Week 6 Game Notes

RUSSELLVILLE, Ark. — The Arkansas Tech football team is facing a problem many teams across the country would be willing to have at the midway point of the season, as the Wonder Boys are looking to figure out for the first time this year how to bounce back from a loss.

The Wonder Boys (4-1, 4-1 Great American Conference) will host defending conference champion Ouachita Baptist (4-1, 4-1 GAC) in their annual homecoming contest Saturday, with kickoff scheduled for 3 p.m. at Thone Stadium at Buerkle Field.

"I think we had a very good, very physical practice on Tuesday," coach Raymond Monica said. "The Players responded extremely well to that, and were coming out to get themselves ready to go for Ouachita Baptist. The thing we have to do is learn from our mistakes we made last week and get them corrected."

After going undefeated through the first four games for the first time since 2005, Tech took a tough loss from Henderson State last week, which set up a five-way tie atop the GAC, with the Wonder Boys, Tigers and Reddies all involved. Ouachita turned back one of the other teams involved in the tie, Harding, 26-21 last week, while East Central rounds out the group of five.

"That makes things exciting," Monica said. "Everybody's playing everybody though, so it will sort itself out by the end of the year. There's some good games coming up this weekend with some teams that are at the top, and we'll see how it all shakes out. We're looking forward to playing Ouachita here for our homecoming."

The Tech offense was able to move the ball against a stout Henderson defense last week, rolling up 323 yards of offense and 17 first downs in a defensive contest. Over the season, the Wonder Boys are still near the top of the GAC in many statistical categories, including fifth in both scoring offense (37.4) and total offense (450.6). They also put up 273.0 yards per game on the ground, which is third in the conference and 10th in the nation.

Sophomore Brayden Stringer is fourth in the GAC, averaging 82.2 rushing yards to pace the offense, averaging 5.9 yards per carry. Quarterback Arsenio Favor puts up 58.0 yards per game and has 10 rushing scores on the year after going for 93 yards on 11 carries last week. Favor also threw a touchdown pass against the Reddies, keeping his streak of at least one passing score each week this season alive. He's completing 61.2 percent of his passes for 882 yards and six touchdowns on the season.

Jermaine Murdock, who had one of the best games of his career with six catches for 103 yards and a touchdown last year against the Tigers, is leading the way with 21 catches for 249 yards. His 6.2 receptions per game is sixth in the league.

On defense, the Wonder Boys are still allowing 15.2 points and 289.8 yards per game, both of which are second in the conference and top-20 numbers across all of Division II. They're allowing only 16.2 first downs per game and holding opposing offenses to a 30.6 percent third-down conversion rate.

Senior Logan Genz, who posted nine tackles last week against Henderson, leads the team and is 13th in the GAC with 7.8 stops per game. Cua' Rose, who grabbed his third interception in two games against the Reddies, is second on the team with 5.2 tackles per outing, and is fourth in the GAC with 1.60 passes defended per game. He has four picks on the season, which leads the conference and is fourth in the nation. Nick Akins also averages 5.2 tackles, and has added 4.0 tackles for loss.

The OBU offense runs through quarterback Austin Warford, who is a dual threat and helped turn back Harding last week with 244 yards of total offense and two touchdowns. For the season, he is third in the league with 91.6 yards rushing and ninth with 169.0 yards passing per game. Running back Kris Oliver is second in the GAC with 97.8 yards on the ground per game, and his nine total touchdowns puts him third in scoring with 10.8 points per game. Ke'Vontae Pope is the team's leading receiver, grabbing 25 catches for 313 yards a pair of touchdowns, and is a dangerous kick returner as well.

Defensively, the Tigers give up 31.2 points and 433.8 yards per game, which are seventh and eighth, respectively, in the GAC. They are statistically the worst defense in the league against the pass, giving up 290.6 yards through the air. They're fifth in rushing defense, giving up 143.2 yards per game even factoring in Harding's 368-yard day — which was actually well under its average — last Saturday.

Ricardy Joseph, Luke Holt and Devin Price all average at least 6.0 tackles per game, while John Rachal has added 1.5 sacks on the season.

"They're doing a great job on offense," Monica said. "They're scoring a lot of points. I've been impressed with their quarterback making plays. He's got some composure and is a very good quarterback that's making their offense really work. Defensively, they're very solid, as they have been for a while, and they've been solid in the kicking game all year."

Tech holds a 42-30-7 lead in the all-time series, including winning 12 of the past 17 meetings. Last season, a 14-9 win by the Tigers in Arkadelphia, Arkansas, the Wonder Boy defense showed up, holding OBU 127.3 yards and 18.7 points under its season averages. Genz posted 10 tackles and an interception, which was one of three turnovers Tech forced on the day.

The homecoming game will be broadcast live on 102.9 FM (KCJC) in Russellville. Live video, audio and statistics will be available at www.arkansastechsports.com.