Week 2 Observations

[NattyStateFan]

After two weeks of GAC football, it is pretty clear who the top dogs are.
Here are my observations (take it or leave it) after week 2.
1. Harding (2-0) - Want to be the champs, must beat the champs. Sloppy win against ECU, and a convincing win against SEOK. Very much a huge turnaround on offense from week 1 to 2. Defense is still the best in the league.
2. OBU (2-0) - The closest team to beating the champs, and will have their opportunity soon. Two convincing wins, and did what they had to do to win, against teams who are a combined 0-4.
3. HSU (2-0) - Two convincing wins with TWO different starting QB’s. Will be interesting to see who starts next week against UAM in their first instate matchup.
4. UAM (2-0) - Who would have thought. They have the best dual threat QB in the league and could make a run. Next week against HSU will tell a lot about this team.
5. ATU (1-1) - Very close game against SEOK, could have equally won it as much as they lost it. Crushed ECU. I think their season is on the line this week v. OBU.
6. SEOK (1-1) - Very close game against ATU, could have equally lost it as mush as they won it. Got crushed by Harding. I think this team may have drank too much of their own kool-aide.
7. SWOSU (1-1) - Looked miserable against the Reddies, yet bounce back the next week and beat the league high scoring SAU Muleriders. Congrats to the Bulldogs and BulldogLB.
8. SAU (1-1) - Destroyed the NWOSU Rangers, gets all of us Natty State Fans excited, then drop one to the “haven’t won a game in two years” Bulldogs. Congrats to the Bulldogs, and congrats to BulldogLB.
9. OK Baptist (0-2) - Ranked 9th because they have scored the most points of the 0-2 Teams (59)
10. NWOSU (0-2) - Ranked 10th because they have scored the 2nd most points of the 0-2 Teams (58)
11. SNU (0-2) - Ranked 11th because they have scored the 3rd most points of the 0-2 Teams (26)
12. ECU (0-2) - Ranked 12th because they have scored the 4th most points of the 0-2 Teams (25)

[Baldsexy]

So I just got back to the hotel from the Harding Southeastern game. First all credit to Harding. They run a disciplined hard to stop offense like a machine. Secondly. I noticed from the stands and my son verified it after the game. They have the nastiest D-line I’ve seen in all the years my son has played at Southeastern. Now, I think it is unfair to say Southeastern is over hyped or drank their own kool aid. They did not play well tonight. No excuses just my observation. And honestly even if they did bring their absolute best it still might not have mattered. Harding is just that dang good. Hopefully this was a blip for Southeastern and they will get things straightened out next week. But I don’t see how anybody beats that Harding team I saw tonight unless it’s them shooting themselves in the foot.

[NattyStateFan]

So I just got back to the hotel from the Harding Southeastern game. First all credit to Harding. They run a disciplined hard to stop offense like a machine. Secondly. I noticed from the stands and my son verified it after the game. They have the nastiest D-line I’ve seen in all the years my son has played at Southeastern. Now, I think it is unfair to say Southeastern is over hyped or drank their own kool aid. They did not play well tonight. No excuses just my observation. And honestly even if they did bring their absolute best it still might not have mattered. Harding is just that dang good. Hopefully this was a blip for Southeastern and they will get things straightened out next week. But I don’t see how anybody beats that Harding team I saw tonight unless it’s them shooting themselves in the foot.

Well SEOK did give up 34 points in a squeak it out 2OT win against Tech, then turned around and got blown out by Harding.
The strength of SEOK this year is their returning defense, no offense to your son, but if SEOK continues to play defense this way they will return to mediocre, and anything less than 3rd, as ranked in preseason, is a let down.

[OldBison]

Good observations NattyFan. The SWOKSU win over SAU totally surprised me. I was thinking Harding’s match up with SAU next week in Searcy was going to be a trap game for my Bisons but the improvement I saw my Bisons make on offense tonight convinced we’re on the right track. You’re right. The big show down is in a few weeks against Ouachita but we can’t get ahead of ourselves and must take care of business the next few weeks.

[Baldsexy]

Well SEOK did give up 34 points in a squeak it out 2OT win against Tech, then turned around and got blown out by Harding.
The strength of SEOK this year is their returning defense, no offense to your son, but if SEOK continues to play defense this way they will return to mediocre, and anything less than 3rd, as ranked in preseason, is a let down.

Defense is definitely struggling. I can’t figure out why either. Our offense can definitely put up points but didn’t tonight. That and what my son was telling me makes me think the Harding defense is just amazing. We couldn’t get anything going other than a few times and then we would screw ourselves with a penalty. But make no mistake that defense is nasty. I don’t see many if any teams putting up very many points on that defense.

[NattyStateFan]

Good observations NattyFan. The SWOKSU win over SAU totally surprised me. I was thinking Harding’s match up with SAU next week in Searcy was going to be a trap game for my Bisons but the improvement I saw my Bisons make on offense tonight convinced we’re on the right track. You’re right. The big show down is in a few weeks against Ouachita but we can’t get ahead of ourselves and must take care of business the next few weeks.

Week 3
Harding V. SAU
OBU V. ATU (Self Proclaimed GAC Game of the Week)

Not an easy game for any of the four mentioned, but I think we will get a terrific week 4 matchup of 3-0 Harding V. 3-0 OBU. But I agree OldBison, can’t get ahead of ourselves!

[TigerGuy]

After two weeks of GAC football, it is pretty clear who the top dogs are.
Here are my observations (take it or leave it) after week 2.
1. Harding (2-0) - Want to be the champs, must beat the champs. Sloppy win against ECU, and a convincing win against SEOK. Very much a huge turnaround on offense from week 1 to 2. Defense is still the best in the league.
2. OBU (2-0) - The closest team to beating the champs, and will have their opportunity soon. Two convincing wins, and did what they had to do to win, against teams who are a combined 0-4.
3. HSU (2-0) - Two convincing wins with TWO different starting QB’s. Will be interesting to see who starts next week against UAM in their first instate matchup.
4. UAM (2-0) - Who would have thought. They have the best dual threat QB in the league and could make a run. Next week against HSU will tell a lot about this team.
5. ATU (1-1) - Very close game against SEOK, could have equally won it as much as they lost it. Crushed ECU. I think their season is on the line this week v. OBU.
6. SEOK (1-1) - Very close game against ATU, could have equally lost it as mush as they won it. Got crushed by Harding. I think this team may have drank too much of their own kool-aide.
7. SWOSU (1-1) - Looked miserable against the Reddies, yet bounce back the next week and beat the league high scoring SAU Muleriders. Congrats to the Bulldogs and BulldogLB.
8. SAU (1-1) - Destroyed the NWOSU Rangers, gets all of us Natty State Fans excited, then drop one to the “haven’t won a game in two years” Bulldogs. Congrats to the Bulldogs, and congrats to BulldogLB.
9. OK Baptist (0-2) - Ranked 9th because they have scored the most points of the 0-2 Teams (59)
10. NWOSU (0-2) - Ranked 10th because they have scored the 2nd most points of the 0-2 Teams (58)
11. SNU (0-2) - Ranked 11th because they have scored the 3rd most points of the 0-2 Teams (26)
12. ECU (0-2) - Ranked 12th because they have scored the 4th most points of the 0-2 Teams (25)

Unfortunately, you may have picked ECU correctly if this is what our offense is going to consist of. If they would have shown anything that could have slightly resembled production, I honestly think we win that game tonight.

[OldBison]

I thought the Hatley kid made some great throws in the first half tonight. I haven’t seen the QBs from Ouachita, Henderson and UAM but Daulton was the best QB we faced last year I thought. He’s got some good wide receivers. He had Oline guys playing hurt tonight and could get his running game going consequently our defense was able to make hurry some of his throws.

[Baldsexy]

I thought the Hatley kid made some great throws in the first half tonight. I haven’t seen the QBs from Ouachita, Henderson and UAM but Daulton was the best QB we faced last year I thought. He’s got some good wide receivers. He had Oline guys playing hurt tonight and could get his running game going consequently our defense was able to make hurry some of his throws.

Thank you. Yeah man I really don’t know what to say. Our line just couldn’t hold up tonight. Our bread and butter is the passing game and when the QB is constantly under duress we’re in trouble. But the Harding D-line is just nasty. I don’t see any O-line holding up against those guys. Gonna be a tough year for offenses that play Harding.

[LeftSider]

From what I heard about what was happening on the field is that the SEO defense were completely undisciplined with their mouth’s and actions. The refs were threatening to disqualify players if they kept talking the way they were. Their QB is pretty freaking good but it’s tough to win games when everyone around you thinks winning games is about talking crap and ***Threatening*** the other team I was VERY surprised about the scores around the GAC. I’m encouraged that so many teams are making huge leaps year on year and there will be better football games throughout the GAC because of it.

[Divisiontwo]

From what I heard about what was happening on the field is that the SEO defense were completely undisciplined with their mouth’s and actions. The refs were threatening to disqualify players if they kept talking the way they were. Their QB is pretty freaking good but it’s tough to win games when everyone around you thinks winning games is about talking crap and ***Threatening*** the other team I was VERY surprised about the scores around the GAC. I’m encouraged that so many teams are making huge leaps year on year and there will be better football games throughout the GAC because of it.

It was certainly a little testy on the SE sidelines at times.

[OldBison]

Harding and SE definitely don’t like each other. Other than NWMS Harding’s only loss last year was to SE in Durant. Last week’s less-than-stellar performance against ECU coupled with revenge for last year’s loss gave the Bisons all the motivation they needed to compete against a SE team that will still make some noise in GAC this year. We don’t need to get distracted by this win but keep improving so we’re ready for SAU and the offense they’ll bring to Searcy next Saturday.

[OldBison]

I’m curious about SWOSU’s win over SAU. Did SAU’s new offense sputter or is SWOSU’s defense greatly improved from last year? I didn’t get to see the game. Who saw it?

[Bisonfan from FLA]

Great observations Natty State Fan. My comments/observations are:

OBU vs SNU: Who knew that OBU was good and SNU was not? No one! SNU might pick up a victory this year but…. really? I do see the Oklahoma teams as a whole improving in time but SNU seems to want to stay at the bottom of the conference.

ECU vs Tech: Wreck ‘Em Tech! Against SEO last week they almost pulled out the win and against ECU they found a way to really expose weaknesses and to work on improving overall. Keep an eye the Wonder Boys ‘cause they might make us not wonder anymore!

HSU vs NWOSU: I think Henderson likes being out on the range to meet the Rangers!

SAU vs SWOSU: Was the trip to Weatherford that hard on SAU that bad weather made them sloppy? Are they really as explosive as we saw in the first week or did they just rise to the occasion? Is SWOSU pulling it together and will this be the start of a new look for them? Answers to those questions, and more, will be answered in Week 3 of the GAC.

OKBU vs UAM: Those Weevils were evil (not saying UAM is mean/opposite of heavenly, simply trying to rhyme) beating up on OKBU like that! Did playing at home help motivate UAM to keep on ticking and not take a lickin’? They obviously found some new players to add a spark to the program. Way to go.

Harding vs. SEO: Some expressed a little concern on the uncharacteristic play of the Bisons in the opening game of the season. My summary is “Offense jelled; Defense held!”

BaldSexy: when you stated . . .

. . . . Secondly. I noticed from the stands and my son verified it after the game. They have the nastiest D-line I’ve seen in all the years my son has played at Southeastern. . . .

. . . I thought by the use of the “nasty” you were denouncing the Bison defense. Glad to see in subsequent comments that your comment was meant to praise. I still see SEO being the Oklahoma team with the best chance to rise and make waves within the GAC. Your son has some of the best touches on his passes. He knew where to put the ball so his receiver was the only one able to but fingers on the ball. He is, and will remain, a force within the conference.

Also, how was your trip and overall weekend on the HU campus/Searcy?

You got to attend the first game at the newly renovated field and stadium. From the TV broadcast it looked impressive.I kept looking at the people sitting in the vistors stands and wondered which one was you. Kept looking for the "BALD" guy; not really going to say anything about the "sexy" part of your name!

Were there that many SEO fans in Searcy or was that overflow from the HU crowd?

[Baldsexy]

Great observations Natty State Fan. My comments/observations are:

OBU vs SNU: Who knew that OBU was good and SNU was not? No one! SNU might pick up a victory this year but…. really? I do see the Oklahoma teams as a whole improving in time but SNU seems to want to stay at the bottom of the conference.

ECU vs Tech: Wreck ‘Em Tech! Against SEO last week they almost pulled out the win and against ECU they found a way to really expose weaknesses and to work on improving overall. Keep an eye the Wonder Boys ‘cause they might make us not wonder anymore!

HSU vs NWOSU: I think Henderson likes being out on the range to meet the Rangers!

SAU vs SWOSU: Was the trip to Weatherford that hard on SAU that bad weather made them sloppy? Are they really as explosive as we saw in the first week or did they just rise to the occasion? Is SWOSU pulling it together and will this be the start of a new look for them? Answers to those questions, and more, will be answered in Week 3 of the GAC.

OKBU vs UAM: Those Weevils were evil (not saying UAM is mean/opposite of heavenly, simply trying to rhyme) beating up on OKBU like that! Did playing at home help motivate UAM to keep on ticking and not take a lickin’? They obviously found some new players to add a spark to the program. Way to go.

Harding vs. SEO: Some expressed a little concern on the uncharacteristic play of the Bisons in the opening game of the season. My summary is “Offense jelled; Defense held!”

BaldSexy: when you stated . . .


. . . I thought by the use of the “nasty” you were denouncing the Bison defense. Glad to see in subsequent comments that your comment was meant to praise. I still see SEO being the Oklahoma team with the best chance to rise and make waves within the GAC. Your son has some of the best touches on his passes. He knew where to put the ball so his receiver was the only one able to but fingers on the ball. He is, and will remain, a force within the conference.

Also, how was your trip and overall weekend on the HU campus/Searcy?

You got to attend the first game at the newly renovated field and stadium. From the TV broadcast it looked impressive.I kept looking at the people sitting in the vistors stands and wondered which one was you. Kept looking for the "BALD" guy; not really going to say anything about the "sexy" part of your name!

Were there that many SEO fans in Searcy or was that overflow from the HU crowd?

Well, I litterally just walked in the door. 11 hours in the car is a rough day. Really enjoyed my trip. Searcy is a nice little town with down home nice people. Harding has really impressive facilities and fam support. I did like the bleachers close like that but made me a little nervous that a player may go crashing into them and get injured. We did not play as well as we can. I can't say why but we just didn't. That being said I still think we would have needed a perfect performance to beat that team. They are very good. Hopefully we'll get back on track next week. Another road trip it is for me. Luckily only 4 hours this time. But I enjoyed this trip other than being worn out from the long drive.