September 30th, 2024 7:00am
Week four in the Great American Conference saw three blowouts in the Natural State and three close games in the Sooner State. It’s been an interesting season so far, one where we’ve seen a sharp divide between the Oklahoma schools and Arkansas schools. We’ll see if improvements happen as the season goes along, but for now, let’s focus on week four.
No. 1 Harding 66, No. 17 Henderson State 0
HU- Um, what? Look, maybe Henderson State isn’t as good as we thought, but one thing is for darn sure: Harding is much better than anyone thought. Sure, no one thought they’d take a massive step back based on what they had coming back this year, but no one thought they’d be this good. 66 to zilch. Against a top-20 team in the country. While rushing for 546 yards and nine touchdowns. Holy cow.
HSU- Some soul-searching will be needed after this one. The Reddies pushed the Bisons last year and had won four of five in Searcy coming into Saturday. And they got beaten by 66. They crossed their own 35-yard line twice. Here’s the deal, though: the Reddies are really talented and a good team. Everyone in the league is (probably, IMO) going to have a humbling experience against the Bisons, so the key is not letting one loss become two or slipping into a funk because of the humbling experience. Reddies have to get back on the horse.
Southern Arkansas 38, Arkansas Tech 7
SAU- Nice bounce back win for the Muleriders after a tough loss against Ouachita last week. This one was a great showing from the defense, especially Dawson Scott, who had all three of SAU’s sacks. Good job from the quarterbacks as well, who did not turn the ball over. The run game struggled a bit, but Tech has been solid all year in run defense. Overall, really good win that washes away some of the sting from the loss against the Tigers. SAU stays right in the thick of the conference title race.
Tech- Eesh. Not a great performance from the Wonder Boys, especially on offense. Hunter Loyd got the start at quarterback and was alright, but didn’t have the same efficiency we’d seen even from Ethan Everson the last few weeks. Tech once again struggled to run the ball, averaging just 2.5 yards per carry. That’s gotta improve if Tech wants to snap this two-game losing streak they’re currently on.
Southwestern OSU 24, Southern Nazarene 17
SWOSU- It wasn’t pretty, but the Bulldogs are 2-2 and doing a lot of good things a third of the way through the season. Kai Kunz had three more rushing touchdowns, including the go-ahead 37-yard run with about seven minutes remaining in the game. The Bulldogs did a nice job running the ball overall, piling up 233 yards on five yards per carry. You can really see how Andrew Rice is wanting to build this team and it looks very similar to what we’ve seen out of SAU the last couple of years. So far, the results have been really positive.
SNU- Man, great start to this one and a lot of good things here. But turnovers killed the Crimson Storm on Saturday. Four of them to be exact, with three of them taking place inside the SWOSU 35-yard line. You’re just not going to win games when you give away that many opportunities. It appears the quarterback position isn’t settled as well. Rasheed Noel got the start, but didn’t come back in after appearing to get injured early in the second quarter. Bryson Evans played well, but just when SNU seemed to have found something at QB, things go sideways.
Southeastern OSU 27, Northwestern OSU 21
SEOSU- Another solid defensive performance from the Savage Storm, who shut out the Rangers in the first half while allowing just 31 total yards. Things got a little dicey in the second half, but SE did enough to hold off the NW rally and get the road win. The defense also got a pick-six to start the game and piled up four sacks. Offense was another story. The Savage Storm turned the ball over three times and managed just two yards per carry on 34 attempts. Not a pretty performance, but they’ll take the win.
NWOSU- The Rangers also were pretty ineffective offensively, averaging just 3.8 yards per play on 62 snaps. The second half rally was good, and NW even had the ball with about three minutes left to go win the game, but were unable to get past midfield on their drive. The Rangers held SEOSU to 266 total yards, another decent performance from the defense. Now, to just find something offensively.
Oklahoma Baptist 20, East Central 10
OBU- Really nice defensive performance by the Bison, especially the rush defense, which hasn’t been good so far this year. ECU managed just 27 yards on 23 carries on Saturday. Meanwhile OBU rushing for 149 yards on 45 carries. Not the prettiest display, but productive enough for the Bison to control the clock for nearly 40 minutes. A big thing to note is Aidan Thompson got the start and played well, throwing for 187 yards and two scores.
ECU- The Tigers’ offense is just going through a lot of growing pains with a new quarterback Sergio Kennedy, who threw two more interceptions on Saturday, giving him 12 for the year. Not going to win many football games averaging three picks per game. ECU’s inability to run the ball is also clearly hampering Kennedy’s effectiveness, putting more pressure on the young player to perform. The defense forced a pair of fumbles, which kept things closer than they could’ve been. Overall, back-to-back tough showings for the Tigers.
No. 16 Ouachita Baptist 49, Arkansas-Monticello 14
OUA- Solid, efficient, complete win for the Tigers against the Weevils. Ouachita held the ball for 34 minutes and converted 11-of-14 third down opportunities. Eli Livingston was really efficient, going 13-of-17 for 156 yards with no turnovers. The Tigers rushed for 211 yards as a team, but Kendel Givens averaged just 3.8 yards per carry. Just like last year, the ground game is solid, but far from explosive. Saturday, it didn’t matter, but in a few weeks against Harding, it absolutely will.
UAM- Demilon Brown had a nice game, going for 213 yards passing with two touchdowns, but he was sacked three times. UAM was unable to run the ball at all, totaling just 29 yards on 28 carries. Facing Harding and Ouachita back-to-back is a tough schedule quirk, so hopefully the Weevils can bounce back from these last two weeks and find success the rest of the way.
Picks this week: 5-1
Overall this season: 19-5