|
SOUTHERN ARKANSAS
MULERIDERS
1-0 (1-0 GAC)
|
NORTHWESTERN OKLAHOMA
RANGERS
1-0 (1-0 GAC)
|
|
Setting the Scene: Home-Opener
The Southern Arkansas football team will play their first game at Wilkins Stadium at Rip Powell Field for the 2016 season and SAU welcomes in Northwestern Oklahoma
for the contest. Last year, when the Muleriders played on the road against NWOSU in week two of the season, the Rangers were playing their first home game and there was a lot more pomp and circumstance than the usual football game as Northwestern was debuting and dedicating their multi-story press box and artificial turf surface prior
to the prime-time game with SAU.
This year, the Muleriders will be returning the favor of sorts with a night game against one of their farthest GAC opponents as kick-off is scheduled for 6 p.m. This game will see the debut of facility enhancements at Wilkins Stadium at Rip Powell Field that include a new artificial turf surface and LED lighting system. Both the turf and lighting system projects were completed by Geo-Surfaces.
SCHEDULE
The Northwestern Oklahoma Ranger football team enters play this weekend with a 1-0 recordoverall and a 1-0 mark in the Great American Conference after a 59-56 week one victory at home against Arkansas-Monticello. This weekend's game will be the Rangers' first road game in 2016 and their second trip to Magnolia as members of the Great American Conference.
THE COACH
The Rangers are coached by Matt Walter, who is the midst of his second year as the head coach at Northwestern Oklahoma. A NWOSU graduate and All-America football player, Walter helped the Rangers to a NAIA National Championship in 1999. In his first season as head coach at NWOSU, Walter led the Rangers to a 3-8 record with wins over Arkansas-Monticello, Southeastern Oklahoma, and Southern Nazarene. Prior to his appointment at Northwestern, Walter served the previous six years as the strength and conditioning coach as well as offensive coordinator at Emporia State in the MIAA.
SCOUTING THE OFFENSE
Offensively, Northwestern features a pass-heavy spread attack that has the potential to put points on the board quickly. Last year, the Rangers ranked 10th in all of NCAA Division II in Passing Offense at 309.6 ypg.
Through one game in 2016, it is evident that the Rangers will elect to take to the air a lot on offense as they threw for nearly 500 yards (493) on 41 attempts against Arkansas-Monticello. Accounting for all of those pass attempts and yards in week one was senior quarterback Reid Miller. In that game, Miller completed 25 passes with 11 different receivers being on the other end. Of those eleven, five caught multiple passes and Horatio Smith and Riley Hess each hauled in over 100 yards and two touchdowns.
While the passing game jumps off the stat page, Northwestern also showed a willingness to run the football as they rushed for 175 yards on 34 carries as a team in week one. In terms of scoring offense, the Rangers hung 59 points on the board. It was the third time since becoming members of NCAA DII that NWOSU has scored 50 or more points and the second time that they have eclipsed the half-century mark against UAM.
SCOUTING THE DEFENSE
Defensively, Northwestern Oklahoma found it difficult to slow down Arkansas-Monticello and their passing attack, especially late in the game as UAM scored 35 points in the fourth quarter to overcome what was a 28-point deficit through three quarters. All told, the Rangers gave up 668 yards of total offense to the Boll Weevils with 533 of those coming through the air.
THE SERIES
This will be just the seventh meeting all-time between Southern Arkansas and Northwestern Oklahoma and will be the fourth-straight season in which the two will face off as members of the Great American Conference. Despite not being conference opponents unitl 2013, the series was already three games deep with the two teams playing in 1977 and 1978 as well as in 1997. This weekend's game will be the fourth meeting all-time in Magnolia with SAU winning two of the first three matchups. Overall, the Muleriders have a 5-1 lead in the all-time series and have won four straight.
SAU News and Notes
Quick Hits From Last Week
» The SAU Defense allowed just three (3) points from the 1st quarter on and shutout the Bulldogs in the 2nd half
» Junior running back
Michael Nunnery scored the first TD of the year for SAU with a 12-yard scamper in the 2nd quarter. Nunnery also scored the 1st TD for SAU last season, a two-yard plunge
» All three (3) of SAU's INTs were career-firsts for
Lorenzo Watkins, Malachi Pointer, and
Stacy Lawrence
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 team-best 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 yardageto 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.
