GAME INFORMATION
ARKANSAS TECH WONDER BOYS 7-3 (7-3 GAC)	HARDING BISONS 10-0 (10-0 GAC)
Saturday, November 15 | 2 p.m. Simmons Bank Field at Thone Stadium | Russellville, Ark. LIVE STATS | LIVE VIDEO | LISTEN LIVE | ATU NOTES (PDF) | HARDING NOTES (PDF)

KICKING OFF
The regular season is set to come to a close this Saturday and the Arkansas Tech football team will be at home against consensus No. 2-ranked Harding for a 2 p.m. kick-off. The Wonder Boys will be looking to put the first damper on Harding's season as they enter the game with an unblemished 10-0 record and appear to be a lock for the NCAA Playoffs. With seven wins to their credit, the Wonder Boys will be looking to pull the upset and further cement their claim for an opportunity to play in a postseason bowl game.
 
THE SERIES      
This will be the 62nd meeting all-time between Arkansas Tech and Harding in a series that dates back to 1928. After that initial meeting, the two did not play again until 1960, but played annually as conference foes in the AIC until 1995 when both teams made the jump to NCAA DII. The series renewed for the 1996 and 1997 seasons, but it wasn't until 2000 that the two became annual conference rivals once more.
 
In the time since their transition to DII, Harding leads the series 17-8. Since both teams joined the GAC in 2012, Harding leads 11-1. Overall, Tech leads the series 31-30.
 

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TECH(NICALLY) SPEAKING
LAST GAME
The Wonder Boys are coming off a 38-25 win at on the road at Oklahoma Baptist this past Saturday. The win was the seventh of the season for the Wonder Boys, marking the most wins in a season since 2017.
 
SCOUTING THE OFFENSE
Through 10 games, the Wonder Boys are averaging 26.7 points per game and 342.4 yards of total offense. Their ppg average ranks sixth in the GAC, while their total offense is ninth. Through the air, Tech is averaging 171.3 yards per game to rank seventh in the GAC. On the ground, the Wonder Boys are rushing for 171.1 yards per game to rank seventh.
 
Jack Dawson, Carter Hensley and Dominic Feliciano have all taken snaps at QB for the Wonder Boys. At the beginning of the year, Dawson was the starter and primary signal-caller. He missed the SAU and Henderson State games with an injury but returned in limited action the past two weeks.  He is 75-for-139 with 1,050 yards and 12 touchdowns. Hensley has got the start in place of Dawson each of the last four games. He is now 49-for-90 for 663 yards with five touchdowns and an interception. Feliciano has primarily run the ball when in at QB and has carried it 30 times and has four touchdowns.
 
On the ground, the Wonder Boys have had 15 different ball carriers. Freshman Bryson Roland currently leads the team in yards with 974. Entering the game against Harding, Roland is just 26 yards shy of getting to 1,000 on the season. He would be the first 1,000-yard back for Tech since 2015.
 
Roland also has nine of the team's 16 rushing touchdowns. Quarterbacks Dawson and Feliciano account for six rushing scores for Tech with Feliciano having four and Dawson, two and running back Tracy Daniels has the remaining rushing touchdown.
 
In terms of receiving, Tech has had 15 players with at least one reception. Jared Long leads the team in receptions so far with 23 and is the leader in receiving yards with 381. Long also has the most touchdown receptions with four. Austin Marshall, JD DeCausmaker, Carldell Sirmons and Cam McFarlin are next on the team with two, while Tracy Daniels, Gavin Waits and Bryson Roland all have one receiving touchdown.
 
SCOUTING THE DEFENSE
Defensively the Wonder Boys are allowing 382.8 yards of total offense per game and 20.1 points against per game. Their total defense ranks eighth in the GAC, while their scoring defense is third.
 
Individually, the Wonder Boys have 22 players with double-digit tackles and 10 with at least 30 stops. Linebacker Jyrin Steward leads the team in overall tackles with 64.0. Israel Whitmore leads the team in tackles for loss at 8.0 and is tied with Vershaud Richardson in sacks with 3.5.
 
As a team, the Wonder Boys have come away with 17 takeaways with 11 being interceptions and six being fumble recoveries. Tyrique Jones has the team-lead in interceptions with three. Whitmore leads the team in fumble recoveries with two. Gregor Jones, Tyrique Jones, Jordan Scott and Caleb Arnold account for the remaining three.
 
SPECIAL TEAMS
In the kicking game, Logan Tymeson has handled all the field goal and point-after-touchdown opportunities thus far. He is 34-of-34 in PATs and 5-of-8 in field goals.
 
Technically, punting has been done by three players, but two of those has been quarterbacks on pooch punts. Dawson has five pooch punts while Hensley has one. Regular punter Angus Greaves has had 43 punts and is averaging 39.4 yards per punt.
 
In the return game, the Wonder Boys have had a rotation of Carldell Sirmons, De'Rion Crooms and Tracy Daniels handle most of the opportunities on kickoffs and punts. Sirmons has had 13 kickoff returns and is averaging 25.4 yards per return while Daniels has had seven and is averaging 17.0 yards per return. Crooms has had four kickoff returns and is averaging 23.0 yards per return. Sirmons has had seven punt returns and is averaging 11.4 yards per return.
 
COACH THOMPSON
Roy Thompson enters his first season as head football coach at Arkansas Tech after spending the previous nine at GAC-rival Ouachita Baptist as the Tigers' defensive coordinator. On the coaching staff a total of 12 years at Ouachita, Thompson spent the 2016 and 2017 seasons as the co-Defensive Coordinator before taking over the reins fully starting with the 2018 season. 
 
Over that seven-year stretch (2020 was not played due to COVID-19), Ouachita has had three seasons in which its points allowed per game were under 20.0, ranking it in the top-10 nationally in DII. The other three seasons, the highest points allowed in a season was 20.7 points per game. Over that same stretch, Thompson's defensive unit allowed under 320.0 yards per game four times, ranking in the top-35 nationally.
 
Thompson's time at Ouachita also yielded a ton of championship hardware as well as NCAA postseason experience. Out of the eight seasons played with Thompson on staff, Ouachita won the GAC championship five times and reached the NCAA playoffs each of those seasons as well, with the most recent being in 2024. Of those five conference titles, three saw the Bison go unbeaten in the regular season.
 

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KNOW YO FOE
LAST GAME     
Harding is coming off a 52-14 win on the road at Southern Nazarene this past Saturday. The win was the 10^th of the season for Harding, giving them 10 or more wins in each of the last three seasons.
 
THE COACH     
The Bisons are coached by Paul Simmons, who is in his ninth year as the head coach at Harding. A Harding alum, Simmons has amassed an 87-15 overall record. He has won at least eight games in all nine seasons played and has won 10 or more games six times.
 
SCOUTING THE OFFENSE          
Offensively, the Bisons have the top-ranked scoring offense in the GAC at 47.0 ppg and the top-ranked total offense with an average of 492.4 ypg. Through the air, the Bisons are averaging 43.2 ypg to rank 12th in the GAC. On the ground, Harding is averaging 449.2 ypg to rank first in the GAC.
 
The leading rusher thus far is Andrew Miller with 1,160 yards gained on 130 carries. Miller also has a team-leading 16 touchdowns on the ground. The second-leading rusher is Braden Jay with 934 yards on 64 carries. Jay is just one rushing touchdown behind Miller with 15.
 
At quarterback, Harding has had Cole Keylon as their starter. In 10 games, Keylon is 22-for-38 for 430 yards and two touchdowns with one interception. Directing traffic for Harding's triple-option attack, Keylon has also rushed for 395 yards on 76 carries and has six rushing touchdowns.
 
Harding has had nine receivers with at least one reception are led by Bodie Neal with six catches. Braden Jay as the most yards with 122 on four receptions. He also has one of the two receiving touchdowns on the team. Drew Porter has the other receiving touchdown.
 
SCOUTING THE DEFENSE          
Defensively, the Bisons rank first in scoring defense at 5.7 ppg. Their total defense also ranks first in the GAC allowing 223.7 ypg of total offense by their opponents. Through the air, Harding ranks first in the GAC at 126.9 average ypg allowed. On the ground, the Bisons allow an average of 96.8 ypg and rank first in the GAC.
 
Individually, Harding has had 24 players record double-digit tackles and three with at least 40 stops. They are led Clark Griffin with 108.0. A total of 27 players have accounted for at least 0.5 tackles for lost yardage with Griffin leading the team at 10.5. Kaden Spencer leads the team in sacks with 6.0.
 
The Bisons' defense has forced 19 turnovers through 10 games with 10 of the takeaways being interceptions and nine being fumble recoveries. Ty Dugger and Zach Valcarcel are tied for the team-lead in interceptions with two while Griffin leads in fumble recoveries with tw