Southern Arkansas and Southwestern Oklahoma State will meet Saturday night at Wilkins Stadium.
The teams will not only be opening the season, but starting an 11-game schedule through the Great American Conference. In a series that started in 2011 when the GAC was formed, SAU won the first three battles.
Last year, the Bulldogs rallied to win 27-24. The Muleriders led 24-13 early in the fourth quarter but gave up two touchdowns in the final nine minutes.
SAU head coach Bill Keopple said keys to a successful season will be depth and staying healthy.
“That’s the same for all teams. Right now, we are two deep on offense and defense. If we can stay healthy, we have high expectations for this year,” said Keopple.
Southern Arkansas will be led on offense by Deandre Jenkins, who enjoyed a breakout season as one of the Muleriders’ featured running backs. He led the team in rushing with 670 yards and scored four touchdowns. Among those other backs will be sophomore Michael Nunnery, senior transfer Robert Clay, and true freshman William McKnight. All four of these backs figure to see carries throughout the season.
“First, we are excited about what we have back on the offensive line. We have four starters returning and one who out last season with a knee injury. So we really have five starters back. That should be a good thing. We will be big and physical up front,” said the Muleriders’ coach.
He said the offensive line should be one of the better ones in the Great American Conference.
Regarding Jenkins, Keopple said he has been solid, steady and durable. He also noted that Nunnery is big physical back who can run.
“We have some other guys. You always need three or four running backs in college football no matter what league you play in. We feel like we have that right now,” said the coach.
Redshirt freshmen Omari Jones and Barrett Renner are expected to see action for the Muleriders under center this season.
According to Keopple, both have good arms and can run well with the ball.
“We feel like we have two very capable young men who can get the job done. One is a right-hander and the other is left-handed. They are both mobile, but they are young and will make young mistakes,” said Keopple.
A lot of new faces will be on defense for SAU, but the Muleriders are counting heavily on linebacker Dominic Kelly.
“Dominic is actually a junior college transfer. He didn’t play last year and stayed in our program. He can do a lot of things at the linebacker position and should be one of the best in the league,” stated Keopple.
The defensive line has experience returning in Phillip Gahr and Calvin Lyons but two new faces will be on the ends in redshirt freshmen Davondrick Lison and Kendrix McCann.
In the secondary, SAU will be returning defensive backs Darren Crawford, Elgin Moore, Q’Niko Thomas, Quan Warren and Chris Wilson.
The coach said SAU had a lot of veterans on the defensive side of the ball last year, but most were backup players before that.
“We struggled, but we feel we have enough young talent to be much better,” said Keopple, adding the veterans in the secondary should make a difference.
Southwestern Oklahoma State is also trying fill a lot of holes this season.
Offensively, the Bulldogs will have several new faces as eight starters from last year are gone, including the quarterback and running back positions.
Last year, the Bulldogs averaged 135.0 yards per game on the ground and just 166.7 yards per game through the air. Overall, they averaged just 301.7 yards of total offense to rank 8th in the GAC in 2014.
Perhaps the biggest loss on offense came in the backfield as Karl Hodge was lost to graduation. His 980 net rushing yards in 2014 were third-best in the GAC and his 11 rushing TDs ranked second.
The Bulldogs do return experience on offense with two of their top-three pass catchers back as well as a pair of starting offensive lineman in Nathan Butler and Landen Carson.
Defensively, SWOSU remains largely intact from a year ago as six of the 11 starters return, but must replace 2014 GAC Defensive Player of the Year and consensus All-America selection in Devin Benton.
The Bulldogs do return a pair of starters along the defensive line as well as their leading tackler from last year in linebacker Tanner Thompson. Last season, Thompson recorded 87 total tackles with 42 being solo. Thompson’s 87 tackles also ranked him seventh in the GAC.
Last season on defense, the Bulldogs allowed 367.4 yards of total offense per game to rank fifth in the GAC. 156.6 of those yards came on the ground for SWOSU opponents while just 210.8 yards per game came through the air, ranking SWOSU sixth in the GAC in pass defense.
Kickoff is at 6 p.m.