The endgame is now clear for Harding.
A homecoming victory Saturday against Southwestern Oklahoma will give the Bisons (8-0) at least a share of the Great American Conference championship and boost their chances of hosting an NCAA Division II playoff game for the first time.
Harding is positioned for its first conference championship since 1989 following last week's results -- a 35-7 victory at East Central Oklahoma and defending GAC champion Henderson State's 50-24 loss to Southern Arkansas.
Henderson and SAU, both already beaten by Harding, are tied for second in the GAC at 6-2 and two games behind the Bisons with three weeks remaining in the regular season.
"You just start naming the things that are at stake," Harding Coach Ronnie Huckeba said. "There's a ton to play for."
Harding, 8-0 for the first time, is ranked a program-best No. 5 in the American Football Coaches Association NCAA Division II Top 25 poll.
More important, Harding is No. 3 in NCAA Division II's first Super Region rankings released this fall.
The top seven teams from each of the four regions (Harding is a member of Super Region Three) advance to the playoffs, with the top four guaranteed to host a postseason game.
"There's a lot on the line," Huckeba said.
Southwestern Oklahoma (4-4) has won four consecutive games -- all against Oklahoma schools -- and beat Harding 21-13 last season at home.
The Bisons were limited to 243 total yards, including 171 rushing. Harding leads NCAA Division II in rushing this fall (368.6 yards per game).
"If you go back to last year, all you've got to do is turn the film on from last year with our guys in the room," Huckeba said. "Everybody gets quiet. You look at a team that just really whipped us, without a doubt."
Huckeba said his players had the weekend off after playing last week on Thursday and should be refreshed mentally and physically for Saturday's game.
"When you play 11 straight, you look for every opportunity that you can to take a break, and the Thursday night game was good for us," Huckeba said.
Kickoff is 2 p.m. at First Security Stadium in Searcy.
Harding's last league title came in the now-defunct Arkansas Intercollegiate Conference as a member of NAIA.
Harding joined the NCAA in 1997, advancing to postseason play in 2012 and 2014 under Huckeba.
HARDING
Looking ahead
A perk of being among the most dominant teams in NCAA Division II this fall is getting a good look at the future.
Harding Coach Ronnie Huckeba said he liked what he saw from sophomore quarterback Terrence Dingle, who made his first career start in last week's 35-7 victory at East Central Oklahoma.
"We've got a lot of confidence in Terrence," Huckeba said. "It was good for him, even with the issues we had in the first quarter. We really got untracked in the second half."
Dingle replaced senior Park Parish of Clinton, Harding's career leader for rushing touchdowns.
Huckeba said Parish dressed for the game, but coaches had decided to hold him out because he was "banged up" physically.
Dingle had already played in six games this fall, including the second half of blowout road victories at Arkansas-Monticello and Henderson State.
Huckeba has had the luxury of tapping his bench often this fall since Harding (8-0) has outscored opponents a combined 350-82.
Against East Central, Harding scored the game's final 35 points after trailing 7-0 late in the first half.
The Bisons, who run an option-based Double-Slot scheme, finished with 459 rushing yards, including 346 in the second half.
Dingle finished with 30 rushing yards on 10 carries and completed 4 of 6 passes for 74 yards and 1 touchdown.
Three of Harding's first five possessions ended with fumbles.
But Dingle directed the Bisons to touchdowns on their next five possessions in the runaway victory.
"The more live reps you run in this offense, the better off we're going to be in the future," Huckeba said. "There's no question that live reps make a huge difference because we don't go against our defense very much. We just don't think it's a healthy thing to do. It's a very physical offense and we try to take care of each other as much as we possibly can in practice. Live reps are how you develop your quarterback."
Huckeba said Parish will return for Saturday's game.
SOUTHERN ARKANSAS
Puts it all together
Southern Arkansas all but ended Henderson State's hopes of a fourth GAC title since the league formed in 2011 with last week's 50-24 victory at Memorial Stadium in El Dorado.
SAU (6-2) beat Henderson, ranked No. 15 in the American Football Coaches Association NCAA Division II Top 25 poll, for the first time since 2005 and avenged a last-play loss to the Reddies in 2015.
SAU outgained Henderson 508-383, didn't have a turnover for the first time this fall, was plus-four in turnover margin and held a whopping 40:16-19:44 advantage in time of possession.
"Came together nicely," Muleriders Coach Bill Keopple said. "We played well. We played a very physical football game. Two pretty good teams. Yeah, it came together for us."
SAU was coming off a 40-37 four-overtime loss at Ouachita Baptist.
Keopple said the Muleriders bounced back well in practice last week after what he called a "pretty deflating" setback.
"But the fact of what happened to us against Henderson last year was still in our guy's craw," Keopple said. "We know our team is getting better. We know our program's gotten better. We know we're right there knocking on the door. All indictors were our team was going to be ready to play."
SAU, tied with Henderson for second, hosts Southeastern Oklahoma (5-3) on Saturday afternoon.
Sports on 10/28/2016