Southern Arkansas - Henderson State football game notes
THE SERIES
Saturday's game between Southern Arkansas and Henderson State is the 77th meeting of the two teams. The Reddies hold a 41-34-1 advantage in the series that dates back to 1915 when SAU was a third district high school and HSU was a Methodist college (Henderson-Brown). Henderson State won that first meeting 25-0, tossed another shutout, 63-0 in 1916, and won 62-6 in 1917. After not playing in 1918, the Muleriders won their first game of the series, 21-19, in 1919. SAU played HSU's junior varsity teams in 1924, 1925 and 1940, winning two of those.
In the early years, the two teams did not meet for eight seasons prior to 1934. Southern Arkansas did not field teams from 1937-39 and 1942-45 and the teams also did not play in 1946. The only tie in the ancient series was in 1950, a scoreless deadlock in Magnolia. In 1951, the Muleriders won 35-14 on the way to the AIC championship and followed with a 21-13 victory in 1952 en route to another AIC title. The two teams also did not face each other from 1956-58, but have played every year since, excluding the 1993 season and last year. Ironically, Southern Arkansas has scored only 17 points in each of its last three meetings with the Reddies, falling 42-17 and 51-17 in 2008 and 2009 before suffering a 28-17 setback in 2010 in Magnolia, its fifth consecutive loss to HSU.
Henderson State's longest win streak in the series is seven games from 1973-79 and SAU's longest string of wins is six (1996-2001). The largest margin of victory by Southern Arkansas was in 2000, an 86-27 win in Arkadelphia, while the Reddies' most decisive win was the 63-0 shutout in Arkadelphia in 1916. Southern Arkansas holds a 19-14-1 advantage in the series in games played in Magnolia, including a 34-13 loss to HSU in 1991 that Henderson State had to forfeit, while the Reddies hold a 26-15 edge in Arkadelphia and 1-0 at a neutral site of Hope in 1928.
BIG GAME
Saturday's game between Southern Arkansas and No. 9 Henderson State is setting up to be possibly the biggest game in Magnolia since the ninth-ranked 2003 Mulerider squad hosted No. 2 Valdosta State on September 27 that year with an announced crowd of 7,001 attending. SAU held a 17-13 lead after three quarters of play in that contest, before the Blazers came roaring back with four unanswered touchdowns in the fourth quarter and a 41-17 win.
RANKINGS
Southern Arkansas' 6-1 mark on the season is its best since the 1999 team held the same record. This year's team is gaining some national recognition, having received votes in the past three AFCA polls, including 14 this week that would have them ranked 32nd if the poll extended past 25 teams. Prior to this year, the last time the Muleriders were ranked or received votes in the official AFCA poll was in 2004.
The Reddies, ranked ninth this week in the AFCA poll and 14th in D2Football.com, also appeared in the first edition of the NCAA Division II region polls released this week, coming in at second in Super Region Three.
FIVE-GAME SKID
SAU will be trying to snap a five-game losing streak to Henderson State this week that dates back to 2006, with three of those losses coming in Magnolia. Prior to 2006, Southern Arkansas had won three consecutive and nine of the 10 previous meetings between the two teams.
RECORD WATCH
Southern Arkansas junior starting quarterback
Tyler Sykora has continued his assault on the Mulerider record book all year, setting four career school marks and tying one each of his own season and single-game records thus far. His four touchdown passes last week against Southern Nazarene lifted him to 19 on the year, matching his own record from last season, and he should better that as soon as Saturday.
Sykora should be able to garner at least one more career record this season, as he currently has 4,774 yards of total offense and needs 569 yards to tie former quarterback Ted Williams' 5,343 set from 2000-2003; and should break three more of his own season records from a year ago, needing 64 pass attempts, 38 completions and 345 yards to better last year's 294 attempts, 178 completions and 2,254 yards.
The southpaw currently owns 11 school records, including four career and season marks, and three single-game records.
Mulerider junior running back
Mark Johnson's one touchdown last week against Southern Nazarene enabled him to tie the career rushing touchdown record of 27 set by Torrence Jones (2001-2004). His 507 career rushing attempts are just 90 shy of Gerald Pride's 597 (1979-1982).
