Southern Arkansas - Ouachita Baptist football game notes

THE SERIES (35-32-1, Ouachita Baptist)
Saturday's game between Southern Arkansas and Ouachita Baptist is the 69th meeting between the Muleriders and Tigers, with OBU holding a narrow 35-32-1 advantage in the series.  When the teams first played in 1912 and 1914, Ouachita Baptist shellacked SAU 61-0 and 85-0, respectively, and then went on to also win the next three games by shutouts, before the two teams battled to the only tie in the series, 6-6, at a neutral site in Hope in 1929.  Southern Arkansas' first win of the series came the next year, 7-0, in Magnolia.  The series was interrupted in 1934 and was not resumed until after World War II, when OBU blanked the Muleriders 27-0 in Arkadelphia in 1946.  SAU bounced back with a 34-33 victory in 1947.  In 1951 Southern Arkansas shut out Ouachita Baptist 41-0 en route to an Arkansas Intercollegiate Conference (AIC) championship. 
 
From 1959 on, the teams met every year as AIC rivals, and it continued when the Muleriders moved to the Gulf South Conference (GSC) in 1995, except for a three-year span from 1997-99, when the Tigers were in the Lone Star Conference. 
 
OBU's longest win streak in the series is five games and came twice, in the first five games of the series, and again from 1988-92.  SAU ended that second long drought the next year with a 19-17 victory in Magnolia, and although Ouachita Baptist would squeak out a 19-14 win in 1994, it would be 2004 before the Tigers would win again, this time by a 28-27 decision.  Southern Arkansas had won six in a row before that one-point setback, the longest streak in the series by either team.  The Muleriders won the contests in 1995 and 1996, before OBU moved to the GSC in 2000 and the rivalry was resumed with SAU throwing a 10-0 shutout.  It was 10-3 Southern Arkansas, in 2001, 50-47 in four overtimes in 2002, and 37-27 in 2003.  After Ouachita Baptist's win in 2004, the Muleriders bounced back with 34-21 and 48-33 wins the next two seasons until the Tigers took the series lead with a 38-17 win in Arkadelphia in 2007 and added to it with a 30-14 victory in Arkadelphia the next year.  SAU stopped the two-game skid and narrowed the series with a 15-7 decision in 2009 in Magnolia, before Ouachita Baptist bounced back with wins the past two seasons, 52-34 in 2010 in Magnolia and 53-43 last year in Arkadelphia en route to the inaugural Great American Conference championship.
     
OBU holds a 22-12 advantage in games played in Arkadelphia and has a 1-0-1 edge at neutral sites, while Southern Arkansas leads 20-12 in Magnolia.  The Muleriders are 2-1-1 against Ouachita Baptist junior varsity squads, games which are not included in the series.
 
IDENTICAL RECORDS
Saturday's game between Southern Arkansas and Ouachita Baptist will pit two teams against each other with identical overall and conference records.  Both squads are out of contention for a Great American Conference championship and are tied for third in the league standings, a game back of Harding.  The teams have played five common opponents thus far this season in Southeastern and Southwestern Oklahoma State, Arkansas-Monticello, Harding and East Central, with the Muleriders going 4-1 against those teams and the Tigers 3-2.  SAU's lone loss was to Harding, with OBU losing to Harding and East Central. 
 
ARKADELPHIA DROUGHT
Ouachita Baptist has won four of the past five meetings in the series, including a 53-43 decision last year in Arkadelphia.  Southern Arkansas' lone win in that span was a 15-7 game in Magnolia in 2009.  The Tigers have won the past three games played on their home field, with 38-17 and 30-14 decisions in 2007 and 2008, prior to last year's contest.  The Muleriders' last win in Arkadelphia was a 34-21 game in 2005.    
 
BROTHERLY LOVE
Saturday's contest will mark a first in the short history of the Great American Conference in that it will be the first time that two brothers have faced each other as starters on opposing teams in a GAC game.  Brooks White, a red-shirt junior, is the starting tight end for SAU, and brother, Drew, a sophomore, is a starting receiver for OBU.  They both prepped at Van Buren.  Brad and Austin Smithey became the first pair of brothers to play against each other last year when Southwestern Oklahoma State and Harding faced off, but they did not start.
 
SYKORA LOVES A.U. WILLIAMS FIELD
Southern Arkansas quarterback Tyler Sykora apparently loves playing at Ouachita Baptist's A.U. Williams Field and hopes to repeat his performance from there last year.  The lefty was 32 of 56 passing for a school record 520 yards, and matched his own single-game record from a week prior with five touchdown passes.  The only different outcome he wants is to reverse the Muleriders' 53-43 loss in that game.
 
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, breaking two of his own season records, and tying one of his own single-game records thus far. His three touchdown passes last week against Henderson State lifted him to 22 on the year, breaking his own record of 19 from last season, and his 411 yards passing gives him 2,321 this year, snapping his 2,254 from a year ago.   
 
Sykora will garner at least one more career record this season, as he currently has 5,183 yards of total offense and needs only 160 yards to tie former quarterback Ted Williams' 5,343 set from 2000-2003; and should break two more of his own season records from a year ago, needing just nine pass attempts and five completions to better last year's 294 attempts and 178 completions.  He also is in line for two other season marks, currently with 2,292 yards of total offense and needing just 45 yards to tie Damian Melancon's 2,337 in 2004; and with 314 total plays, needing just 53 to match Melancon's 367 from 2004. 
 
The southpaw currently owns 12 school records, including four career, five season, and three single-game records.
 
Mulerider junior running back Mark Johnson's one touchdown two weeks ago against Southern Nazarene enabled him to tie the career rushing touchdown record of 27 held by Torrence Jones (2001-2004).  His 507 career rushing attempts are just 90 shy of Gerald Pride's 597 (1979-1982).
 
Johnson didn't play in last week's Henderson State game, but should be back for SAU's final two games.