There are a pair of games today that are sure to have a lot of eyeballs watching and ears listening across the Great American Conference.
Four unbeaten teams will face one another in the first true weekend of marquee matchups in the GAC, and none involved figure to take a back seat to the other.
"I've said this before, every team can beat the other on any given day in this conference," said Ouachita Baptist Coach Todd Knight, whose No. 5-ranked Tigers welcome Southern Arkansas to Cliff Harris Stadium at 6 p.m. "This league is tough. And this SAU team we're about to see is really, really good. It's not going to be an easy game by any stretch, not with what they're bringing to the table.
"It's going to be a battle."
While OBU (2-0, 2-0) and SAU (2-0, 2-0) will have their squabble down in Arkadelphia, No. 11 Harding (2-0, 2-0) and the University of Arkansas at Monticello (2-0, 2-0) will have theirs 116 miles away at First Security Stadium in Searcy.
"It's going to be a great game," UAM Coach Hud Jackson said. "But for us, we're going in to try and win and keep this momentum going. The key is going to be when you face adversity, we've got to work through it and move to the next play. We'll see what happens."
That uncertainty can be applied in both contests.
Bragging rights and an unblemished record are about the only assurances that two of the four will have afterwards. Anything outside of that can be labeled as speculation simply because of what lies ahead.
Another series of in-state tests highlight next week's slate, beginning with Harding's trip to No. 23 Henderson State. OBU will also head south to play UAM. So today's winners aren't guaranteed to have any kind of inside track to the league title, but a loss doesn't knock anyone out of the championship picture either.
However, everyone is still chasing defending GAC champion OBU, which has won 14 consecutive conference games since the end of the 2021 season. The Tigers haven't skipped much of a beat and have been just as imposing as they were a year ago during their perfect trek through the conference.
SAU Coach Brad Smiley has taken note of what OBU has done and believes this current version may be a bit more difficult to gameplan for this time around.
In last year's game, the Tigers punished the Muleriders on the ground with 377 yards rushing, with then-senior running back T.J. Cole racking up 230 yards and six touchdowns during a 63-31 victory. OBU has still run the ball effectively in both of its games, but its offense is more open than before.
"Obviously last year was the T.J. Cole show, and they were going to feed the monster," Smiley said. "When we played them, he was the best player in the stadium, the best player in all of South Arkansas and he went off. It was a back and forth game, and when OBU was trying to close it out, they took [quarterback Riley Harms] off the field, direct snapped it to the animal, and he did his thing.
"This year, they've had to change somewhat. You're seeing Harms be a quarterback, and he's doing a great job. It's not just play action shots either because he's using some mid-level passing game, some quick game. He's getting other guys involved, and that makes them that much tougher."
That balance is something SAU has seemingly perfected thus far. The Muleriders have rushed for 439 yards and passed for 430 total in their wins over Southeastern Oklahoma State and East Central (Okla.). The primary catalyst behind that near equal production has been the guy Knight calls one of the top quarterbacks in the GAC.
O.B. Jones is completing nearly 60% (41 of 70) of his passes and has run 41 times for 187 yards to help carry SAU. The 6-2, 220-pound senior was at his best a week ago when he amassed 396 yards of offense and three touchdowns in the Muleriders' come-from-behind 24-17 victory against East Central (Okla.).
"His development on that football field, since we've been here, has been incredible," Smiley said of Jones. "He knows the offense inside and out, and mentally, he took it to the next level throughout the offseason, throughout the summer. And the thing is, he's not just worried about our 11 now because he understands the roles of all 22 on the field and where they're going to be."
Knight believes Jones is just a portion of what makes this year's SAU squad formidable.
"I mean, [SAU] got a huge offensive line and have one of the top backs in the league in [Jariq Scales]," he explained. "Defensively, it's probably the most solid group I've seen in our league because all 11 players can play. They're very sound on special teams, and they're obviously well coached.
"They're 2-0 for a reason. They've had to battle on the road as well. We'd have to play our best game to have a chance to beat those guys."
The Boll Weevils will also have a tall task in front of them when they duke it out with a team they haven't beaten in more than a decade. The last time UAM took down Harding was in 2009 when it rolled to a 44-17 victory in Monticello. Since then, the Bisons have won 11 in a row in the series by an average of 30 points.
Despite Harding's recent head-to-head dominance, the Boll Weevils aren't intimidated.
"We respect Harding, and I've got a whole lot of respect for [Harding Coach] Paul Simmons," Jackson explained. "But we're not gonna be afraid of anybody. We're going to go in, battle, compete and work the plan that we've been practiced this entire week."
UAM is riding a wave of confidence after back-to-back routs. Quarterback Demilon Brown is the conference's top passer, and he has two wideouts in Isaiah Cross and Nick Howard who've combined for seven touchdown receptions. In addition, the Boll Weevils' defense has given up just four offensive scores.
Jackson is hoping that high-level play carries over into his team's first test against a ranked opponent.
"For us, we're going to have to play with the most consistency thus far," he said. "We can't have dumb penalties either because those are the things that eat you up in a game like this. You may get away with that in other games, but not this one.
"I don't think anybody can play a perfect football game, there's no way, and we're not gonna ask our guys to do that. We're just gonna ask them to work the plan that we work, play hard, play smart and play committed to the process because I think that gives us the best chance compete and win games."