There has been a lot of talk across the conference about how this is the year of parity. Indeed, I would agree there is more parity and it has been proven by the fact that there are 5 teams with 4-1 records. I certainly understand the enthusiasm for having a conference that is wide open. However, reality as always has a way of striking back. First, for the GAC to ensure it gets 2 teams into the playoffs they need an undefeated and 1-loss team at the end of the season. With Arkansas Tech and Harding losing this past week, and if things continue to play out the way they are in the wider region, the GAC is likely to only get one team into the playoffs. Second, after watching 5 weeks of games, the parity we have seen in the league is not so much due to teams moving up as it appears to be due to the top teams being down. All you have to do is look at all five teams and you can see some sort of weakness that can be exploited and will be exploited come playoff time, if they not corrected.

Oklahoma Baptist at Southern Arkansas---2:30pm


Southern Nazarene at Arkansas-Monticello---3pm
Southern Nazarene got over 400 yards of total offense and was in the game until about midway in the 4thSoutheastern Oklahoma at Northwestern Oklahoma---3pm
Southeastern Oklahoma was in a defensive struggle with Southwestern Oklahoma, at least it looked that way on paper. The fact is Southeastern was able to rack up over 300 yards of offense and drive into the red zone 5 times. However, the Savage Storm only scored two field goals.

Northwestern Oklahoma outplayed East Central gaining 493 total yards of offense. However, the Rangers hurt themselves by throwing 7 interceptions and going 5 of 8 in the red zone.

Southeastern has shown defensive improvements this year, but the offense has not been as consistent at finishing drives with scores. Northwestern seems to have a pattern of playing well in odd weeks and not so well in even weeks, this is an even week.



East Central at Southwestern Oklahoma---5pm


Games to Watch
Ouachita Baptist at Arkansas Tech---3pm
Ouachita Baptist Offense Arkansas Tech Defenserd Down Conversion Offense: 51.6% 3rd Down Conversion Defense: 30.6%
Sacks Against: 6 Sacks By: 7
Arkansas Tech Offense Ouachita Baptist Defenserd Down Conversion Offense: 51.2 % 3rd Down Conversion Defense: 45.8%
Sacks Against: 7 Sacks By: 10
Ouachita Baptist Turnover Margin Arkansas Tech Turnover Margin
- 2 + 4
Background
These two teams restarted their series under GAC play in 2012. Ouachita leads the series 3-0, however, the Tigers have struggled every year against the Wonder Boys . The average margin of victory has been 7, the greatest was 10, the smallest 5.

Thoughts
Keys to the Game:



Henderson State at Harding---6pm
Henderson State Offense Harding Defenserd Down Conversion Offense: 34.2% 3rd Down Conversion Defense: 42.5%
Sacks Against: 8 Sacks By: 11
Harding Offense Henderson State Defenserd Down Conversion Offense: 48.1% 3rd Down Conversion Defense: 41.9%
Sacks Against: 2 Sacks By: 9
Henderson State Turnover Margin Harding Turnover Margin
+ 5 + 4
Background
Thoughts
Keys to the Game:
  1. Passing game
  2. Time of Possession
  3. Minimizing mistakes and miscues


Both teams have struggled to pass the ball in recent weeks. I think both defenses will be gunning to stop the run, so the ability to execute the passing game off of the run will be key to keeping drives alive and maintaining time of possession. The key to stopping the pass for Henderson will be the secondary continuing to step up, for Harding it will be continuing to bring consistent pressure on the quarterback. Other big issues in recent games between these two has been ball security, penalties and miscues that have killed promising drives or kept alive the drive of the other team. Recently, Henderson has looked good turning teams over, while Harding has continued to have problems with either turnovers or getting penalized for big yards.

Henderson is playing with a lot of momentum, particularly on defense and in the run game. The Reddies are playing much better than then did the first three weeks and look like a team that has turned the corner. Harding is on a roller coaster and has to decide which team they are moving forward: the one that played against Oklahoma Baptist and Ouachita in weeks 1 and 5 or the team that was constantly improving weeks 2 through 4. While it is tempting to pick a Harding team playing at home with its back against the wall, Henderson has far more positive momentum, and the Bisons have struggled to defeat the Reddies when they play in Searcy.




Last week: 4-2
Season: 22-8

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