RUSSELLVILLE, Ark. — A fourth opponent brings a fourth different type of challenge for the Arkansas Tech football team, as it gets set to face off against Southern Arkansas Saturday evening on Family Day.

The Wonder Boys (3-0, 3-0 Great American Conference), are undefeated after three games for the first time since the 2007 season, and welcome in the Muleriders (2-1, 2-1 GAC) to Thone Stadium and Buerkle Field for the 6 p.m. kickoff in the second home game of the season.

"It's Family Day, which is a big deal here at Arkansas Tech," coach Raymond Monica said. "So we're looking forward to getting back in front of our home crowd after our roadtrip last week.

After combining to score 35 points in last season's 21-14 SAU win, the two teams bring potent offenses into the contest this year. Tech is the league's most prolific offense so far, averaging 45.3 points per game, and also adds 474.0 yards, including 305.7 per game on the ground. The Muleriders aren't far behind the Wonder Boys, scoring 39.7 per game, but their top-ranked passing offense puts up 350.0 yards per game, helping the team to a league-high 554.3 yards per outing.

"SAU is doing a good job of throwing the football so far," Monica said. "Their quarterback has done a great job throwing for touchdowns and not many interceptions, throwing for a lot of yards, and their offensive line has done a great job for them. I've been impressed with the offense and the scheme there."

The Wonder Boys continue to churn out production on the ground, going a third straight week of putting up at least 200 yards rushing last week against Arkansas-Monticello. Two different running backs are in the top seven in the conference, with sophomore Brayden Stringer fourth with 86.7 yards per game, and freshman Kristian Thompson with 68.0. Add in freshman Bryan Allen, who led the team with 138 yards Week 1 against Southern Nazarene, and quarterback Arsenio Favor, who  has six rushing scores on the season, and the running game is plenty formidable.

Favor is 43-for-67 for 499 yards, with four touchdowns and just one interception on the season. After throwing for 302 two weeks ago against Oklahoma Baptist, his numbers went down a bit against UAM, but the senior still completed 4-of-5 passes in the second half, ran for the go-ahead score and threw for an insurance touchdown. He is fifth in the conference with a 143.5 passer efficiency, and second in scoring at 12.0 points per game. Junior Jabyes Cross has led the team in receiving the last two weeks, and has posted nine catches for 128 yards and two touchdowns on the season, while senior Jermaine Murdock has grabbed 10 passes for 138 yards and sophomore Michael Perry 11 for 61.

They'll go up against a defense that has shown some holes so far in three games, the toughest coming last week when Harding was able to run for 566 yards on 64 carries against them. They did hold Northwestern Oklahoma to minus-26 yards on the ground the week before, but Southwestern Oklahoma started the season running for 152 yards on just 35 carries. Their pass defense is skewed by Harding only attempting eight passes, but their defensive passing efficiency is third in the GAC at 110.3.

"Defensively, they're going to play a lot of press coverage, get in the face of our receivers and put a lot of people in the box against the run, and see what we can do against it," Monica said. "I think it's a great matchup on both sides of the ball."

On the other side of the field, the Wonder Boys defense continues to smother its opponents. Tech has the top defense in the GAC in nearly every statistical category, including scoring (12.7 points per game), total (215.0 yards per game), rushing (62.7 per game and 2.2 per carry), passing yards (152.3), passing efficiency (85.3), first downs allowed (11.7 per game) and third-down percentage (27.3 percent).

Few individuals are on the stat leaderboards because of the sheer dominance of the defense and ball-hogging capabilities of the offense. Tech has run 82 more offensive plays than its opponents in just three games, averaging 86.7 to the opposition's 59.3. When the defense steps foot on the field, it often isn't out there for long, forcing a three-and-out or a turnover on 27 of opponents' 42 drives, or 64.3 percent of the time.

Still, senior Logan Genz, who leads the team with 15 tackles, is sixth in the conference with 1.5 sacks, and junior Nick Akins, who has nine tackles and a sack, is 11th in the league with 3.0 tackles for loss. Freshman Cua' Rose is tied for second in the GAC with five pass breakups, including an interception, and has eight tackles and a sack as well. Sophomore Alonzo Joyner has three breakups, including an interception, and nine tackles.

They will still face a challenge against the Muleriders, as quarterback Barrett Renner throws for 346.0 yards per game. Receiver Jonathan Weisheit has 19 catches for a league-high 317 yards, joined by teammate Tanner Hudson, who has 14 grabs for 202 yards.

Tech leads the all-time series against SAU 44-30-4, and each team has won an even three games over the last six meetings. Working in the Wonder Boys favor is the fact that each team's three victories in that span all came at home, where Tech has topped the Muleriders seven of the last eight tries.

"We wound up getting challenged last week, and the players responded," Monica said. "I told them, the biggest thing is that when we got behind, we answered. That's one of the things a good football team has to be able to do, and we did it. Each game is different, and we're looking forward to seeing where we'll be this week."

The game can be heard live on 102.3 FM (KCJC) in Russellville, with live video, audio and statistics available at www.arkansastechsports.com.