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SETTING THE STAGE: Past the Halfway PointThe Southern Arkansas football team is now five games into their 10-game 2014 schedule and the Muleriders currently sit at 2-3 overall and 2-3 in Great American Conference play. Both of SAU's wins have come at home inside the friendly confines of Wilkins Stadium, where the Muleriders are 9-2 dating back to the start of the 2012 season.
Consequently, all three of SAU's losses this season have occured on the road. Now past the halfway point of their season, the Muleriders are looking to get back to their winning ways as their next two games are at home starting with Arkansas Tech this evening and finishing with their annual Homecoming/Hall of Fame game against Southern Nazarene on October 18. Tonight's game will likely be filled with un-chained intensity on behalf of the Muleriders as they are eager to avenge a difficult14-13 road loss to Arkansas Tech last year.
ABOUT ARKANSAS TECHSCHEDULEThe Arkansas Tech Wonder Boys enter Saturday's game with a 3-2 overall record and a 3-1 record in the Great American Conference. So far this season, the Wonder Boys have not had a winning streak or a losing streak as well. ATU is coming off of a 18-13 win over Arkansas-Monticello in their mostrecent action.
THE COACHThe Wonder Boys are coached by Raymond Monica, who is in his second season as the head man at ATU. In his first season, Monica guided the Wonder Boys to a 5-6 overall record (5-5 GAC). Prior to coming to Tech, Monica was the head coach at Division II Kutztown (Pa.) University for seven seasons. While at Kutztown, Monica amassed a 45-34 overall record and led the Golden Bears to a pair of NCAA Division II playoff appearances (2010, and 2011).
SCOUTING THE OFFENSEOffensively, the Wonder Boys are averaging 23.0 points per game and 259.2 yards of total offense per game. 158.0 of those yards per game are coming through the air while 101.2 yards are being gained on the ground. Dennis Robertson has seen the majority of the snaps and has thrown for 748 yards with five touchdowns and six interceptions. Jermaine Merdock has been the Wonder Boys' top target in the passing game as he has hauled in a team-high 11 passes for 237 yards. Devin Patterson leads the team in TD
receptions with three. On the ground, the Wonder Boys are paced by Kelton Smith, who has a team-high 58 carries and 222 yards rushing to go along with three rushing scores.
SCOUTING THE DEFENSEDefensively, the Wonder Boys are led by junior linebacker Logan Genz. On the year, Genz has racked up 58 total tackles (26 solo, 32 assisted) and leads the team in tackles for lost yardage with 9.5. Justin Martin is the team's sack leader with 3.5. As a team, ATU has intercepted 11 passes, which is tied for the most by a team in DII. Trevon Gooden leads the team in that category with three picks.
THE SERIESThe series between the Wonder Boys and Muleriders dates back to 1916 with the two teams meeting on the gridiron 77 times since then. In the overall series, Tech holds a commanding 44-29-4 lead, but the Muleriders have gotten the better of Tech in the 42 games since 1970 as SAU is 23-18-1 over that recent stretch.
ABOUT SOUTHERN ARKANSASExpect the Winning Score to be HighIn the 10 games played between Southern Arkansas and Arkansas Tech since 2004, the winning team has scored at least 35 points all but once, with the Muleriders scoring at least 45 points in their four wins over this time. The lone exception to the 35-point trend came last year when the Wonder Boys scored 14 points in their 14-13 win over SAU.
Pound the GroundThrough the first five games this season, it is clear that the Muleriders' offense is taking a run-first approach as they have taken to the ground 244 times for 1,094 yards (4.5 ypr). Those 244 carries are tops in the GAC and their 48.8 rushing attempts per game is the third-most in the GAC. In each of their first four games this season, SAU ran the ball over 40 times with three of those games yielding a rushing attempt total over 50. Against Harding in their most-recent game, the Muleriders fell one carry shy of continuing the 40-plus rush attempt streak as they ran the ball 39 times.
Si's Our GuyMuleriders' starting quarterback,
Si Blackshire, has been an offensive catalyst for SAU as he has accounted for 1,561 yards of total offense (312.2 ypg). A dual-threat QB, Blackshire currently ranks 15th in all of DII in total offense and has produced 18 touchdowns (14 passing, four rushing).
Blackshire to Moore for the RecordIn SAU's game against Northwestern Oklahoma, QB
Si Blackshire set a SAU single-game record for touchdown passes as he threw six in the Muleriders' 62-21 blowout win. The recordsetting TD pass was a 46-yard completition to freshman Sidney Moore, who earlier in the game, caught his first career TD.
Ball SecurityA troubling trend for the Muleriders this season has been being plagued with costly turnovers. Through five games, the Muleriders have turned the ball over a total of 15 times and have had at least two turnovers in each game. While the Muleriders have committed turnovers, the defense has done a good job of creating their own turnovers as well as they forced at least one turnover in each game and have totaled 10 takeaways.
Steele CurtainSouthern Arkansas senior linebacker
A.J. Steele has rejoined the program after a two-year hiatus following an all-conference campaign in 2011. So far this year, Steele has been a key contributor to the SAU defense as he leads the team in tackles with 43 (23 solo, 20 assisted). Additionally, Steele has 4.0 tackles for lost yardage, 2.0 sacks, one interception, and one forced fumble.
Bound to Take One to the HouseSAU kick returner
Zikerious Ware has come close to providing the ultimate spark on special teams with a touchdown return. While he hasn't broke one yet, Ware is averaging 21.4 yards per return, ranking him in the top-five in the GAC. Additionally, Ware's top return this season has gone for 57 yards.
Young WeaponsA quartet of freshmen have emerged as significant contributors to the SAU offense this season as wideouts
Tanner Hudson,Â
Sidney Moore, and
Jonathan Weisheit, along with running back
Deion Williams have all scored at least one touchdown. So far this season, the four have combined for 671 yards of total offense and five TDs.
Ball ControlThroughout this season, the Muleriders have dominated their opponents in time of possession as they have possessed the ball for just under 49 minutes longer than their opponents. Thus far SAU is averaging 34:53 worth of possession, ranking them tied for first in the GAC and fifth in DII.
Methodical ScoringSo far this season, the Muleriders have scored 23 offensive touchdowns. Of those scoring drives, only have taken less than two minutes. As a result, the Muleriders are averaging 2:22 per scoring drive this season.
Get the Reps InIn each of the Muleriders' first four games played this season, SAU ran 80 offensive plays or more. Their high-watermark during that stretch was 92 plays, which they did in consecutive weeks against East Central and Southwestern Oklahoma. The 80 play-plus streak was snapped last week against Harding as the Muleriders were limited to 71 plays on offense.
