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GAME NOTES | SAU | ECU | GAC Weekly FB Notebook

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Setting the Scene: Back at Home
The Southern Arkansas football team is back at home for the first time in nearly a month after, over their most-recent three weeks of the schedule, the Muleriders played a home game at a neutral site for the Murphy USA Classic followed by consecutive scheduled road games. The return back home will be a welcomed one for the road-weary Muleriders as they are looking to get back to their winning ways following road losses in each of their last two games. Since the 2009 season when Bill Keopple took over as head coach at SAU, the Muleriders are 18-11 at home and have been even better during the last four years as SAU has gone 13-3 at home since the start of the 2012 season. The Muleriders will look to improve upon those numbers over the next two weeks as their final two games of the regular season will be played at home at Wilkins Stadium at Rip Powell Field.
 

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About East Central
SCHEDULE
The East Central football team enters play this weekend with a 6-3 overall record and a 6-3 mark in the Great American Conference. The Tigers will enter play this weekend after narrowly beating Arkansas-Monticello 21-18 in their most-recent game. That game was also the final game at home for the Tigers as their final two games of the regular season will be played on the road, starting first with Saturday's matchup against the Muleriders at Wilkins Stadium at Rip Powell Field.

THE COACH
The Tigers are coached by Tim McCarty, who is in his ninth season overall at East Central while also being in his seventh season of his second stint as the head man at ECU. Before leading the Tigers for the second time starting in 2009, McCarty previously was the head coach at ECU for two seasons from 2004-2005. Over his first stint as head coach, McCarty went 9-12 overall. In his first season back in his second stint in 2009, McCarty's Tigers went 0-11, but two years after that in 2011, McCarty had the Tigers an 8-3 team. Overall at ECU, McCarty has a record of 45-49.

SCOUTING THE OFFENSE
Offensively, the Tigers are averaging 33.7 points per game and 449.2 yards of total offense per game as well with 304.0 of the yards coming through the air and the remaining 145.2 yards being gained on the ground. Their points per game average ranks fifth in the GAC while their total offense and passing offense both rank fourth in the league.
Under center for the Tigers is senior QB Rocky Moore.

On the year, Moore has completed 187-of-318 passes for 2,673 yards and 31 touchdowns. His 297.0 passing yards per game average ranks third in the GAC. Moore's 31 touchdowns on the season lead the GAC and rank second in NCAA Division II. 

The Tigers have a two-headed rushing attack with Jamal Hall and Tre'von Jackson leading the way. Hall has 509 yards on 109 carries with three touchdowns while Jackson has rushed for 452 yards on 788 carries with one score.

In terms of receiving, the Tigers have a reliable target in David Moore. On the year, Moore has caught 38 passes for 773 yards with 11 of those receptions ending in the redzone. Moore's 11 receiving touchdowns lead the GAC and rank sixth in NCAA DII.

SCOUTING THE DEFENSE
Defensively, the Tigers are allowing 27.3 points per game and 423.9 yards of total offense per game with 238.1 of the yards coming through the air and the remaining 185.0 being gained on the ground. Their scoring defense ranks fifth in the GAC while their total defense ranks ninth in the league. On the year, the Tigers have forced 25 turnovers with 15 being interceptions and 10 being fumble recoveries.

THE SERIES
This will be the 17th meeting all-time between the Muleriders and Tigers with SAU holding a slim 9-7 lead in the series. The all-time series dates back to 1953 and has seen these two teams meet yearly since 2011 as each school became charter members of the Great American Conference. Since becoming conference opponents, the series is tied 2-2 with East Central coming away on top in the most-recent game in 2014.
 

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SAU News and Notes
"It's Our Time"
With the departure of several household 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 as many 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 nine games and nine 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 207-of-336 passes for 2,709 yards and 25 TDs. Renner currently leads the GAC and ranks 11th in DII in total offense (339.0) while ranking second in the GAC and 10th in DII in passing yards/GM (301.0).

Passing Defense to Be Tested Down the Stretch
The Southern Arkansas pass defense has been an area of strength for the Muleriders through nine games of their 2015 season as the currently rank second in the GAC in pass defense, allowing just 163.4 yards per game. To this point, SAU has not had a team throw over 250 yards in a game and three times this season, the Muleriders have allowed fewer than 100 yards passing with a low-mark of 21 yards coming against Oklahoma Baptist. Over their final two games of the year, however, the Muleriders' pass defense will be tested as their final two opponents rank in the top-five in the GAC and are averaging over 300 yards passing per game.

Boo - A Reason To Be Scared
After limited carries over the first four games of his collegiate career, true freshman running back William "Boo" McKnight had a breakout performance against Southern Nazarene as he totaled 95 yards on just five carries with three of those runs concluding in the endzone. McKnight carried that performance over against Oklahoma Baptist as he scored two more rushing TDs, giving him five in those two weeks, which now leads the team in that category.

Red Zone Threat
Sophomore Tanner Hudson has played several positions since coming to SAU. After coming in as a quarterback in the spring of 2014, Hudson was moved to wide receiver for the 2014 season and had eight catches for 68 yards including two TDs. This year, Hudson has moved to tight end and has become a big red zone target as four of his six TDs have come inside the 20-yardline.

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 51 and is first in tackles for loss (13.5) and sacks (8.5). In the GAC ranks, Lison leads the league in tackles for loss, fumbles forced with six and sacks.

Reservations for Six
Through seven games this season, Southern Arkansas has scored 44 touchdowns with 14 different players accounting for those scores. QB Barrett Renner has been responsible for the most touchdowns (26) with his 25 passing TDs and one rushing score. Running back William McKnight has the most rushing TDs with six, while tight end Tanner Hudson has the most receiving TDs with six.