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SOUTHERN ARKANSAS
MULERIDERS
0-0 (0-0 GAC)
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SOUTHWESTERN OKLAHOMA
BULLDOGS
0-0 (0-0 GAC)
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GAME NOTES | SAU | SWOSU | GAC Weekly FB Notebook
Setting the Scene: Kick-Off 2016
The 2016 college football season is here and the Southern Arkansas Muleriders are set to open that campaign on the road at Southwestern Oklahoma on Thursday, September 1. It will be the second-straight year that SAU and SWOSU will open each other's schedules as the home venue shifts to Weatherford here in 2016. Last year in Magnolia, the Muleriders and Bulldogs played a closely-contested game with SAU emerging with the week one victory, 28-24.
Dating back to the 2012 season, the Muleriders are 3-1 in season-openers with their lone loss coming in 2013 at Southeastern Oklahoma, 56-50. It will also be the third time since 2012 that SAU opens their season on the road. In those games, the Muleriders are 1-1.
About Southwestern Oklahoma
SCHEDULE
The Southwestern Oklahoma Bulldog football team is set to open their 2016 season at home against Southern Arkansas. It will be the second-straight year that SWOSU and SAU match up in week one of the regular season. Last year, it was the Muleriders that came away with the win as
Barrett Renner connected with
Jonathan Weisheit for a 75-yard go-ahead touchdown with 6:24 left in the game. That opening week loss made the Bulldogs 1-3 in their last four season-openers. The win came in 2013 when SWOSU upset Harding 27-23 at home. This will be the Bulldogs' first season-opener at home since that 2013 season.
THE COACH
The Bulldogs are coached by Dan Cocannauer, who enters into his eighth season with SWOSU. In his seven previous years, Cocannauer has amassed a 29-47 overall record. Last year, Cocannauer engineered his best season on the sidelines for SWOSU as he led the Bulldogs to an 8-4 record which featured an appearance in the 2015 Live United Bowl in Texarkana. The solid year for Cocannauer and the Bulldogs was one that saw a late season surge as after a pair of shutout losses that dropped SWOSU to 2-3 on the year, the Bulldogs won their final six games of the regular season to position themselves in post-season play.
SCOUTING THE OFFENSE
Offensively, the Bulldogs return nine starters from last year's team including their quarterback Marc Evans, running back Karltrell Henderson, and wide reciever/all-american return specialist D.J. Jones. Evans, Henderson and Jones combined for 48 of Southwestern's 53 touchdowns a year ago.
As a team, the Bulldogs averaged 399.8 yards of total offense per game and scored an average of 32.2 points per game as well. Both of those ranked SWOSU seventh in the GAC. On the ground, the Bulldogs had the seventh-best rushing attack in the league at 159.3 yards per game. Through the air, SWOSU ranked sixth in the conference with an average of 240.4 yards per game.
SCOUTING THE DEFENSE
Defensively, Southwestern has to replace seven of their starters from a year ago. Back as starters for the Bulldogs' defense however is All-GAC Second-Team defensive back Connor Bays. Last year, Bays led the team and recorded 115 tackles with 59 being solo and 56 being assisted. Bays also had 6.5 tackles for lost yardage and came away with three interceptions.
As a team, the Bulldogs fielded one of the top defenses in the GAC last year as they ranked third in scoring defense by giving up an average of 21.8 ppg and fifth in total defense as they allowed 356.2 yards per game. In terms of defensive takeaways, the Bulldogs totaled 22 with 13 interceptions and nine fumble recoveries.
THE SERIES
This will be the just sixth meeting all-time between Southern Arkansas and Southwestern Oklahoma as the two teams first began playing each other in 2011 as conference opponents in the newly-formed Great American Conference. The overall series has been razor-thin close with the combined margin of victory being 20 points. The largest margin of victory in that time was just nine points as SAU beat SWOSU 31-22 in the initial meeting in 2011. In 2014, SWOSU picked up their first victory in the series with a 27-24 win at home. Overall, the Muleriders hold a 4-1 advantage in the all-time series and in Weatherford, the site for Thursday's game, the series is knotted at one apeice.
SAU NEWS AND NOTES
Picked 5th in Wide-Open GAC
The Southern Arkansas football team enters the 2016 season picked to finish fifth in the Great American Conference according to the league's head coaches in the annual preseason poll. Last year, the Muleriders were picked to finish sixth, but a 7-4 record tied SAU for fourth with Harding and Ouachita. Ahead of the Muleriders in the 2016 preseason poll are Henderson State, Harding, Ouachita, and Southwestern Oklahoma. SAU went 2-2 against those for team picked higher with wins coming against Ouachita and Southwestern Oklahoma.
Familiar Faces All Around
Familiarity will be a strength of the 2016 Mulerider football team as a total of 41 lettermen and 16 starters are back with eight starters apiece coming on each side of the ball. Highlighted among the starters are All-GAC honorees
Davondrick Lison,
Calvin Lyons,
Elgin Moore,
Chris Paul,
Barrett Renner, and
Jonathan Weisheit.
Welcome to the O-Show
Mulerider Football and offensive production/explosion have been synonymous with one another for the past five years since
Landon Keopple became the offensive coordinator. In his first year in 2011, Keopple put together an offense that averaged 26.2 points per game and 376.4 yards of total offense per game. Those numbers were markedly better than the previous year where SAU averaged 16.3 ppg and 268.4 yards of total offense.
In the four years since his first as OC, Keopple has developed one of the top offenses not only in the GAC, but in all of NCAA DII. Beginning in the 2012 season, the Muleriders average 36.8 points per game and 477.4 yards of total offense per game. In three of the last four years, SAU has gained over 5,000 yards and in those same years they have scored more than 385 points. All told under Keopple as the OC, the Muleriders score nearly 35 points per game and average over 450 yards of total offense as well.
Safety in the Secondary
The top-two tacklers from last year are back for the Muleriders and Elgin Moore and Q'Niko Thomas will once again hold down the safety positions in the defensive backfield. Last year, Moore led the team in tackles and interceptions with 93 tackles and four picks. Thomas, who became the starting free safety late, ended the year second in tackles with 78 stops and tied for second on the team in passes defended with eight.
Holding Down Hudson
Tanner Hudson has played numerous positions in his time at SAU from quarterback upon his transfer into the program, to rugby punter this past year, and with time spent at the wide receiver and tight end positions along the way. Of all of those positions, however, the versatile Hudson flourished as a pass-catching tight end. An All-GAC Second-Team selection at the position, Hudson proved to be a match-up nightmare in the passing game as he hauled in 44 passes for a teambest 697 yards. Hudson was also on the receiving end of eight TD passes to lead the Muleriders.
Disruptive Davondrick
Davondrick Lison enjoyed a sensational redshirt freshman campaign last year as one of the Muleriders' starting defensive ends. At that position, Lison wreaked havoc on opposing backfields as he totaled 17.5 tackles for lost yardage to rank second in the GAC. Of those TFLs, 9.0 were QB Sacks, ranking Lison third in the league in that category. Not only was he adept at stopping the offense behind the line of scrimmage, Lison also had a knack for popping the ball loose as he led all of NCAA DII in Forced Fumbles with seven.
Relying on Renner
For the first time since the start of the 2013 season, the Muleriders will have the return services of their starting quarterback from the previous year as
Barrett Renner is back for his sophomore season. Last year, Renner continued a line of high-level quarterback play at SAU as he set five new school records and was named as the GAC's Freshman of the Year as well as being the league's first-team QB on the all-conference squad. This season, Renner will be the focal point of the Muleriders' offense once again while also being the man to stop for opposing defenses. Last year, Renner was an all-region selection and he led the league and ranked ninth in NCAA DII in Total Offense with over 3,700 yards gained.
