MAGNOLIA, Ark. - Week 7 is here and Southern Arkansas, who is eager to get back into the win column, a familiar trip awaits first-year head coach
Mike McCarty's Muleriders as the program heads each for its tenth appearance all-time and seventh straight in the Murphy USA Classic where Arkansas Tech awaits on Saturday. Kick-off from El Dorado's historic Memorial Stadium is set for 2 p.m. Live coverage links are available at www.MuleriderAthletics.com.
>>> SAU makes its annual pilgrimage east into Union County for a Murphy USA Classic matchup with Arkansas Tech. It will be the tenth appearance all-time for SAU in the twelve years of the game. Southern Arkansas has won three times in Memorial Stadium since the first playing of the classic in 2009.
>>> Southern Arkansas and Arkansas Tech have met every year since the end of World War II with the exception of two: the 2002 and 2003 seasons. Saturday's meeting will be the first in El Dorado. It is the seventh-straight appearance for SAU, while Tech's only other appearance in the game came in a 45-14 defeat to Henderson State in 2013.
>>> It has been a tough stretch for Southern Arkansas the past month, but not all is lost for the Muleriders. Four teams currently tied or above the Muleriders in the GAC standings remain on SAU's schedule. Southern Arkansas enters Week 7 at 2-4 and will face an upstart Arkansas Tech team that has won its last two ballgames after a 0-4 start. SAU is hoping to get back into the win column after dropping four straight following a 2-0 beginning to the season.
>>> The Muleriders will carry a top-40 passing offense into this weekend as the squad's 265.5 yards per game through the air rank 34th nationally. The team's 404.7 yards of offense per game lands in the top 50 in DII. SAU's 130 first downs obtained through six weeks of play are the 27th most in the country and the Muleriders are scoring just under 30 ppg.
>>> The Mulerider defense ranks second in the GAC in takeaways with 11 with their totals in interceptions (7) and fumbles recovered (4) both ranking second in the league as well. SAU leads the league in sacks per game at 2.67.
>>> Senior quarterback
Hayden Mallory holds top 30 rankings nationally in passing touchdowns (14; 19th), passing yards (1,570; 24th) and passing yards/game (261.7; 27th).
>>> Redshirt freshman running back
Jariq Scales' 663 yards rushing ranks second in the GAC and 11th in DII. His 110.5 yards per game also ranks second and is the 13th-highest average in the country.
>>> With his career-high 184 yard receiving last weekend, redshirt junior wide receiver
Micah Small became the first wideout since Karonce Higgins in 2018 to go for 150+ receiving yards in a game. For the season, Small has hauled in 37 passes for 645 yards and eight touchdowns and is averaging 107.5 receiving yards per game. Small's receiving yards total ranks 11th nationally and his per game average is 13th. His eight scoring grabs rank ninth in DII and he is 355 receiving yards away from becoming only the third different receiver with a 1,000-yard receiving campaign in program history.
>>> Junior placekicker
Austin Wilkerson is one of just six kickers in DII that has been perfect on his field goal attempts as he has made all eight tries this season. He has two games of three makes and is third on the team in points responsible for with 38.
>>> Junior safety
Brock Floyd and freshman
Rayvon Ingram have both recorded 40+ tackles this season. Floyd's 43 stops include 22 solo tackles and Ingram's 41 tackles include 23 solo stops. Both players trail sophomore
Onyei Orupabo who has 25 solo tackles. Floyd owns two of the unit's seven interceptions.
MURPHY USA CLASSIC BY THE NUMBERS
533 - The most passing yards in a single game in the Classic's 11-year history. SAU quarterback Barrett Renner not only set a MUSAC record with 533 yards passing in SAU's 45-42 loss to (RV) Ouachita in 2017, but also broke the program record in the process; tossing for 13 more yards than the previous program-best of 520 by Tyler Sykora against OUA in 2011.
55 - The highest number of points scored in a single game in the Murphy USA Classic. #14 Henderson State topped Southern Arkansas 55-41 in 2014. Southern Arkansas owns the other 50-point performance in the history of the game as the Muleriders repaid the favor against HSU with a 50-24 victory in the 2016 edition.
17 - The most tackles in a single MUSAC. It has happened on two occasions and both times by a Mulerider defender. Daren Lewis recorded 17 tackles against Arkansas-Monticello in 2010 and five years later, Elgin Moore logged 17 stops against Ouachita. Both performances are tied for the fifth-most in a single game in program history.
2 - The number of games that have featured a combined 85 or more points. The 2014 game between HSU and SAU featured a Classic record 96 points, while the 2017 game saw 87 points combined between OUA and SAU.
MEMORABLE MOMENTS VS. ARKANSAS TECH
>>>The 2019 game marked the first win in the series by the road team since the 2007 season, a span of 11 meetings, when the Muleriders topped ATU in a shootout 56-49. That game saw a combined 1,114 yards of total offense, 58 first downs in 176 plays and an average yards per play of 6.3. Neither team led by more than seven points throughout the contest which concluded with the late Tony McDonald scoring from eight yards out to cap an 8-play, 70-yard drive with 1:14 remaining and the Muleriders stopping the Wonder Boys at the SAU3 with no time left.
>>>In 1999, Southern Arkansas and Arkansas Tech played in one of the more high-stakes affairs the series has ever seen. Both teams entered that November 13 tilt 7-1 in Gulf South Conference play with the conference crown on the line. With just under 11 minutes to play, SAU led 17-7, but at the 3:43 mark the Wonder Boys scored to tie the game and eventually went on to win 20-17 in overtime.
Murphy USA Classic All-Time History
2009 | Arkansas-Monticello def. Southern Arkansas (17-6)
2010 | Arkansas-Monticello def. Southern Arkansas (28-23)
2011 | Ouachita def. Arkansas-Monticello (38-20)
2012 | Harding def. Southern Arkansas (23-20)
2013 | Henderson State def. Arkansas Tech (45-14)
2014 | Henderson State def. Southern Arkansas (55-41)
2015 | Southern Arkansas def. Ouachita (32-28)
2016 | Southern Arkansas def. Henderson State (50-24)
2017 | Ouachita def. Southern Arkansas (45-42)
2018 | Southern Arkansas def. Henderson State (34-14)
2019 | Ouachita def. Southern Arkansas (38-21)
Most Appearances in the Murphy USA Classic
Southern Arkansas – 10
Henderson State – 4
Arkansas-Monticello – 3
Ouachita – 4
Arkansas Tech – 2
Harding – 1
