MAGNOLIA, Ark. – Southern Arkansas University honored the life and legacy of legendary head football coach Raymond "Rip" Powell on Saturday evening as they officially named the playing surface at Wilkins Stadium after Coach Powell in front of a standing room-only crowd of 5,871. Unfortunately, the nationally-ranked No. 16 Harding Bisons left a sour taste in Mulerider fans' mouths by the end of the evening with a 70-42 win over SAU.
 
Saturday's high-scoring affair between the Muleriders (2-1, 2-1 GAC) and the Bisons (3-0, 3-0 GAC) saw a combined 58 first downs (29-HU, 29-SAU, 112 points (70-HU, 42-SAU), and 1,154 yards of total offense (625-HU, 529-SAU).
 
With the gaudy combined offensive numbers, the Muleriders did keep pace with their season averages in offense as they amassed 529 yards of total offense with 381 yards through the air and 148 yards on the ground. On the year through three games now, the Muleriders are averaging 554.3 yards of total offense per game with 341.3 coming through the air and 213.0 coming on the ground.
 
Guiding the Muleriders' offensive attack was redshirt freshman quarterback Barrett Renner, who in his third collegiate start, established career highs in yards and touchdown passes with 381 yards and five touchdowns.
 
In the game, the Bisons would open scoring with a 19-yard rush by Matt Tennison at the 13:29 mark of the first quarter. SAU answered back minutes later with a 25-yard TD strike from Renner to Jaylon Dews for Dews' first career TD catch.
 
Another Tennison score with 4:27 left in the first quarter put Harding up 14-7, but a head's up 49-yard catch and run by Karonce Higgins pulled the score even at 14-all. On the play, Higgins caught a pass from Renner and was bottled up by a pair of Bisons' defenders, but as Higgins was being hauled to the ground, he rolled over a player on the ground and his knee did not touch, so Higgins alertly scampered the remaining 40 yards or so for the score.
 
At the 2:05 mark of the first quarter, Harding's Michael Latu capped a high-scoring opening stanza while also breaking the tie score with a 63-yard dash up the middle to make it 21-14 Harding.
 
Early in the second quarter, Harding would push their lead to two scores as Park Parrish completed one of his two passes on the night to Zach Shelly for a 49-yard score.
 
The Muleriders were able to pull to within a touchdown with 6:22 remaining before the end of the first half as Renner connected with Tevin McDonald from 33 yards out. Renner and McDonald would hook up once more in the fourth quarter for a TD pass, that one going for 25 yards.
 
Harding, however, would add another TD and push their advantage to two scores with a 28-yard rush by Dewayne Carter with 4:33 left in the second quarter.
 
Having won the toss and electing to defer to the second half, Harding had the first possession of the second half and looked to add to their lead, but the Mulerider defense and specifically Davondrick Lison would force a fumble which was recovered by SAU's Kasey Johnson to switch possession over to the Muleriders.
 
SAU would be unable to take advantage of that turnover as their drive stalled and turned over on downs after just four plays.
 
Mid-way through the ensuing Harding drive, lightning was detected within a 10-mile radius of Magnolia and per NCAA and Great American Conference policies, the game was placed under a minimum 30-minute lighting delay. All told, the delay would be 37 minutes before play resumed and Harding would pick up where they left off, ending the drive in the endzone to make it a 42-21 score.
 
The two teams would trade scores over the next six touchdowns as the game sailed into the fourth quarter with the three SAU TDs being passing scores to McDonald and Tanner Hudson and a 6-yard power rush by Michael Nunnery.
 
Harding would add one more touchdown to its ledger after those six alternating scores to push their point total to 70.
 
The Muleriders will now prepare for a road trip to Russellville next week as they are set to take on the Wonder Boys of Arkansas Tech. Kick-off for the September 26 matchup is set for 6 p.m. in Russellville.