Frontier Conference Notebook

The UM-Western Bulldogs are already 0-1 on the season — and things don't get any easier.

The Montana State University-Northern Lights went to Western last Saturday and opened the Frontier Conference season with a 20-3 win in Dillon. And while the Lights have a week off, the Bulldogs have to go on the road to face Big Sky Conference and Football Championship Subdivision member Idaho State on Saturday. The Bengals are picked to finish last in the Big Sky this season, but the and NAIA/FCS matchup isn't an easy way for any NAIA school to ease into a new season.

This is the third time in four years the Bulldogs will have played an FCS school. They've played Idaho State and Eastern Washington, as well as Weber State.

The opening weekend of the NAIA football season wasn't especially kind to Frontier schools playing nonconference games. While the Lights are playing a conference-only schedule this year, and are off to a 0-1 start, other league schools didn't fare as well in nonconference games.

Rocky Mountain College lost last Thursday night in the final minutes at No. 15 Dickinson State and Montana Tech lost at home to South Dakota Mines. Both games were designed to possibly help teams get an added win which would go along way towards a playoff berth, but losses will certainly hurt both Rocky and Tech's chances now. This was the second straight season the Orediggers lost to South Dakota Mines in their season-opener.

But perhaps the biggest shocker came in LaGrande, Ore., on Saturday as Southern Oregon upset No 22 Eastern Oregon 34-30.

Saturday's loss was the second straight season in which the Mounties have lost a season-opener to their nonconference rival, SOU, but this game was even more damaging than last season's overtime loss.

EOU had high hopes heading into the 2010 campaign, having narrowly missed out on an NAIA playoff berth a year ago. Now it appears the same team which likely kept the Mounties out of the playoffs a season ago, has done it yet again.

Individual performances didn't weren't abundance on a rough weekend for the Frontier, but several players did make sparkling Frontier debuts.

In Dillon, MSU-N's Derek Lear got his first start at quarterback for the Lights and threw a pair of touchdown passes to fellow Frontier newcomer Brandon O'Brien. In Dickinson, the long-awaited debut of Rocky's Mark Desin went well. Desin, a former Billings Senior prep legend and Montana State transfer did all he could to help the Bears win in the absence of starter Kasey Peters.

With Northern's bye this week, there are just two Frontier games on the slate. No. 3 Carroll College begins its quest for an 11th straight title by hosting RMC Saturday in Helena, while Tech hosts EOU Saturday in Butte.