Week 4 Thoughts

[OldBison]

Trying to help out OBU Grad generate some buzz for our GAC.

Ouachita and UAM - I didn’t watch the game. Too busy watching Harding in a struggle with a tough Henderson State. Sounds like the Tigers had their own struggles at times with UAM QB, Demilon Brown.

Harding at Henderson State - Bisons had bus trouble and this game got pushed back to a 6:30 kickoff. I thought Bisons came out a little flat or it may have been the great effort given by the Reddies defensive front seven. This is one of better defensive units I’ve seen the Reddies have in the past few years. I was proud of my Bisons for hanging in there to overcome a slow start, a kicking game mistake and consecutive uncharacteristic face mask penalties to get out of Arkadelphia with the victory.

NWOSU at SEOSU - Oh my! Is NWOSU really this bad or did SEOSU finally figure everything out? How did NWOSU get only 2 pts? Safety?

Ok Baptist at ECU - Did this game finish? Last I heard severe thunderstorms coming through Ada delayed until almost 10 pm

ATU at SAU - Ok, I’m not clear on what kind of team ATU has this year. Last week they give a good HSU team all they can for two quarters. Last night they get 49 points hung on them by SAU. Are the Muleriders the most improved team in the GAC?

SWOSU at SNU - Gage Porter has got the Crimson Storm rolling.

Comments? Thoughts on last Saturday?

Looking forward to Luke’s GAC article this week and why he thought the Bisons were going to loose to the Reddies. Big showdown coming in few weeks between the Bisons and the Arkansas Tigers.

[MilSF]

Yeh, the UAM QB was quite the scramble threat. Didn’t look like too bad a passer, but more than a few dropped balls were an issue for UAM. I grumbled in another thread about stuff like the UAM play-by-play guy confusing our star FB for a freshman long snapper for an entire half. Ug.

[TigerGuy]

ECU vs OKBU finished late.

Game went like about how most of our games have gone and will go. Defense plays lights out for as long as they can, offense does nothing. We have no QB or offensive line. Gonna have to grind out some wins.

[LukeMcConnell1]

Looking forward to Luke’s GAC article this week and why he thought the Bisons were going to loose to the Reddies. Big showdown coming in few weeks between the Bisons and the Arkansas Tigers.

If you go back to my preview article, you’ll see I thought it was pretty even and went with the home team in a close one. Props to Harding on the great road win. The defense continues to impress.

[ReddieMade]

Harding is very good so kudos to them. Run defense made life hard for the Reddies on the ground. HSU defense played pretty well but just got gradually worn down in the second half. Bisons are now 60 good minutes against OBU away from having the GAC title locked up in early October.

It’s all still there for HSU. SAU game looms large, as do sneaky tough matchups with OKBU and SNU, but the Reddies would probably be the betting favorite in every game the rest of the way until BOTR. If they can run the table and get to that final week 9-1, it’ll be another win and in scenario for them.

[Flying Tiger]

It's hard to complain about a win, especially in a trap game, but Ouachita lacked rhythm on both sides of the ball for a good portion of the game. In truth, we played the way we usually do when we make the trip to UAM. Brown, their quarterback , was amazing and UAM will win some games as the season rolls on.

Shout out to Henderson, if the Reddies could have converted on a 4th and goal from the 1 in the first half, it would have dramatically changed that game. HU and HSU is the game of the year so far in the GAC and I enjoyed watching it. I peg Harding as the favorite to win GAC right now.

Except for OKBU and ECU, the rest of the games were mind boggling. The lopsided margins in contests that should have been much closer makes picking future games all but impossible. I was shocked that Tech, who seemed to turn things around against HSU, were completely dominated by SAU. I figured the Muleriders would win, but wow. And then there was SEOSU and NWOSU, I again expected the outcome but not the margin. SNU domination stunned me as well. Needless to say. I can't figure out the teams from Oklahoma right now. I need someone in the Sooner state to give me some guidance.

Looking ahead, the SNU-UAM should be fun on November 4th. Those two quarterbacks going against each other should be so entertaining.

[LukeMcConnell1]

I’ll have more thoughts up tomorrow, but some quick hitters here:

-Surprised UAM kept it that close. Demilon Brown is a baller.
-Harding’s defense, man. They’re so good.
-OBU bounce back season continues to be impressive, but still unsure of them overall.
-Feel bad for SWOSU’s front seven. They have some dudes up there and literally zero offense to help them out.
-SEOSU probably the most schizophrenic team in the league. Holy cow.
-Tech, ummm, what’s going on? I think we all knew a whole staff makeover wasn’t a good sign, but wow. Rock bottom in Magnolia.
-SNU-SAU should be all kinds of fun next week.
-Oklahoma side: SNU, gap, OBU, gap, SEOSU, ECU, massive gap, NWOSU, SWOSU

[Riders]

We were at the game in Magnolia, and I was really surprised at how SAU was able to dominate that game. Especially given how well Tech played against Henderson. Really expected a dogfight. I think SAU only attempted 15 passes all night, but really didn't have to put the ball in the air considering they gashed the Tech defense for almost 400 yds rushing.

I've been pleasantly surprised at the SAU defensive turnaround this year. The run defense in particular. I knew the offense was going to put up numbers but wasn't really sure about how we would hold up defensively. In 4 games SAU has held 3 of their opponents to under 100 yds rushing and 2 of those to under 50. The only team to run for over 100 on SAU was Ouachita and for half the game their run game was kept in check too. Pass defense has been suspect at times. Still having blown coverages leaving receivers running wide open down the field. Not sure why 4 games into the season that this is still a problem.

I'm not naive to the fact that some of our defensive success can be attributed to playing some teams that have struggled offensively. But given our struggles last year on that side of the ball, I'm happy with what I've seen up to this point. I'm really excited to see how well our defensive can do against Gage Porter and the SNU ground game this week. I mean, you know what's coming. It's just a matter of if we can stop it or not.

[LukeMcConnell1]

Recaps up! https://www.d2football.com/gac-week-four-recap/

[Mulerider]

Really glad to see SAU with a big win over a team like Ark Tech. Still needing to beat schools like OBU and Harding (As well as Henderson regularly), but will take what we are currently getting.

[OldBison]

Recaps up! https://www.d2football.com/gac-week-four-recap/

Another good article, Luke. At 21-3 you’re doing a lot better than I am on predictions.

[OldBison]

Hummm … read this quote from Flying Tiger:

Shout out to Henderson, if the Reddies could have converted on a 4th and goal from the 1 in the first half, it would have dramatically changed that game. HU and HSU is the game of the year so far in the GAC and I enjoyed watching it. I peg Harding as the favorite to win GAC right now.

Not sure if Coach Knight and rest of OBU staff and team are ready to concede the GAC championship to the Bisons. I see the teams evenly matched. Going to be a great battle in Searcy on Oct. 14, but between now and then the Bisons have focus on taking care of business against SWOSU and NWOSU.

[Divisiontwo]

Hummm … read this quote from Flying Tiger:

Shout out to Henderson, if the Reddies could have converted on a 4th and goal from the 1 in the first half, it would have dramatically changed that game. HU and HSU is the game of the year so far in the GAC and I enjoyed watching it. I peg Harding as the favorite to win GAC right now.

Not sure if Coach Knight and rest of OBU staff and team are ready to concede the GAC championship to the Bisons. I see the teams evenly matched. Going to be a great battle in Searcy on Oct. 14, but between now and then the Bisons have focus on taking care of business against SWOSU and NWOSU.

I feel pretty good saying HU is better on defense overall. However, won't matter much when they play each other. How well OBU defends to the option mitigates the advantage that HU has with their defensive unit. It's shaping up to be an incredible match up in searcy in a few weeks. Night games later in the season are always fun. I'll take the Bisons though.

[Bisonfan from FLA]

Hummm … read this quote from Flying Tiger:

Shout out to Henderson, if the Reddies could have converted on a 4th and goal from the 1 in the first half, it would have dramatically changed that game. HU and HSU is the game of the year so far in the GAC and I enjoyed watching it. I peg Harding as the favorite to win GAC right now.

Not sure if Coach Knight and rest of OBU staff and team are ready to concede the GAC championship to the Bisons. I see the teams evenly matched. Going to be a great battle in Searcy on Oct. 14, but between now and then the Bisons have focus on taking care of business against SWOSU and NWOSU.

I see the SWOSU and NWOSU games against Harding as trap games, not meaning a loss but being games where Harding will dominate. As such there will be lots of opportunities to play 2nd and 3rd string players who will get some great game experience. So how is that a trap game if the score is huge, the game is in hand by the start of the 2nd half and backups get playing time?

Playing Ouachita after those two games, could the Bisons feel a bit over confident in their skills and abilities in preparing and in playing against OBU? What do you think?

[Flying Tiger]

Hummm … read this quote from Flying Tiger:

Shout out to Henderson, if the Reddies could have converted on a 4th and goal from the 1 in the first half, it would have dramatically changed that game. HU and HSU is the game of the year so far in the GAC and I enjoyed watching it. I peg Harding as the favorite to win GAC right now.

Not sure if Coach Knight and rest of OBU staff and team are ready to concede the GAC championship to the Bisons. I see the teams evenly matched. Going to be a great battle in Searcy on Oct. 14, but between now and then the Bisons have focus on taking care of business against SWOSU and NWOSU.

Agreed on them being even, but I give HU the advantage because of the Tigers playing in Harding.