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GAME NOTES | SAU | SNU | GAC Weekly FB Notebook

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SETTING THE SCENE - On the Road Again
For the second-straight week, the Southern Arkansas football team will be on the road as they make their way to just west of Oklahoma City to take on Southern Nazarene University. SAU will enter the game having dropped their last two games to the two remaining unbeaten teams in the Great American Conference in Harding and Arkansas Tech, but despite that, the Muleriders have a chance to remain above .500 on the year with a win against SNU. So far this season, the Muleriders are 1-1 on the road, but this week's road contest is a a historically favorable one as SAU is currently 3-0 in the brief all-time series with Southern Nazarene that started back in 2012. This will also be one of the longest road trips that the Muleriders have to take in a given year, but two years ago, SAU showed no signs of being road weary as they knocked off the Crimson Storm 66-17 in Bethany.
 

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ABOUT SOUTHERN NAZARENE
SCHEDULE
The Southern Nazarene football team enters play with an 0-4 overall record and an 0-4 record in the GAC. The Crimson Storm are in their second year as full members of the NCAA after transitioning from the NAIA ranks prior to the 2012 football season. Since making that transition, SNU has an overall record of 2-35 and have not won a game since the season finale in 2012, a 42-0 win over the College of Faith.

THE COACH
The Crimson Storm are coached by Craig Hubbard, who is in his first season the interim head coach of Southern Nazarene following the resignation of former head coach Mike Cochran earlier this summer. Prior to being named interim head coach, Hubbard spent the previous nine seasons as the defensive coordinator with the Crimson Storm under Coach Cochran. Prior to his time at SNU, Hubbard was also the defensive coordinator at Mid-America Nazarene for five seasons.

SCOUTING THE OFFENSE
Offensively, the Crimson Storm are averaging 5.2 points per game and 156.8 yards of total offense per game with 92.5 of those yards coming through the air and 64.2 coming on the ground. The Crimson Storm's points per game, total offense and passing yards rank 12th in the GAC while their rushing yards ranks 11th.

Commanding the offense for the Crimson Storm is junior quarterback James Mauro. In four starts this season, Mauro has completed 46-of-104 passes for 370 yards and two touchdowns. On the receiving end of Mauro's two TDs have been Chris Hudson and Elden Coleman while Johnathan Martin has been the top target for Mauro with 15 catches for a team-best 117 yards. On the ground four Crimson Storm players have totaled 10 or more carries with Quincey Whitfield shouldering the majority of the load with 44 carries for 123 yards. Terence Olds, who is second on the team in carries and yards, has the Crimson Storm's lone rushing TD on the year. 

SCOUTING THE DEFENSE
Defensively, the Crimson Storm are allowing 53.5 points per game and 554.2 yards of total offense per game with 374.5 of those yards coming on the ground and 179.8 yards through the air. The Crimson Storm's opponents points per game, total offense and rushing yards are the 12th-most in the GAC while their passing yards ranks as the fourth-lowest in the GAC.

On the year, SNU has forced four turnovers with two being interceptions and two being fumble recoveries. The interceptions have come from Breyon Jackson and Jacob Unsicker. A total of 12 players have registered double-digit tackles on the season with Konner Bent and Isaiah Young leading the way with 38 tackles each. Bent, a senior defensive back, leads the team in tacklesfor lost yardage with 5.5 on the year.

THE SERIES
This will be the fourth meeting all-time between the Muleriders and Crimson Storm in a series that began in 2012 when Southern Nazarene began its transition to the NCAA and became members of the Great American Conference. In the three previous meetings, SAU has come out on top in lopsided decisions as the average margin of victory for the Muleriders in the those games is 45.7 points. This will also be the second meeting between the two in Bethany as SAU took the first meeting 66-17 back in 2013.
 

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SAU News and Notes
"It's Our Time"
With the departure of several househould names within the Great American Conference ranks including the starting quarterbacks at Harding, Henderson State, and Ouachita, it appears that landscape that has been the top of the GAC over the last three-to-four years may be in for a shakeup in 2015. While the Muleriders are among those that will feature a new starting quarterback, head coach Bill Keopple feels that his 2015 team may be the most talented team in his tenure and feels that this year is when the Muleriders make their move to assert themselves as the class of the GAC; rallying his team on a single mantra since spring ball; "It's Our Time."

.500 or Better Three Years Running
Last season, the Muleriders finished the year 5-5 over their 10-game schedule to give them a .500 winning percentage. That marked the third-straight season in which the Muleriders have finished with a .500 winning percentage or better. In those three years, the Muleriders are 19-12 overall for a .613 winning percentage, which marks the best three-year stretch ar SAU since 2002-04.

Fountain of Youth
After losing over 25 seniors a year ago, the Muleriders appear to have found the ever-elusive fountain of youth heading into the 2015 season as an overwhelming majority of the roster will be underclassmen. This season, the Muleriders will field only 20 upperclassmen with 12 of those being seniors. While the Muleriders will be young in terms of experience, they figure to be a talented bunch all the same. Listed among the preseason two-deep, the Muleriders have 28 underclassmen that are projected to either be a starter or backup in 2015.

Relying on Renner
Coming into the 2015 season, the Muleriders knew they were going to have to replace a record-setting and All-GAC quarterback for the second time in asmany years and they also knew the new signal-caller was going to be a redshirt freshman as SAU had only two redshirt freshmen QBs returning the roster. What maybe they didn't know was the kind of production they were going to get from the position, especially early in the season. 

After four games and four starts from Barrett Renner, the Muleriders appear that will not have any drop off at the QB position. So far this season, Renner has completed 90-of-156 passes for 1,188 yards and 14 TDs with three interceptions. Renner currenly leads the GAC in total offense and passing yards per game while also ranking second in passing TDs.

Staying Ahead of the Crimson Storm 
While the all-time series between Southern Arkansas and Southern Nazarene has been brief with just three meetings, SAU has been rather dominant in all three games out-scoring SNU 175-38. In fact, the lopsided scoring discrepencies go a bit further as the Muleriders have not trailed at any point of the previous three games, making it a total of 180 minutes of game time that they have either lead the Crimson Storm or been in a scoreless tie.

No One the Weis(heit)er
Sophomore wide receiver Jonathan Weisheit got his 2015 season off to a great start as he shined in multiple roles for the Muleriders. As a wide receiver, Weisheit has hauled in 22 receptions for 347 yards with a pair of touchdowns. His 347 total receiving yards tops the GAC and ranks 38th in NCAA DII. Additionally, his 86.0 receiving yards per game also leads the GAC and ranks 46th in DII.

Getting Moore from Elgin
Sophomore defensive back Elgin Moore has been a bright spot for the Mulerider defense in terms of tackling production as he currently leads the team and ranks fifth in the GAC in total tackles with 41. Twice this season, Moore has recorded 15 or more tackles in a game with a season-high 17 tackle effort coming against Arkansas Tech.

Destruptive Davondrick
Redshirt freshman Davondrick Lison is playing some sensational football for the Muleriders along their defensive front. The lanky yet quick 6-3 native of Arkansas City, Ark. is fourth on the team in tackles with 21 and is first in tackles for loss (5.5) and sacks (2.5). In the GAC ranks, Lison is fourth in sacks while leading the league in fumbles forced with two.

Reservations for Six
Through four games this season, Southern Arkansas has scored 20 touchdowns with 10 different players accounting for those scores. QB Barrett Renner has been responsible for the most touchdowns with his 14 passing TDs which ranks third in DII. Running back Michael Nunnery has scored the most TDs in the rushing game with his three scores while tight end Tanner Hudson has the most receiving TDs with three.