Southern Arkansas MULERIDERS (4-3, 4-3 GAC) at No. 13 Ouachita Baptist TIGERS (7-0, 7-0 GAC) Saturday, Nov. 1 @ 1 p.m. Arkadelphia, Ark. (Cliff Harris Stadium) LIVE STATS | LIVE AUDIO (SAU Feed) SAU GAME NOTES | GAC WEEKLY FOOTBALL NOTEBOOK | OBU GAME NOTES

 

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SETTING THE STAGE: Last Remaining Unbeaten in #theGAC
After a tight 14-9 win over Arkansas Tech, Ouachita Baptist's cross-street rival, Henderson State, suffered its first regular season defeat in nearly three seasons, leaving OBU as the lone reamining unbeaten team in the Great American Conference. Along with that unbeaten record, OBU is ranked as high as No. 13 in the American Football Coaches Association (AFCA) poll as well as debuting in the NCAA Super 3 Regional Rankings at No. 4, currently slating them for a trip to NCAA post-season play.

Southern Arkansas, on the other hand, is coming off of a bye weekend and an all-around dominant Homecoming win against Southern Nazarene. Rested up and determined, the Muleriders look to close out the 2014 season on high note as they have a chance to play the role of spoiler in their next two games and also the possibility of three-peating as Battle of the Timberlands winner vs. Arkansas-Monticello the final week.
 

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ABOUT OUACHITA BAPTIST

SCHEDULE
The Ouachita Baptist football team enters play as the lone unbeaten team in the Great American Conference as they sport a 7-0 record overallas well as a 7-0 mark in the GAC. Most recently, OBU is coming off of a 14-9 win at home against Arkansas Tech. The week prior, the Tigers took to the road and knocked Harding from the rank of the unbeatens in an overtime thriller.

THE COACH
The Tigers are coached by Todd Knight, who is in his 16th year at OBU and in 22nd year overall as a head coach. While at OBU, Knight has amasses a 74-82 overall record, but has guided the Tigers to a 20-10 record since joining the Great American Conference in 2011. In that first year in the GAC, Knight and his Tigers would win the conference championship with a 7-3 overall record and a 6-1 mark in the GAC.

SCOUTING THE OFFENSE
The Tigers enter play with an offensive unit that ranks sixth in the GAC in total offense at 415.4 yards per game. 230.3 of those yards are being gained on the ground while the reamining 185.1 yards are coming through the air. Additionally, the Tigers are averaging 34.9 points per game, ranking them sixth in the GAC. The signal-caller for OBU this season has been Auburn-transfer Kiehl Fraizer. On the year, Fraizer averages 179.1 yards passing per game and 66.6 yards rushing per game. All told, Fraizer accounts
for 245.7 yards of total offense per game, ranking him sixth in the GAC. Spearheading the running game for OBU is Steven Kehner. Thus far, Kehner leads the GAC in touchdowns with 12 and ranks second in yardage with 769 (109.9 ypg). The top pass-catcher for OBU is Jalen Jones as he has 31 grabs on the year. Jones is also tied for the team-lead in TDs with three.

SCOUTING THE DEFENSE
Defensively, the Tigers allow 365.6 yards of total offense per game with 210.4 of the yards coming through the air and 155.1 yards on the ground. In terms of scoring, OBU is allowing 17.7 points per game, ranking them third in the GAC and 25th in DII. Mike Williamson is the leading tackler with 48 stops on the season. Kyle Lamothe leads the team in TFL and sacks with 6.5 TFL and 4.5 sacks. Zack Mitchell leads the team in interceptions with five.

THE SERIES
The series between SAU and OBU dates back to 1912 and this will be the 71st meeting all-time. OBU holds a slight lead in the overall series at 35-34-1, but since 1970, SAU holds a slim 22-19 advantage over OBU.
 

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ABOUT SOUTHERN ARKANSAS

Playing the Role of Spoiler?
The Southern Arkansas football team has a chance to play the roll of spoiler over the next two weeks of the season as they will play nationally-ranked foes who have NCAA playoff aspirations. Additionally, the Muleriders are playing for their own season as well as they have a chance to have another above .500 winning season, which would be their third-consecutive. It would be a feat not accomplished at SAU since the 1997, 98, & 99 seasons.

Pound the Ground
Through the first seven games this season, it is clear that the Muleriders' offense is taking a run-first approach as they have taken to the ground 334 times for 1,602 yards (4.8 ypr). Those 334 carries are fourth in the GAC and their 47.7 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 2,117 yards of total offense (302.4 ypg). A dual-threat QB, Blackshire currently leads the GAC and ranks 26th in all of DII in total offense and has produced 24 touchdowns (20 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 two mostrecent games, the Muleriders have limited the turnovers in a big way, committing just two turnovers.
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 16 takeaways. The Muleriders are now just -1 in turnover margin on the season.

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 11 plays go for 20 or more yards. Seven 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 933 yards of total offense and eight 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 34:05 per game, ranking them second in the GAC and sixth in DII.

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 59 (32 solo, 27 assisted). Additionally, Steele has 5.5 tackles for lost yardage, 2.0 sacks, one interception, one forced fumble, and one fumble recovery.

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 9.5 tackles for lost yardage, ranking him fifth 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. On average, SAU runs 81.6 plays per game.