Bill Keopple couldn’t find anything good to say following Southern Arkansas’ 31-0 home loss to Harding Saturday night.
“This was embarrassing. What else can I say? We were not up to it. We’ve got to get some things fixed and in a hurry,” said the frustrated Muleriders’ head coach. “We are going to find some people to get this things fixed and be ready to play the Wonder Boys.”
SAU heads to Russellville Saturday for a 6 p.m. game against an Arkansas Tech team that winless so far.
“We’ve been to Russellville five times since I’ve been here and haven’t won there yet. We have to break that trend, but we won’t if we don’t get these things corrected,” said the coach.
After rushing for 322 yards in the season-opener, SAU’s ground total has declined over the last two games. They managed only 129 in their second outing and last-second win over Oklahoma Baptist, but managed only 62 rushing yards against a Harding team that racked up 299 on the ground.
“Harding is a great offensive football team, but we are better than what we showed against them. On the other hand, our offense looked horrible. We got wore out in every area of the game,” said Keopple. “We have to get on the same page if we want to win a lot more football games.”
SAU never got any closer than Harding’s 30-yard line, where Austin Wilkerson missed a 47-yard field goal early in the second half.
The Muleriders fumbled their first possession of the game, but Harding’s first scored came on a 28-yard field goal by Grant Ennis with 3:08 to play in the opening period. Following a short punt, the Bisons went up 10-0 early in the second off a 20-yard run by Tristan Tucker.
Mulerider quarterback Hayden Mallory threw three interceptions on the night, but it was a pair of back-to-back picks in the third period that allowed Harding to boost its lead to 31-0.
After Wilkerson’s missed his field goal, Harding’s Preston Paden later scored on a 21-yard run to make it 17-0. Two plays later, Jacory Nichols picked off a Mallory pass and returned it 60-yards for a 24-0 score.
On the next possession, Cade Pugh intercepted Mallory’s pass to put Harding in front 31-0 with 4:31 remaining in the third period.
The loss snapped SAU’s 17-game home winning streak.
Other GAC games last week included Oklahoma Baptist 34, SE Okla. 31; UAM 44, SW Okla. 9; East Central 45, Southern Nazarene 7; Henderson State 27, Arkansas Tech 21; and Ouachita 31; NW Oklahoma 11.
GAC games this week are SAU (2-1) vs. Arkansas Tech (0-3); SW Okla. (2-1) vs. OBU (3-0); Southern Nazarene (0-3) vs. SE Okla. (1-2); NW Okla. (1-2) vs. UAM (2-1); Harding (2-1) vs. Henderson State (2-1); and Okla. Baptist (1-2) vs. East Central (1-2).