MAGNOLIA, Ark. – The 2021 football season is winding down for Southern Arkansas and Week 10 sends
Mike McCarty's Muleriders into Oklahoma for a Week 10 tilt with Southern Nazarene. The Muleriders are hopeful in rebounding from last Saturday's home loss to Oklahoma Baptist and will look for the squad's fourth win of the season in a 1 p.m. kickoff from Bethany, Oklahoma. Live coverage links are available at www.MuleriderAthletics.com.
>>> Two games remain in the regular season for Saturday's matchup will be the ninth matchup all-time between the programs. Southern Arkansas leads the series 8-0. The results of the most recent four matchups have been much closer collectively than the first four matchups that saw SAU score 47+ in all four games, including 62+ in back-to-back wins in 2013 and 2014.
>>> Southern Arkansas enters Week 10 of the season with an offense that is scoring just under 28 points per game and averaging just over 380 total yards. The Muleriders have punched in ten rushing touchdowns this season and have tossed 17 touchdowns.
>>> Defensively, SAU is allowing just over 35 points per game, has forced 13 turnovers and ranks second in the league in sacks per game at 2.75. SAU has scored twice on defense this season and has added one special teams score.
>>> Southern Nazarene, 1-8 in Great American Conference, has lost two straight after earning their lone win through nine weeks of the season with a 30-22 home win over Southwestern Oklahoma State. The Crimson Storm are tied for tenth in the GAC; two games back of Southern Arkansas and Arkansas Tech.
>>> SNU averages over 270 yards per game offensively, while allowing 385 yards on the defensive side of the football. The Crimson Storm sit at just under -20 in scoring differential as opponents are scoring 37 ppg. The Crimson Storm rushing attack averages 143+ yards per game; a top ten rushing mark in the GAC. Southern Nazarene's Jarvis Davis ranks tenth in the GAC in total offense at 150.7 yards per game and has totaled five rushing and five passing touchdowns.
>>> Senior quarterback
Hayden Mallory ranks fourth in the GAC in passing efficiency (134.3), fourth in passing touchdowns (17) and fifth in passing yards (2,094). With 4,706 career passing yards, the third-most in program history, Mallory is closing in on becoming just the third quarterback in program history to reach the 5,000-yard passing mark.
>>> Redshirt freshman running back
Jariq Scales' become the 11th player in program history to eclipse the 1,000-yard rushing mark in a single season with a 52-yard run in the first quarter of SAU's Week 9 tilt at home against Oklahoma Baptist. His current rushing total of 1,112 yards is sixth all-time in a single season and with two games remaining, the Osceola, Arkansas, native has his sights set on the all-time mark of 1,327 set by Julian Frazier in 1993. His 123.6 yards per game also ranks second and is the 9th-highest average in the country. Scales also owns a top-20 mark nationally in yards per carry at 6.54. This season he has topped the century mark five times, including two games with rushing totals north of 200 and a career-high 245 yards, the second-most ever in a single game in program history, coming against Arkansas Tech.
>>> Redshirt junior
Micah Small has hauled in 46 passes for 807 yards and nine touchdowns and is averaging 89.7 receiving yards per game. He ranks in the top 20 in DII in receiving touchdowns, receiving yards, and receiving yards per game. Small is 193 yards back of the 1,000-yard receiving mark which would make him just the third Mulerider wideout to accomplish the feat. He is also a scoring catch away from becoming the third different player with ten or more scoring grabs in a single season. He is currently 212 receiving yards from moving into the top 10 on the career list. If Small can eclipse the century mark, he and Scales will become the first 1,000-yard rushing-1,000-yard receiving duo in program history.
>>> Junior placekicker
Austin Wilkerson has connected on 92.3% of his field goal attempts this season, third-best effort in the country, missing one in 11 tries. He is a perfect 6-of-6 from 29 in and is 6-of-7 in attempts at 30+ with a season-long 47-yarder in the loss to Oklahoma Baptist. He is 23-for-26 on extra-point attempts and leads the team in scoring with 59 points. He ranks ninth overall in scoring in the GAC at 7.4 ppg which lands as the third-best league average among kickers.
>>> Junior safety
Brock Floyd is the lone Muleriders with 70+ tackles so far this season. His 72 stops are highlighted by a team-best 44 solo tackles and his total stops are the best among defensive backs in the GAC. Redshirt freshman
Gavin Roe and freshman
Rayvon Ingram have notched 60+ tackles this season. Roe follows Floyd with 64 and Ingram trails at 63. Floyd and Ingram each have two interceptions, while the unit has eight total.
>>> As a team, SAU has recorded 43 tackles for loss totaling 178 yards. Sixteen different players have gotten in on the action with freshman
David Walker leading the way with 9.5 and senior
Demoni Boyd following with 6.5.
SAU BY THE NUMBERS
362- The total number of kickoff return yards by true freshman
Demarcus Williams this season which includes an NCAA record 100-yard return against Oklahoma Baptist; the second player in program history to accomplish the feat joining Jordan Babineaux who did so against Delta State in 2003. It was the first kickoff return for a touchdown by a Mulerider since Zikerious Ware raced 88 yards for six against Arkansas-Monticello on Nov. 15, 2014 in the last game the author of these game notes ever played. Williams is just 128 kick return yards away from moving into the top ten all-time in a single season.
45.5- The average number of the points scored by the Muleriders in the team's first four meetings with Southern Nazarene in Bethany, Oklahoma. SAU combined for 121 points in its first two trips northwest of Oklahoma City. In the most recent two meetings, SAU averaged 30.5 points. SAU's trek to play the Crimson Storm on the road have included scores of 66, 55, 27, and 34.
22- The number of games the Muleriders have won in the state of Oklahoma in the program's NCAA Era (Since 1995-96). Since joining the GAC in 2011, which introduced yearly treks to the Sooner State, the Muleriders own an 18-8 record. Non-GAC matchups for SAU in Oklahoma include a 28-15 victory over Southeastern Oklahoma in the 2000 season opener and a 17-7 win over East Central in 1995; the program's first season as an NCAA program. Those two victories sandwiched two triumphs during the championship season of 1997: a 37-9 win at ECU in the season opener and a narrow 10-7 victory over Northeastern State in Week 9.
6- The number of field goals needed by redshirt junior place kicker
Austin Wilkerson to break the all-time career mark set by SAU Sports Hall of Famer Jason Williams. For his career, Wilkerson is 35-of-45 in field goals and 106-of-111 in extra-point attempts. His 35 career FGs rank second all-time in program history and his 106 XPs are currently tied for second with Williams.
ABOUT THE SERIES
>>> In the first meeting between the two programs, the Muleriders held a 20-14 lead at the intermission. Quarterback Tyler Sykora then delivered four second-half touchdown passes as SAU scored 27 unanswered points over the final two quarters to win 47-14.
>>> The next year, in the Muleriders' first trip to Bethany, SAU put 66 points on the scoreboard highlighted by four more TD passes from Sykora and two rushing touchdowns from Mark Johnson. Ten players caught a pass that day and SAU did not punt. Southern Arkansas converted six of its nine third down attempts and cashed in for points on all eight trips to the redzone. Defensively, SAU held SNU to 244 yards of total offense.
>>> In 2014, SAU again scored 60+ on the Crimson Storm, but it was the 2018 matchup in Magnolia that nearly saw SNU beat the Muleriders for the first time. SAU jumped out to a 14-0 lead after the first quarter, but SNU cut it to 14-10 by halftime. SAU took a 21-10 lead early in the third quarter, but the Crimson Storm answered with a touchdown in the fourth quarter. SAU turned it over twice midway through the final quarter of action to leave the door open, but the defense forced two turnovers as well including a game-sealing INT by Stacy Lawrence to preserve the Family Day victory.
