 5-0 at Nelson Stadium. CC has scored an average of 41.3 points in those ten victories and EOU averages 8.8 points since 2000 versus Carroll. The Saints are a phenomenal 65-3 in their last 68 games. In comparison, Eastern is 32-36 in its last 68 contests.

Last year Carroll defeated the Mountaineers, 48-10, in La Grande, on Oct. 4, 2008. EOU jumped ahead of Carroll 10-7 just into the second quarter, before the Saints added a touchdown right before halftime. CC outscored Eastern 20-0 in the third quarter. Carroll forced four EOU turnovers and totaled 477 yards in the win. The Saints got out to a 21-0 lead in Helena on Nov. 8, 2008 and raced to a 28-7 win. Both teams combined for 346 yards in the defensive battle. Ware was 7 for 17 with an interception and 74 yards passing.

But this is an extremely different Mountaineer football team. Eastern ranks in the top 10 nationally in eight offensive categories. EOU is fourth in the nation in total scoring after totaling 208 points in five games. Eastern Oregon University is ninth in the NAIA in points per game averaging 41 per contest.

Ware has the Mountaineers third in the country in total pass offense, 1,727 yards total for the season through the air. Ware averages 339 passing yards per game which is third in the country. The sophomore is second in the nation in total offense with 1,882 yards in five games.

Broadhead came in relief for junior Gary Wagner in last week's victory. In 2008 Broadhead started 10 games as a freshman. Wagner was the starter in all five of the Saints' wins this season. The junior was 7 for 17 with an interception last week and was replaced. Fans should expect Wagner to be named the starter Saturday.

The key for both teams in the game will be the defenses. Carroll stuffed Western last Saturday holding the Bulldogs to 2.8 yards per carry. The Saints have looked vulnerable in their secondary, but Ted Morigeau did end last week's victory with an interception. CC is first in the country in sacks by with 17.5 so far this season. Carroll averages 3.5 sacks per game which is third in the NAIA. The Saints' 12.8 points allowed per game is seventh in the country.

Eastern Oregon is 11th in the NAIA in sacks by a team. The Mountaineers have brought down the quarterback 13 times in 2009. Eastern's defense forced six Montana State-Northern turnovers last weekend. EOU picked off the Lights five times in the victory. Senior Corey Dunn had two interceptions, forced a fumble and had 11 tackles in the win.

Carroll is riding a 19-game win streak at Nelson Stadium dating back to its final contest in 2006. The Saints have won 27 straight conference games. The last league opponent to defeat CC was Montana State-Northern on Oct. 28, 2006, 10-3.

The Mountaineers are off to their best start since 1996 when they started the season 6-1 and finished 6-4. Eastern's best season came in 1980 when it was 8-1 with a lone 34-10 loss to Oregon Tech.

Carroll has an 11-6 all-time advantage over Eastern with the series beginning in 1952. EOU last defeated the Saints in 1999 with a 28-21 win in La Grande. Eastern's last win in Helena came in 1998, 26-7.

Saturday's high forecast in Helena is 63 degrees with a low of 36 degrees. There is 30 percent chance of rain at kickoff. Wind is listed from the east at 16 miles per hour. Kickoff is scheduled for 1 p.m. MT with pre-game beginning at 11:40 a.m. PT on KCMB 104.7 FM. The game will be video streamed with coverage starting at 11:50 a.m. PT.