BETHANY, Okla. – Something had to give on Saturday afternoon in Bethany, Oklahoma, as Southern Arkansas, winless on the road entering the contest, met a Southern Nazarene team, that had yet to pick up a win at home this season, in a Great American Conference affair that resulted in the Muleriders improving to 4-2 in league play after a 27-15 win over the Crimson Storm.
 
RECORDS
Southern Nazarene Crimson Storm (3-3, 3-3 GAC)
Southern Arkansas Muleriders (4-2, 4-2 GAC)
 
OF NOTE

• The Muleriders led 17-3 at the half and entered the fourth quarter with a 20-6 lead. At the 11:44 mark of the fourth quarter, the Crimson Storm closed the deficit to five, 20-15, before Tanner Hudson scored from one yard out with 7:36 remaining in the game to extend the Mulerider lead, a lead they would keep, to 27-15.

 

• Southern Arkansas tallied 442 total yards of offense behind redshirt junior quarterback Barrett Renner's 250 yards on 21-of-34 passing. Renner also added 12 yards rushing on three carries. The performance for the Rowlett, Texas, native made him the program's new career leader in total offense as he currently has 8,972 total yards surpassing Tyler Sykora's previous best career total of 8,847 yards.

• Renner connected with seven different receivers on Saturday including five completions, with a long of 40 yards, to redshirt senior wide receiver Jonathan Weisheit for 82 yards and a touchdown. Other targets for Renner in the win included:
  • Sidney Moore – three catches for 51 yards with a long of 38 yards
  • Tanner Hudson – three catches for 40 yards with a long of 26 yards
  • Jared Lancaster – four catches for 40 yards with a long of 17 yards
  • Darrion Ardoin – three catches for 21 yards
  • Garrett Turnbull – two catches for 10 yards
  • Keiandre Purifoy – one catch for six yards
• Purifoy finished with a career-high 79 rushing yards on 6.1 yards per carry, while also recording a team season-long rush of 32 yards. The versatile utility back recorded 85 all-purpose yards; the third highest single-game mark for the sophomore. Hudson carried once and found the end zone from one yard out.
• In all, the Muleriders recorded their third game this campaign with 190 or more rushing yards after picking up 192 yards on 40 carries. Redshirt senior running back Michael Nunnery led the attack after tying a season-high in carries with 19 for 102 yards and a touchdown. The 100-plus yards rushing for Nunnery is his ninth career game in which he reached the century mark in rushing.

 

• Defensively, SAU held Southern Nazarene to 266 total yards with only 87 coming through the air.

• The Muleriders forced a fumble and picked off a Crimson Storm pass and held SNU to just a 1-of-9 conversion rate on third down, while forcing Southern Nazarene to three redzone field goals.

• The 266 yards by SNU are a season-low for the Mulerider defense as the unit held its fourth opponent under 180 yards on the ground.

• Six players recorded five or more total stops with Davondrick Lison, Elgin Moore and La'Montrick Turner picking up six tackles each.

• Southern Arkansas registered eight tackles for loss including three sacks led by a pair from junior defensive lineman Anthony Washington. It is the fifth game this season that SAU has recorded 8.0 or more total tackles for loss.

• Late in the fourth quarter, Kaseem Smith ended the Crimson Storm threat by picking off his first career pass, while Demarcus Pegue accounted for the fumble recovery.

 

• In the kicking game, senior place kicker Bradford Grems tied a season-high with two makes (29, 32) while Hudson averaged 47.2 yards per punt with a long of 50 and two downed inside the 20.

 
UP NEXT
The Muleriders remain on the road as they will travel back into Oklahoma next weekend for a 2 p.m. kickoff in Ada against East Central on October 14.