MAGNOLIA, Ark. - Week 4 of the 2022 NCAA DII football season sends another stiff test to Southern Arkansas as first-year head coach Brad Smiley's Muleriders (1-2, 1-2 GAC) welcome in unbeaten #24 Henderson State (3-0, 3-0 GAC) on Family Day. Kickoff in the Great American Conference affair from Wilkins Stadium at Rip Powell Field is set for 6 p.m. Live coverage links are available at www.MuleriderAthletics.com. 

WEEK 4 MATCHUP
>>> SAU enters the fourth week of the season looking to move back to .500 after falling on the road in consecutive weekends. 
>>> It is Family Day weekend on the campus of SAU. Since 2011, the program's first year in the GAC, SAU is 6-4 in such games.
>>> Southern Arkansas owns a 35-11 record inside Wilkins Stadium at Rip Powell Field since 2011. From 2015 to 2019, the Muleriders won 17 consecutive home games which stood as an NCAA DII best at the time. 
>>> Against Arkansas foes, the Muleriders are 12-7 at home since 2011. From 2014 to 2019, SAU posted a 7-2 mark against Natural State opposition. 
>>> The Muleriders welcome Henderson State to Magnolia for the first time since the 2012 season. SAU has met HSU five times in Arkadelphia and twice in El Dorado. 
>>> Southern Arkansas will look for its first win against Henderson State at home and its first non-neutral site over the Reddies since the 2005 season. 
>>> In the nine previous meetings between the two foes since both became charter members of the GAC in 2011, HSU has held a top 25 ranking nationally in seven of those matchups.

OF NOTE: SOUTHERN ARKANSAS
>>> Chain Moving: Southern Arkansas ranks tenth nationally in first downs with 72 over three games; one back of Southeastern Oklahoma State for the league lead in the category. A big factor in that effort is a 46.3% conversion rate on third down which ranks 23rd in DII.
>>> Ground Game: The Muleriders carry a top 10 rushing offense into the Family Day affair. SAU is averaging 271.0 rushing yards per game which ranks seventh nationally and third in the GAC.
>>> Fire Power: SAU's 446.7 total yards per game is the 20th highest offensive output in the country, while its 33 ppg ranks just outside the national top 30 at 31st in DII. 
>>> Junior quarterback OB Jones' 263 yards rushing leads the Muleriders. He has carried it 30 times, including a 72-yard scoring rush last weekend; the longest touchdown run by a Mulerider since 2016. 
>>> Jones has thrown for 420 yards and four touchdowns on 29-of-55 passing. Redshirt freshman Judd Barton has completed ten passes for 107 yards and a touchdown in split time. 
>>> Redshirt sophomore running back Jariq Scales has scored four times on the ground this season behind a team-high 49 attempts. 
>>> Eleven Muleriders have recorded 10+ stops led by junior Jacob Berry's 24. Redshirt junior Del Kristoffer Wade has recorded 18 tackles. Grad Prince Udenze leads with three tackles for loss.

OF NOTE: HENDERSON STATE
>>> The Reddies will bring a balanced offense to Magnolia. HSU is averaging 237.3 yards through the air and 226.7 yards on the ground which is currently inside the nation's top 20 and together it places HSU 13th nationally in total offense at just under 465 yards per game. Henderson State is averaging just under 40 ppg.
>>> The Reddies 20.34 yards per completion ranks fourth nationally as does its team passing efficiency of 198.66. 
>>> Henderson State has been highly productive in the redzone. The Reddies' RZ offense ranks first along with 21 other teams, while its defensive effort inside the 20 is seventh nationally at 50%.
>>> Xavier Malone has been explosive for the Reddies on offense. He ranks in the top 10 in DII in receiving TDs (4), receiving yards (364), receiving yards per game (121.3) and yards per reception (28.0).
>>> Seven Reddies have recorded 10+ tackles led by Jakob Neel's 14.0. Gary Lewis has recorded 6.0 TFL including three sacks.
>>> HSU is allowing 22.3 ppg and is even in turnover margin: +4/-4

MEMORABLE MOMENTS
>>> In the most recent matchup in Magnolia, which came in 2012, the two sides totaled nearly 1,100 yards of offense as the contest saw a combined 102 pass attempts and 929 yards through the air with six passing touchdowns. Additionally, the matchup witnessed four missed PAT, one of which was returned 98 yards for two, a missed field goal, an interception return touchdown and a fumble return touchdown. 
>>> In the 2017 edition of the series, Southern Arkansas led by nine at 30-21 following a pick-six by Darren Crawford with 13 minutes to play. The Reddies would score the next 15 points as part of a 22-point fourth quarter to top the Muleriders in front of an ESPN3 audience.
>>> Two years prior, SAU led by five late and opted to go for it on fourth down and two from the HSU7. The Muleriders' Michael Nunnery managed just one yard and with 1:40 remaining and the Muleriders leading 28-23, Henderson State embarked on a 15-play, 94-yard drive that ended with the Reddies' Dallas Hardison diving into the left pylon with no time remaining. 
>>> Southern Arkansas' successes against the Reddies this decade have come in the county over. The Muleriders have won both of its matchups with Henderson State from inside El Dorado's Memorial Stadium as part of SAU's longtime involvement in the Murphy USA Classic. In the 2016 win, SAU tallied over 500 yards of total offense as it knocked off the #15-ranked Reddies for the first time since 2005.
>>> The lone matchup in the series, which dates back to 1914, that did not have a victor was the 0-0 tie between the two sides on October 21, 1950 in Magnolia. Fifty years after the lowest scoring game in the series, the two programs collided in Arkadelphia on November 11, 2000 and Southern Arkansas blitzed HSU 86-27 in the series' highest scoring affair which witnessed the Muleriders accumulate 702 yards of total offense of which 637 was amassed on the ground. 

SAU BY THE NUMBERS
3618 - The number of days that have passed since the Reddies' most recent trip to Magnolia in 2012. TikTok dances did not exist, the Harlem Shake had yet to go viral, and the Great American Conference was less than two years old the last time these two teams tangled in Columbia County. The number of days since the Muleriders' last win over HSU in Magnolia? Over 6,150 days. Youtube, Netflix and the iPhone did not exist. 
41 - Grad placekicker Austin Wilkerson's next field goal will be a historic one as he enters the fourth week of the season tied with SAU Sports Hall of Famer Jason Williams for the most made field goals in an SAU career with 40. Wilkerson is also chasing the program's all-time scoring record of 266 set by his predecessor Brad Grems from 2014-17. Wilkerson currently has 246 points scored which is good for third all-time. 
33 - The Muleriders rank sixth in the Great American Conference in both scoring offense and scoring defense. Offensively, SAU is averaging 33.0 ppg, while allowing just under 31 ppg on the defensive side of the football. Since the start of the 2019 season, the Muleriders are averaging 33 ppg at home, while opponents are also scoring at clip of 33 ppg in Magnolia over that same time span. 
14 - The number of touchdowns scored by redshirt sophomore Jariq Scales since his first career start in last season's opener. He is averaging a touchdown per game. With 300 career touches, which includes 286 rushing attempts, Scales has totaled 1,810 yards at six yards per touch. Within that total is 14 receptions for 92 yards and a touchdown. 

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.