MAGNOLIA, Ark. - Week 6 of the 2022 DII college football season is here and for Southern Arkansas under first year head coach Brad Smiley, a trip to the Sooner State awaits as the Muleriders meet Southeastern Oklahoma State in Durant on Saturday. Kickoff from Paul Laird Field is set for 2 p.m. Live coverage links are available at www.MuleriderAthletics.com. It will be the 46th meeting since 1952 between the two programs and the 11th with both sharing membership in the Great American Conference. The league series is deadlocked at 5-5 and SAU will look for its first win on the road against the Savage Storm since 2012. 

WEEK 6 MATCHUP 
>>>The Muleriders move into the middle portion of the 2022 schedule at 2-3 overall following a tough loss to East Central on Homecoming. Southeastern Oklahoma State enters at 2-3 and the pair join Arkansas Tech in a three-way tie for seventh in the GAC standings. 
>>>Four opponents that are even with or above SAU in the standings remain on SAU's regular season schedule. Five of the six remaining games will send the Muleriders on the road.
>>>SAU is 7-3 in its last ten trips to the Sooner State dating back to the start of the 2018 season. Overall, since joining the GAC as a charter member in 2011, the Muleriders are 19-9 in Oklahoma.
>>>The chains will certainly be moving on Saturday in Durant. SOSU enters as the nation's leader in first downs with 125. The Muleriders rank 15th in the country in the category with 116. Both of those chain-moving efforts come behind quality third-down offense. SAU's 48.6% conversion rate on third down ranks 17th nationally and the Savage Storm's 47.6% success rate ranks 21st. 
>>>Since 2011, SAU is 5-5 in games immediately after homecoming.
>>>SAU makes just its second trip to Durant since the 2016 season. The Muleriders have lost their last three road games to SOSU.

OF NOTE: SOUTHERN ARKANSAS
>>>Offensively, the Muleriders are scoring at an average of just under 30 ppg behind a unit that rates in the top 25 nationally in total offense. SAU's ground game has been its go-to as it's 240.2 yards per game at 5.6 per carry ranks as the 12th best rushing attack in the country. 
>>>Redshirt sophomore Jariq Scales' 89.4 ypg on the ground leads the team as do his six rushing touchdowns, while junior quarterback OB Jones follows with 67.2 rushing yards per game. 
>>>Jones has completed 58 balls for 730 yards and seven touchdowns.
>>>Eleven Muleriders have caught a pass with three of those recording ten or more catches. Sophomore Cole Williams' 17 catches leads the team, Scales follows with 14 catches and junior Dekendrick Bender has recorded 11 grabs for a team-high 187 yards.
>>>SAU owns a scoring defense of 30 ppg and a total defense of 461.0.
>>>Junior Jacob Berry leads the SAU defense with 48 total tackles (19S, 29A) and redshirt junior Del Kristoffer Wade follows with 31 (17S, 14A). Four other Muleriders have registered at least 20 stops.
>>>Grad Prince Udenze paces the front seven with 5.5 tackles for loss and redshirt freshman Hunter Hewitt follows with three. 
>>> Southern Arkansas' punt coverage unit has been consistently impressive this season. The Muleriders rank 5th nationally in punt return defense at -0.17 yards per return. 

OF NOTE: SOUTHEASTERN OKLAHOMA
>>>The Savage Storm will contend with the nation's fourth-best passing offense as SOSU averages 351.6 ypg through the air. Its 33.8 ppg rates in the top 30 of DII scoring offenses, while its total offense of 457.0 ypg is 15th nationally. 
>>>SOSU QB Daulton Hatley ranks third nationally in completions per game (27..2), passing yards (1,669) and passing ypg (333.8), while owning the sixth-best total offense (328.4) and ranking 12th nationally in touchdown passes (12) and 18th in completion % (.633).
>>>Hatley's success and vice versa have come in large part to wideout Marquis Gray who leads the country in receiving yards (750) and receiving ypg (15.0) and ranks in the top 10 nationally in receiving touchdowns (6) and receptions per game (8.2).
>>>SOSU is allowing 436.2 ypg and 39.2 ppg as a unit. 
>>>Maalik Hall paces the defense with 46 total tackles, six tackles for loss and three sacks. Seven other defenders have recorded 20 or more stops. The Storm have recorded a total of 26 tackles for loss.

MEMORABLE MOMENTS
>>>In the 2019 edition of a series that first began 70 years ago, the Muleriders won its 12th-consecutive homecoming game behind a defensive effort that held SOSU to negative three yards rushing. Head Coach Bill Keopple notched his program-record 63rd career victory and quarterback Hayden Mallory was an efficient 11-for-14 for 311 yards and four touchdowns.
>>>One of the wildest finishes in the series happened in the season opener in 2014. Plagued by a lightning delay that pushed the 6 p.m. kickoff to 7:57, the game was again halted for 51 minutes due to weather late in the second quarter. Those that stayed were rewarded. The Muleriders recovered a fumble down 29-23 with 1:31 to play and the drive ended with Si Blackshire finding Aaron Johnson in the back corner of the south endzone for the tying six, while Dylan Nowak's XP sent the home sidelines into a frenzy. 
>>>Chris Terry set a then-single game GAC receiving record with 247 yards on ten catches which included touchdown grabs of 69 and 63 yards from Tyler Sykora in the '13 game. 
>>>The teams have tied three times. The first tie occurred in a scoreless third meeting in 1954. The next two, oddly enough, took place in consecutive seasons and both were deadlocked at 13-13: 1989 in Durant and 1990 in Magnolia.
>>>Two historic teams are celebrating championship anniversaries this season. The 1952 Muleriders won the Arkansas Intercollegiate Conference title with a 10-1 mark, while the 1972 Muleriders captured that year's AIC crown with an 8-2 record. Elmer Smith's '52 Muleriders defeated SOSU in Durant 27-14 in the first known meeting between the programs, while Rip Powell's 'Riders edged the Savage Storm 14-7 in Magnolia fifty years ago this season.

SAU BY THE NUMBERS
5.4 - Redshirt sophomore Jariq Scales is averaging 5.4 yards per carry this season. The Osceola, Arkansas native has tallied 447 yards on the ground this fall on 83 attempts. He is currently three touchdowns back of matching his rushing touchdown output from a season ago and he is 78 yards shy of reaching 2,000 career rushing yards. Scales needs 553 more rushing yards this campaign to post a consecutive 1,000-yard rushing season which would make him only the second Mulerider all-time to post two 1K seasons on the ground. 
9.6 - The number of tackles per game by junior linebacker Jacob Berry. The total ranks 25th nationally. The first-year Mulerider has recorded 19 solo stops and assisted on 29 more tackles for 48 through five games. He has registered two tackles for loss and a sack to go along with a pair of quarterback hurries.
41 - Grad placekicker Austin Wilkerson became the program's all-time career leader in field goals last Saturday as he punched through a 45-yard attempt as time expired in the first half to top SAU Sports Hall of Famer Jason Williams' record of 40. The make was the Dallas, Texas native's fifth from 40 or more yards. He's notched 14 makes from 30-39 yards, 21 from 20-29 yards and one from inside 19 yards. Wilkerson is 14 points away from breaking the career scoring record.
438.8 - The average yards per game produced by the Mulerider offense through five games this season. If the season ended today, the average would stand as the most in a season since the 2017 campaign. That average rates the Muleriders at 24th nationally in total offense which is highlighted by a ground game that ranks 12th at 240.2 ypg. SAU is averaging 6.2 yards per play.

SCHEDULE QUICK HITS
WEEK 1 >>> Southern Arkansas opened a new era under Smiley by setting a single-game program record for points scored in a season opener...Muleriders improved to 8-3 in season openers as a GAC member...SAU has won four straight season openers and is unbeaten in its last ten home openers...WEEK 2 >>> The Muleriders slipped up on the road in Weatherford. Winds gusting upwards to 35 mph and drizzling rain made it a difficult night in the southwest corner of the Sooner State in what was the first road test of the season...WEEK 3 >>> SAU went toe-to-toe with the nationally-ranked Bisons for a half. Harding used a ten-play, 75-yard scoring drive on its first possession of the third quarter and the lead would expand from there. Grad placekicker Austin Wilkerson's 36-yard field goal on SAU's final offensive drive of the first half tied him for the most FGs in program history with 40...WEEK 4 >>> The Mulerider passing attack was as solid as it had been all season. SAU tossed for 308 yards and three touchdowns, had two more drives end with interceptions inside the ten and connected with ten different receivers as redshirt sophomore Jariq Scales led with career-highs in receptions (7) and receiving yards (84). The Muleriders won on third down converting eight of its 13 opportunities, while holding the #24-ranked Reddies to just 3-for-10 on third downs. A muffed punt that extended the go-ahead drive for SAU and a stiff defensive stand on an HSU fourth down late served as the difference...WEEK 5 >>> Scales totaled 195 all-purpose yards on 26 touches, junior linebacker Jacob Berry recorded 15 total tackles and grad placekicker Austin Wilkerson became the program's all-time leader in field goals made, but East Central utilized several big plays and took advantage of a handful of Mulerider turnovers to earn its first win in Magnolia since 1996.