Bison Head to Harding Saturday

OKLAHOMA BAPTIST (2-1) at HARDING (2-1)

6 PM | Saturday, Sept. 22 | First Security Stadium | Searcy, Arkansas

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SHAWNEE – Oklahoma Baptist faces No. 19 Harding and its difficult flexbone offense Saturday when the Bison travel to Searcy, Arkansas for a 6 p.m. contest.
 
Both teams enter the stadium with 2-1 records.
 
The Bison have never had two wins under their belt this early since joining the Great American Conference and a third win would establish a new NCAA-era high for the program. OBU was 8-3 in its final season in the NAIA.
 
For the first time in OBU's NCAA era, one quarterback has taken every snap for the Bison through three games. Preston Haire is 97 of 149 for a 65.1 percentage. He has thrown six touchdown passes but with seven interceptions. He averages 285.3 yards passing per game, which ranks him 14th in D-2. His 32.3 completed passes per game ranks third in NCAA Division II
 
Cagney Roberson leads the Bison with 95.7 receiving yards per game and 25 receptions. He is fifth in the nation with 8.3 receptions per game. Thirteen different Bison have caught passes this season and nine of those have three or more receptions.
 
OBU is getting 377 yards total offense per game and after allowing one sack at East Central, protected the quarterback for no sacks allowed against Southeastern Oklahoma State and Arkansas Tech. OBU is third in the nation, having allowed one sack through three games.
 
True freshman Tyler Stuever leads the Bison with 46 yards per game on the ground. He also has the longest run from scrimmage for OBU this season at 30 yards. Stuever also has a team-leading 3.6 yards per carry average.
 
Luke Wendl was shut out in field goals for the first time last week after getting two in each of the first two games. Meanwhile, punter Hayden Ashley is making his impact felt. Nine of his 16 punts have been inside the 20 to go along with three punts of 50 yards or more. He averages 40.8 yards per punt.
 
Robert Lolofie has 2.5 tackles for loss and two sacks to lead OBU in those categories from the defensive line. Taurean Smith also has a sack with Jonah Lebischak and Ashton Vickers combining for one. Lolofie is second in the GAC in sacks.
 
Josh Arnold leads the linebacker corps with 27 tackles this season with 12 solos and 15 assists. Lane Martin is the third-leading tackler on the team with 22 tackles. Arnold ranks sixth in the GAC with 9.0 tackles per game.
 
Redshirt freshman Felipe Alvear leads the Bison with 30 tackles through three games. He also has 1.5 tackles for loss, three pass break-ups, a forced fumble and a fumble recovery.
 
 
Harding averages 282.3 yards on the ground per game and 62.7 through the air. The HU flexbone offense is annually the most difficult for opponents to prepare. Tristan Tucker is averaging a whopping 9.7 yards per carry, going for 272 yards on 28 carries. He averages 90.7 yards per game. The average run for HU is five yards. Preston Paden has attempted only 15 passes through three games. OBU has four receivers with more receptions than the entire HU corps combined.
 
Harding has held opponents to 65 yards rushing and 157.7 yards passing per game. HU's defense typically isn't on the field very long. Sam Blankenship leads the team with 18 tackles. Harding has registered 19 tackles for loss and six quarterback sacks. TJ Winslow leads both those categories for HU with three each. Dra Smith has defended five passes.
 
Cameron Scott has been accurate on all three of his field goal attempts with a long of 30. He also averages a nice 44.4 yards per punt and 60 yards per kickoff. Jerry Nichols is averaging 40 yards on his two kickoff returns.