Southern Arkansas MULERIDERS (3-3, 3-3 GAC) vs. Southern Nazarene CRIMSON STORM (0-6, 0-6 GAC) Saturday, Oct. 18 @ 2:30 p.m. Magnolia, Ark. (Wilkins Stadium) LIVE STATS | LIVE VIDEO  | LIVE AUDIO (SAU Feed) SAU GAME NOTES | GAC WEEKLY FOOTBALL NOTEBOOK | SNU GAME NOTES

 

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SETTING THE STAGE: Homecoming 2014
Having won their first three games at home this season, the Southern Arkansas football team is looking to go unbeaten at home for the for the first time since the 1997 season when the Muleriders were 5-0 at Wilkins Stadium. The ability to defend their home field is not a new thing for the Muleriders under head coach Bill Keopple. In fact, the Muleriders are 15-10 at home since Keopple took over in 2009 and are 10-2 at home since the start of the 2012 season. Standing in the way of the Muleriders having an unbeaten season at home is Southern Nazarene University. SAU is 2-0 all-time against SNU as the two schools did not meet until 2012 as Great American Conference opponents. In that time, the Muleriders are a combined 17-10 while the Crimson Storm are a combined 2-26. The Muleriders will have the inherant advantage of playing
in front of their home crowd on Homecoming. 
 

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ABOUT SOUTHERN NAZARENE

SCHEDULE
The Southern Nazarene football team enters play on Saturday with an 0-6 overall record and are 0-6 in Great American Conference play. The Crimson Storm will be playing their fourth road game this season, having already played at Ouachita Baptist, Arkansas Tech, and Southeastern Oklahoma.

THE COACH
The Crimson Storm are coached by Mike Cochran. Cochran, in his ninth year at Southern Nazarene, has amassed a 40-53 record at SNU. For his career, which is into its 14th year, Cochran has an 86-65 record.

SCOUTING THE OFFENSE
The Crimson Storm are averaging 9.0 points per game and 237.8 yards of total offense per game. 152.3 of those yards is coming through the air while 85.5 yards are being gained on the ground. After going with James Mauro as the starting QB for the first five games of the season, the Crimson Storm made the switch to junior Alec Laffoon
against Southeastern Oklahoma. In that start, Laffoon completed 12-of-23 passes for 106 yards with one interception. Laffoon did add 76 yards rushing as well on 17 carries.

On the ground, the Crimson Storm are paced by Lornezo Alexander. Having toted the ball 106 times, Alexander has gained 467 yards and found the endzone once. Brian Yenor and Laffoon have accounted for the other two rushing touchdowns this season for SNU.

In terms of receiving, three Crimson Storm wideouts have caught over 10 passes with Austin Williams leading the way with 17 grabs. Williams also leads the team in receiving yards and touchdowns with 267 yards and three touchdowns.

SCOUTING THE DEFENSE
Defensively, the Crimson Storm are giving up 44.7 points per game and 458.0 yards of total offense to their opponents. 261.0 of the yards are coming through the air while 197.0 yards are being gained on the ground. Matthew Gregg is the leading tackler for the Crimson Storm with 51 (33 solo, 18 assisted). 4.5 of those stops have come for lost yardage, the top mark on the team. Gregg also has one of the team's four interceptions. Behind Gregg in tackles is Josh Price with 49 (33 solo, 16 assisted). Additionally,
Price leads the team in interceptions with two.

THE SERIES
The series between Southern Arkansas and Southern Nazarene is in its infant stages as this will be just the third meeting all-time between the two schools. The sereis began in 2012 after Southern Nazarene became a provisional member of the Great American Conference, joining charter-member Southern Arkansas. The first meeting came in 2012 in Magnolia and it was the Muleriders who came away with the win, 47-14. The following year, SAU bettered that score as they beat SNU 66-17.
 

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ABOUT SOUTHERN ARKANSAS

Calming the Storm
The Southern Arkansas football team looks to move over .500 on the season and make it three-straight wins against Southern Nazarane. In the previous two meetings, the Muleriders have out-scored the Crimson Storm 110-31.

Pound the Ground
Through the first six games this season, it is clear that the Muleriders' offense is taking a run-first approach as they have taken to the ground 286 times for 1,247 yards (4.4 ypr). Those 286 carries are second in the GAC and their 46.7 rushing attempts per game is the third-most in the GAC. In all but one game this season, SAU has run the ball over 40 times with three games yielding a rushing attempt total over 50. The lone game under 40 carries came against Harding ended the game with 39 carries.

Si's Our Guy
Muleriders' starting quarterback, Si Blackshire, has been an offensive catalyst for SAU as he has accounted for 1,922 yards of total offense (320.3 ypg). A dual-threat QB, Blackshire currently leads the GAC and ranks 15th in all of DII in total offense and has produced 21 touchdowns (17 passing, four rushing). Blackshire to Moore for the Record In 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 Security
A troubling trend for the Muleriders this season has been being plagued with costly turnovers. Through the first five games, the Muleriders had turned the ball over a total of 15 times and had at least two turnovers in each game. In their most-recent game, the Muleriders committed just one turnover and were able to secure a 21-14 win over Arkansas Tech. 

While the turnovers have been a source of concern on the offensive end, the Muleriders' 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 14 takeaways. In their most-recent game against Arkansas Tech, the Muleriders defense came away with four turnovers (three fumble recoveries, one intercpetion).

Steele Curtain
Southern 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 54 (31 solo, 23 assisted). Additionally, Steele has 5.0 tackles for lost yardage, 2.0 sacks, one interception, one forced fumble, and one fumble recovery.

Big Play Williams
Redshirt freshman Deion Williams is showing that he has big play potential whenever he has the ball. So far this season, Williams has had 10 plays go for 20 or more yards. Six of those plays have come in the rushing game, while the other four have come in the return game.

Young Weapons
A quartet of freshmen have emerged as significant contributors to the SAU offense this season as wideouts Tanner Hudson, 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 818 yards of total offense and six TDs.

Ball Control
Throughout this season, the Muleriders have dominated their opponents in time of possession as they have possessed the ball for an average of 34:53 per game, ranking them second in the GAC and ninth in DII.

Ducan Winning in the Trenches
Senior defensive lineman Nolan Duncan has been spending a lot of time in the opposing offense's backfield as he has racked up 9.0 tackles for lost yardage, ranking him third in the GAC.

Get the Reps In
In 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 against Harding as the Muleriders were limited to 71 plays on offense.