MAGNOLIA, Ark. - You don't need the latest print edition of Rand McNally to find your way to Southern Arkansas' Week 8 location. Just head east with the rest of the Blue & Gold caravan. For the 12th time in the 14-year history of the Murphy USA Classic and for the ninth-consecutive season, the Muleriders make the familiar 37-mile jaunt along HWY 82 East and cross county lines into the Union County seat of El Dorado where Memorial Stadium is set to host its most anticipated college football game yet. (RV) Southern Arkansas and #6/7 Harding meet for the 59th time and in arguably the biggest matchup to date with huge postseason implications on the line. Kickoff is set for 2 p.m. Live coverage links are available at www.MuleriderAthletics.com. 

LAST WEEK
(RV) Southern Arkansas trailed by two possessions twice in Saturday's Great American Conference road clash against #18 Henderson State, but on the back of several timely big plays offensively and a defensive unit that allowed just two second-half field goals, the Muleriders wrangled the Reddies 35-34 in front of the latter's homecoming from Carpenter-Haygood Stadium at GeoSurfaces Field. SAU improved to 6-1 on the season and earned its first win over HSU in Arkadelphia since 2004. The sixth and final play of what would be a 68-yard scoring drive executed in under two minutes by the Muleriders is what most in attendance will remember about the affair. Rightfully so. On 2nd and 7 from the HSU31, senior quarterback OB Jones bounced away from pressure, moved to his right and fired a pass on the run into the endzone for junior wide receiver Kamden Perry. The contested toss was knocked into the air and Perry lunged over his defender and toward the sideline to haul in the game-tying score which was confirmed by replay. The fifth of redshirt freshman Hayden Nitz's extra points gave the Muleriders a one-point lead with 4:18 to play. In the second half, the Mulerider defense delivered another outstanding effort over a game's final two quarters. SAU limited HSU to five second-half drives that resulted in two field goals, two punts and a turnover-on-downs that ended the Reddies' chance. Following King's first successful FG which put HSU up 31-21, SAU responded immediately as the second play of the following drive saw Jones carry to his right, find the corner, and speed to paydirt from 80-yards out to quickly bring the deficit back to just three at 31-28. The rushing score was the third-longest by a Mulerider since 2000 and the longest by an SAU quarterback this century. HSU ran 35 plays in the second half and totaled 191 yards. Both drives that saw three points hit the board included big third-down stops from the Mulerider defense with Roe recording a tackle-for-loss on the first drive, while redshirt freshman Taurean Crawford and junior Elvin Calhoun combined for a sack to force the second attempt. That takedown of the quarterback followed a second down sack of Edwards by junior Dawson Scott and sophomore Hunter Hewitt as the Muleriders pressured the HSU passing attack throughout the second half.

BIG BUSINESS IN THE BOOMTOWN
>>> For the 14th time since 2009, college football takes center stage in El Dorado's Memorial Stadium as the Murphy USA Classic features its biggest matchup ever between teams that enter a combined 13-1 on the season.
>>> Southern Arkansas is set to appear in the event for the 12th time and for the ninth-consecutive season. The Muleriders enter 4-7 all-time in the MUSAC, while Harding makes just its second appearance in the Classic after beating the Muleriders 23-20 on a last-second field goal in the 2012 game.
>>> It marks the second-straight year that a team inside the AFCA and D2Football.com Top 10 will play in El Dorado. Last fall, Ouachita entered at #4/3.
>>> The Muleriders and the Bisons meet for the 59th time on the gridiron with Harding holding a slim 30-27-1 lead in the series. HU has won the last three games following SAU's victories in 2017 and 2018 which was the first two-game win streak for the Muleriders since winning back-to-back contests in 1985 and 1986. Those two victories were part of 6-0-1 run for SAU in the series.
>>> History suggests that fans that show up on Saturday will be treated to a shootout as ten of the previous 13 MUSAC games have combined for 51 or more points with four of those totaling over 70 points.
>>> Saturday's highly-anticipated matchup features the nation's top two rushing attacks as Harding's vaunted triple option averages 387.6 yards per game, while Southern Arkansas ranks second at 281.7 yards per game behind a pair of players averaging over 85 yard per game. 

NOTABLES: (RV) SOUTHERN ARKANSAS
> The Muleriders enter averaging 463.1 yards per game which ranks 12th nationally and is tops in the Great American Conference. It's 35.9 ppg ranks third in the GAC and 28th in DII.
> That output comes behind its aforementioned rushing attack and a passing offense that averages just over 181 yards per game behind a top 40 completion rate nationally at 60.9%. 
> Senior quarterback OB Jones is in the midst of a phenomenal dual threat campaign. The Tatum, Texas native ranks third nationally in rushing touchdowns (12), sixth nationally in both scoring (10.3) and total points (72) and 12th nationally in rushing yards (718). His 6.3 yards per carry ranks 17th in DII.
> Junior running back Jariq Scales follows with 601 yards at 5.6 yards per carry and seven touchdowns. SAU has benefited greatly from its depth in the running back room as junior Kadyn Roach (278), freshman Arkez Gomez (188) and junior Cordrick Dunn (132) have contributed with each over 4.3 yards per carry. 
> Jones has completed 110 passes for 1,189 yards and nine touchdowns behind a completion rate of 61.2%. Fifteen players have caught a pass this season led by junior Cole Williams' 20 catches. Junior Matthew Whitten and grad DJ Wagoner have each hauled in 16 receptions and a pair of touchdown passes. Whitten leads with 242 yards with Wagoner (194) and Williams (187) following. 
> Defensively, the Muleriders are led by four defenders with 31.0+ tackles highlighted by senior Jacob Berry's 40.0. His 8.0 tackles per game ranks inside the league's top ten. 
> SAU has recorded 48.0 TFLs (202) and 18.0 sacks (123).
> Redshirt sophomore Zay Woods (39.0), junior Gavin Roe (36.0) and junior Dawson Scott (31.0) follow in tackles. 
> Scott paces the front seven in tackles for loss (8.5-48), sacks (5.0-38) and quarterback hurries (4). Sophomore Hunter Hewitt and junior Elvin Calhoun both follow with 2.5 sacks and Hewitt trails Scott in TFLs at 7.0.
> Junior Melvin Smith Jr. ranks third nationally in pass breakups (12) and fifth nationally in passes defended (13). Woods follows with six passes defended behind a team-leading two interceptions.

SAU BY THE NUMBERS
117.3- Through seven weeks in the 2022 season, the Mulerider defense allowed an average of 449.3 yards per game which ranked eighth in the GAC and 143rd nationally. A year later, the Muleriders are holding offenses to a 332.0 yards per game which rates as the third-lowest allowance in the conference which is also a top-65 mark nationally. Additionally, the Muleriders are allowing seven fewer points per game entering Week 8 2023 than during the same period last fall. 
96- The difference in the number of first downs recorded by the Southern Arkansas offense and the number of first downs surrendered by the Harding defense. SAU has totaled 171 first downs through seven weeks of play at an average of 24.4 per week. Defensively, Harding has surrendered 75 first downs entering Week 8 and is allowing just 10.7 per game. SAU's first down offense ranks sixth nationally, while Harding's first down defense ranks second. Both marks lead the Great American Conference. 
1- The number of Muleriders that have completed a pass, caught a pass, recorded a rush and returned a kick in a single game in program history. Junior running back Jariq Scales did a little bit of everything in Week 7 as he recorded a 53-yard completion on the game's first play, rushed for 70 yards and two touchdowns, caught two passes for 37 yards and returned a kickoff 16 yards. His 3,561 all-purpose yards are currently the seventh most in a Mulerider career, while his total offense of 3,172 yards is currently inside the program's top 15 all-time.

NOTABLES: #6/7 HARDING
> The Bisons enter as one of 15 remaining unbeatens in DII and are currently in outright first place in the GA standings.
> Harding's triple option attack leads the country in rushing (387.6) and scoring (50.7), ranks second in fourth-down conversion rate (83.3%), ranks sixth in third-down conversion rate (53.1%) and ranks 18th in both total offense (441.7) and first downs offense (158). Additionally, when Harding puts it in the air (3.7 attempts per game), the offense leads the nation in yards per completion (29.15).
> Ten players have recorded at least 100 rushing yards led by Blake Delacruz's 490 on 87 attempts. He ranks second in DII in rushing scores with 13 and third in both scoring (11.1) and total touchdowns (13).  Braden Jay (412 yards) averages 12.9 yards per carry and Andrew Miller (300 yards) averages 10.0 yards per carry.
> Harding boasts a complementary defensive unit. The Bisons' scoring defense of 10.7 ppg rates third in DII as does its total defense (206.3) and its third-down conversion defense is fifth in DII at 22.2%. HU leads the country in defensive touchdowns (6) and ranks second in first down defense (75; 10.7). As a collective unit, Harding ranks tenth nationally in rushing defense allowing the opposition just 70.1 yards per game on the ground. HU has recorded 53 TFLs (152), 17.0 sacks (89) and nearly two dozen quarterback hurries.
> Clark Griffin paces the unit with 44.0 tackles. Dre Hall (6.5-31) and Zach Strickland (6.0-15) lead in TFL. Hall leads with 5.5 sacks (29) with Nathaniel Wallace's four QBH tops for the unit.
> The Bisons have intercepted 13 passes this fall which ranks third nationally. HU rates fifth in the country in pass efficiency defense (86.8). Kekoa Carroll, Travis Greenawalt and Darion Dunlap-Johnson all have a pair of interceptions on the season with seven other players accounting for one. Ty Dugger and Jeremiah Jordan, each with an INT, both lead with four pass breakups. 
> Ryan Fox, in just ten punts this season, is averaging 45.0 yards per. Grant Ennis (4-5) and Magnus Lepak (1-2) handle the field goal duties with the former a perfect 29-of-29 in PAT.
>>> The Bisons hold the football for nearly 33 minutes per game which ranks 12th in DII. Its turnover margin ranks tenth and its 20 turnovers forced this fall rank second nationally. 

MOST RECENT MATCHUP (9-17-22)
Southern Arkansas trailed #7 Harding by just a touchdown at the break of Saturday night's Great American Conference matchup from First Security Stadium, but the host used a ten-play, 75-yard scoring drive on its first possession of the third quarter and the lead would expand from there as the Bisons claimed the Week 3 contest 37-17 to remain unbeaten. The Muleriders fall to 1-2 on the season. SAU went toe-to-toe with its nationally-ranked, in-state foe for the first two quarters of play. After going three-and-out on its opening drive and then seeing the Bisons eat over nine minutes of game clock on a 16-play, 78-yard drive that resulted in the game's first touchdown, it took Southern Arkansas just 90 seconds to respond as junior quarterback OB Jones scampered 72 yards up the middle to tie the contest at 7. Harding's vaunted rushing attack tallied over 445 yards of offense and the Bisons used its second drive of the opening quarter to retake the lead at 14-7 early on in the second quarter of action. The Muleriders' ensuing drive churned out 40 yards, but on the 11th play SAU was turned away on a 4th and goal play from the Harding two-yard line as Harding's advantage remained in tack at 14-7 with ten minutes remaining before the intermission. Southern Arkansas ran 49 plays for 313 yards at 6.4 yards per play. It was balanced for SAU in the loss with 149 yards coming on the ground in 23 attempts, while the Muleriders completed 17 of its 26 passes across attempts from both Jones and Barton for 164 yards. The Muleriders took advantage of the time it did have the football (18:57) as it scored three times, saw two drives turned away inside the Harding 30, including one inside the HU3 and punted just twice. Jones went 10-of-15 passing for 91 yards and added 83 yards on eight carries, including the 72 yard rushing touchdown which is the longest rush from scrimmage by a Mulerider since an 80-yard run by Michael Nunnery vs. Oklahoma Baptist on October 8, 2016. Barton added seven completions for 73 yards including the scoring toss to Perry in addition to adding 40 yards on the ground.

SERIES' MEMORABLE MOMENTS
SUNDAY AFTERNOON UPSET In a contest that was originally scheduled to be a part of the NCAA's DII Football Showcase with the game being streamed on ESPN3, the two programs had the collegiate football stage all to themselves on the Week 2 Sabbath in 2018 after multiple lightning delays and continual periods of heavy rain postponed the Saturday night kickoff for 20 hours. In the end, it was the SAU defense that delivered a late knockout punch as the Muleriders overcame a slow start to upset #7 Bisons 28-23. It was SAU's first win in Searcy since 2003 and it marked the highest-ranked opponent defeated in the program's DII Era LONG TIME COMING The year prior, Southern Arkansas earned its first home victory over (RV) Harding since 1991. SAU opened scoring as Davondrick Lison housed a blocked punt and then used three Barrett Renner-to-Tanner Hudson touchdown passes to win 35-24 WALK-OFF WINNER IN UNION COUNTY While it may just be the second meeting between the two programs in El Dorado, true Mulerider fans won't forget the first. The 2012 game, the fourth installment of the MUSAC, came down to the wire between the pair of 4-0 teams and saw Harding use a 44-yard field goal from the leg of John Gay as time expired to escape with a 23-20 win. SAU rolled up 324 yards of offense against the NCAA Division II's number one ranked defense (172.2 yards per game) in the Bisons, and limited their first-ranked rushing offense (368.0) to just 127 yards, but missed two crucial field goals in the second quarter while Harding was perfect on its two attempts HOMECOMING SPOILER IN '72 SAU's AIC-winning season was nearly perfect when it came to Natural State opposition. However, its long conference blemish came to the Bisons who spoiled Homecoming in a low-scoring affair. SAU fumbled inside the two-yard with a chance to tie the game in the final two minutes.