MAGNOLIA, Ark. - The biggest challenge of the season awaits Southern Arkansas as Week 8 takes first-year head coach Mike McCarty's Muleriders back to Arkadelphia for the second time this season to take on #7/8 Ouachita in a Week 8 tilt from Cliff Harris Stadium. Kickoff is scheduled for 1 p.m. Live coverage links are available at www.MuleriderAthletics.com.

>>> Southern Arkansas improved to 3-4 on the season with last Saturday's 34-17 win over Arkansas Tech in the 12th Murphy USA Classic; the program's fourth win in Union County's annual clash of Natural State foes. SAU scored 31-straight points and allowed only three after falling behind 14-0 early in the first quarter to snap a four-game losing streak.

>>> This Saturday's matchup serves as another test for first-year head coach Mike McCarty's Muleriders. No. 7/8 Ouachita will be the fourth nationally ranked/receiving votes opponent that the Muleriders have squared off against this season.

>>> SAU will carry an offense to Clark County that ranks in the top 60 nationally in total yards per game averaging 401. Both the passing game and rushing attack rank in the top 70 in Division II with the aerial offense ranking 43rd at 247.4 yards per game, while the ground game is currently 66th at 153.6 yards per game. 

>>> The Mulerider defense ranks third in the GAC in takeaways with 12 with their totals in interceptions (7) ranking third and fumbles recovered (4) ranking fourth in the league as well. SAU leads the league in sacks per game at 3 as well as in defensive touchdowns (2).

>>> Ouachita enters Week 8 heavily relying on its ground game as the Tigers ranked third nationally averaging 294.7 yards rushing per game. The Tiger offense has lost just four turnovers this season which ranks fourth nationally. 

>>> OUA ranks 24th in the country in total defense holding opponents to under 295 yards per game. The Tigers have been electric on special teams ranking 11th nationally in kickoff return average at 25.92 (2 TDs) and second in net punting at 41.53.

>>> Senior quarterback Hayden Mallory ranks in the top five of the GAC in every major passing category. His 15 passing touchdowns and over 1,700 passing yards both land in the top 30 nationally. 

>>> Redshirt freshman running back Jariq Scales' 908 yards rushing ranks 6th in DII second in the GAC behind TJ Cole of Ouachita who has totaled 930 rushing yards. His 129.7 yards per game also ranks second and is the 8th-highest average in the country. Scales also owns a top-20 mark in yards per carry at 6.63.

>>> For the season, Small has hauled in 39 passes for 673 yards and eight touchdowns and is averaging 96.1 receiving yards per game. He ranks in the top 20 in DII in receiving touchdowns, receiving yards, and receiving yards per game. Fifteen different players have caught a pass this fall with a third of those finding the endzone. 

>>> Junior placekicker Austin Wilkerson has connected on 90.9% of his field goal attempts this season missing one in 11 tries. He is 18-for-20 on extra-point attempts and is tied with Small for the team lead in scoring with 48 points.

>>> Junior safety Brock Floyd, the reigning GAC Defensive Player of the Week, and freshman Rayvon Ingram have both recorded 50+ tackles this season. Floyd's 58 stops include 32 solo tackles and Ingram's 51 tackles include 26 solo stops. Floyd owns two of the unit's seven interceptions and two of the team's five fumble recoveries.

SAU BY THE NUMBERS
1132 - The number of days in between junior safety Brock Floyd's 21-yard fumble return for a touchdown which sparked a historic 28-23 win at #7 Harding in 2018 and his 60-yard fumble return TD which helped send SAU past Arkansas Tech last Saturday at the Murphy USA Classic.
327 - The number of receiving yards needed by redshirt junior wide receiver Micah Small to become just the third different player to record a 1,000-yard receiving campaign. He is two TD catches away from becoming only the third Mulerider with double digit receiving TDs in a single season.
192 - The number of rushing yards needed by redshirt freshman running back Jariq Scales to become only the seventh player in program history to eclipse the 1,100-rushing yard mark in a single season and the first to do it since Michael Nunnery totaled 1,110 yards in 2016.
14 - The jersey number of redshirt junior place kicker Austin Wilkerson who for his career is 33-of-43 in field goals and 101-of-105 in extra-point attempts. His 33 career FGs rank second all-time in program history and his 101 XPs are currently third; five back of second. He is seven FGs back of tying the all-time career mark.

ABOUT THE SERIES
>>> The Tigers and the Muleriders have met every season since 2000 and with the exception of a three-year stint from 1997-1999, the two longtime Arkansas foes have combated on the gridiron every year since the 1959 campaign. Since that 2000 meeting ended the three-year hiatus, the series is deadlocked at 10-10. The Muleriders won the first four matchups of the new millennium and Ouachita enters Saturday having won the most recent four. SAU is looking for its first win over the Tigers in Clark County since the 2012 campaign as McCarty's squad makes its second trip to Arkadelphia this season; the first time the program has had to do that since the 2002 season.
>>> Two of the longest games in SAU's program history have been played against the Tigers and both have come since 2002. The Muleriders knocked off Ouachita 50-47 in four overtimes in the 2002 meeting in Arkadelphia, while the Tigers topped SAU 40-37 in four overtimes in the series' 2016 matchup in Arkadelphia.