Harding at Ouachita Baptist
WHEN 11 a.m.
WHERE Cliff Harris Stadium, Arkadelphia TV American Sports Network
RADIO KHTE-FM, 96.5, in Little Rock; KHTO-FM, 96.7, in Hot Springs; KVRCAM, 1240, in Arkadelphia; KAMD-FM, 97.1, in Camden; KNAS-FM, 105.5, in Nashville; KQOR-FM, 105.3, in Mena; KFMD-FM, 105.3, and KFMD-AM, 1340, in Springdale; KVHU-FM, 95.3, in Searcy. INTERNET obutigers.com, hardingsports.com, NCAA.com
RECORDS Harding 4-0, 4-0 Great American Conference; OBU 3-1, 3-1
RANKINGS Harding is No. 12 in the AFCA Division II coaches poll and No. 13 in the d2football.com poll. OBU is No. 24 in the AFCA poll and No. 23 in the d2football.com poll
COACHES Ronnie Huckeba (53-35 in ninth season at Harding and overall); Todd Knight (80-84 in 17th season at OBU, 108-116-2 in 23rd season overall) SERIES Harding leads 30-22-4.
LAST MEETING OBU won 31-28 in overtime in 2014.
LAST WEEK Harding defeated Arkansas-Monticello 47-21. OBU defeated Northwestern Oklahoma State 55-13. COMMENTS The visiting team has won the past four games in the series. … Harding ranks second in NCAA Division II with an average of 366.3 rushing yards per game. OBU is ninth nationally at 287.0 yards per game. … Harding junior quarterback Park Parish has 11 rushing touchdowns, the most of any player at any level in the NCAA. Last week against UAM, he became the fourth Harding player to have four rushing touchdowns in a game, and he threw a touchdown pass. The GAC co-offensive player of the week rushed for 50 yards on 19 carries with 4 touchdowns and completed 6 of 13 passes for 186 yards a touchdown, a 47-yarder to Eric Kelly. … Harding rushed for 333 yards and held UAM to 28 rushing yards. … Against NW Oklahoma State, OBU rushed for 356 yards and held the Rangers to 10 rushing yards. … OBU running back Kris Oliver, a redshirt freshman from Arkadelphia, leads the GAC with 425 rushing yards. He is averaging 106.2 yards per game and 7.1 per carry. … OBU sophomore quarterback Austin Warford of Malvern has 367 rushing yards, the most of any GAC quarterback.
Arkansas-Monticello at Oklahoma Baptist
WHEN Noon
WHERE Crain Family Stadium, Shawnee, Okla.
RADIO KHBM-FM, 93.7, in Monticello
INTERNET uamsports.com
RECORDS UAM 0-4, 0-4 Great American Conference; Oklahoma Baptist 0-4, 0-4 COACHES Hud Jackson (13-34 in fifth season at UAM and overall); Chris Jensen (12-14 in third season at Oklahoma Baptist and overall)
SERIES First meeting between schools LAST WEEK UAM lost 47-21 to Harding. Oklahoma Baptist lost 41-20 to East Central (Okla.)
COMMENTS The two schools and Southern Nazarene are the three conference teams that have yet to win a game this season. … The Boll Weevils are off to their first 0-4 start since 1998, when they went 0-11. … UAM held Harding without a touchdown last week. It was the first time an opponent had done that to the Bisons since Oct. 18, 2014. … Senior quarterback Hunter Leppert needs 344 passing yards to move past Joe Don Samples and into fifth place on UAM’s all-time list. With his 301 yards against Harding, Leppert now has seven games with at least 300 passing yards. … Oklahoma Baptist ranks near the bottom of most GAC statistical categories, including 11th in scoring, 11th in total offense, 10th in total defense, 10th in rushing defense and 10th in passing offense. … Quarterback Dezmond Stegall leads the team in rushing with 245 yards and has thrown for 342 yards. … Derek Serowski is the Bison’s leading receiver with 17 catches for 314 yards and 3 touchdowns.
Arkansas Tech at Henderson State
WHEN 2 p.m.
WHERE Carpenter-Haygood Stadium, Arkadelphia
RADIO KAAY-AM, 1090, in Little Rock; KDEL-FM, 100.9, in Arkadelphia; KAFNFM, 100.7, and KZYP-AM, 1310, in Malvern; KEWI-AM, 690, in Benton; KCJC-FM, 102.3, in Russellville
INTERNET hsusports.com, arkansastechsports.com
RECORDS Tech 4-0, 4-0 Great American Conference; HSU 3-1, 3-1
COACHES Raymond Monica (12-14 in third season at Tech, 57-48 in ninth season overall); Scott Maxfield (72-38 in 11th season at HSU, 101-50 in 15th season overall.
SERIES HSU leads 43-42-5
LAST MEETING HSU won 24-3 in 2014. LAST WEEK Tech defeated Southern Arkansas 44-21. HSU defeated Southwestern Oklahoma State 33-0.
COMMENTS The teams dominated the weekly Great American Conference awards. Tech senior quarterback Arsenio Favor was named the co-offensive player of the week after rushing for 79 yards and 4 touchdowns on 11 carries. He also completed 17 of 23 passes for 224 yards and another touchdown. HSU defensive back Gary Vines was the defensive player of the week for the second consecutive week. The junior from North Little Rock had two interceptions and five tackles. Reddies sophomore Houston Ray was the special teams player of the week. He kicked four field goals (23, 34, 36 and 44 yards). … The Reddies defense recorded five interceptions for the second consecutive game, this time against a team that had not allowed an interception going into the game. .. HSU passed for 96 yards against the SW Oklahoma State, the first time the Reddies have not topped 100 passing yards since it had 58 yards in a 41-6 loss to Northwestern (La.) State on Sept. 1, 2007. … With a victory, Coach Scott Maxfield will move into a tie for second for most victories at HSU with Duke Wells (73-78-11 in 1941-1961). … Arkansas Tech leads the GAC in scoring offense (45.0 points per game), scoring defense (14.8 ppg) and total defense (264.8 yards per game) and is second in rushing offense (300.2 ypg). … Wonder Boys sophomore running back Brayden Stringer ranks second in the conference with 375 rushing yards. He is averaging 93.8 yards per game and 6.1 yards per carry. … Freshman defensive back Cua Rose had 13 tackles and two interceptions in the Wonder Boys’ victory over SAU.
— Steve Rogers
Southern Arkansas at Southern Nazarene
WHEN 2 p.m.
WHERE SNU Football Field, Bethany, Okla.
RADIO KVMZ-FM, 99.1, in Magnolia/ Waldo; KELD-FM, 106.5, in Hampton/ElDorado/ Camden; KZNG-AM, 1340, in Hot Springs; KENA-AM, 1450, in Mena; KPGG-FM, 103.9, in Ashdown/Texarkana; KMTB-FM, 99.5, in Murfreesboro/ Nashville.
INTERNET muleriderathletics.com
RECORDS SAU 2-2, 2-2 Great American Conference; Southern Nazarene 0-4, 0-4 COACHES Bill Keopple (28-37 in seventh season at SAU and overall); Craig Hubbard 0-4 in first season as interim coach at Southern Nazarene)
SERIES SAU leads 3-0
LAST MEETING SAU won 62-7 in 2014. LAST WEEK SAU lost 44-21 to Arkansas Tech. Southern Nazarene lost 41-7 to Southeastern Oklahoma State.
COMMENTS The Muleriders have won the three meetings between the schools by a combined score of 175-38, with an average margin of victory of 45.7 points. … SAU won the only other meeting in Bethany, 66-17, in 2013. … SAU opened a 35-0 halftime lead in last year’s game with Southern Nazarene on its way to the 55-point victory. The Muleriders had 606 yards of total offense in the game and limited the Crimson Storm to 88. … Southern Nazarene is being outscored an average of 53.5 points per game to 5.2 in 2015. … The Crimson Storm is last in the league in points allowed per game, total defense and rushing yards. … The Muleriders lead the GAC in total offense and passing offense. … SAU quarterback Barrett Renner’s 358 yards of total offense and 303.5 yards passing per game are tops in the conference, and he is second in touchdowns passing (14). … Wide receiver Jonathan Weisheit is the GAC leader with an average of 86.0 yards per game.
— Frankie Frisco