SHAWNEE – Week seven of Great American Conference football sends Oklahoma Baptist (3-3, 3-3 GAC) down I-40 for a 2:00 p.m. matchup against Southwestern Oklahoma State (0-6, 0-6 GAC) at Flex-Chem Field on Saturday.
This will be the 27th all-time matchup between the two programs, with OBU holding a 14-10-1 record over SWOSU. The last time the two met, Southwestern bested the Bison in overtime in Shawnee.
The game will be streamed live at swosuathletics.com and heard on the Bison Radio Network with play-by-play Todd Miller, Scott Wanish, and John Brooks.
LAST TIME THEY MET
As mentioned, the Bulldogs squeezed out a 38-31 overtime over OBU a season ago. That game featured nearly 700 yards (688) of offense, led by SWOSU's 467 yards. The Bison were held to 19 yards on the ground and 202 yards through the air. A more glaring stat of the contest were the 21 penalties called, 15 going against Southwestern for a total of 118 yards.
After SWOSU erased a nine-point deficit with a field goal as time expired in regulation and a score in the extra period, an interception sealed OBU's fate.
NEXT MAN UP
For the second straight week, the Bison will have a first-time signal caller directing the offense. Kenny Rosenthal, who completed 15 passes for 164 yards and a touchdown against the Muleriders, will get the start at Southwestern Oklahoma State. The stout, 6-foot-1, 200-pound right-handed quarterback will earn his first career start. His prep accolades are quite noteworthy. He left Lamar High School near Houston, Texas with 4,069 passing yards, 1,001 yards rushing and 65 touchdowns.
Rosenthal accounted for 242 yards of offense, adding 78 yards on the ground last week. It was the most rushing yards by a freshman quarterback in school history, eclipsing Preston Haire's previous all-time mark of 50 yards set back in 2017. Furthermore, it was the most rushing yards by a Bison quarterback, regardless of class, since 2021. That season, Haire ran for 114 yards against the same opponent, Southern Arkansas. One of Rosenthal's rushes went for 30 yards, which is also the furthest scamper from a OBU signal-caller since 2021.
RISING THROUGH THE CRACKS
Down one of its most explosive receivers in Jaiden Henry, the Bison receiving corps have seen multiple wideouts step up to the plate. Namely, Charles Whitebear and Nick Harris. Whitebear, a sophomore, and Harris, a junior, have 278 yards and four touchdowns together. Whitebear leads the duo with 157 yards, two scores, and the third-most catches on the team (12). A season ago, he caught two balls for 36 yards and one touchdown. Harris has nine receptions for 121 yards and two scores. His best game came against East Central, when he recorded four catches for 49 yards and a touchdown.
There are others, though. Gavin McCurley, a freshman out of Roanoke, Texas collected his first career touchdown of 24 yards against Southern Arkansas. He finished the game with three receptions for 48 yards, lifting his season stats to five catches and 78 yards. Tight ends Haven Lysell-Stewart and Sam Sharp have also been reliable assets. Lysell-Stewart has 11 receptions for 108 yards and a score, while Sharp totals four catches for 65 yards and a touchdown.
PICK SIX
Tainique Taylor had a 78-yard pick-six in the third quarter of last week's game at Southern Arkansas. It was significant in multiple ways. That interception return for a score was the 11th occurrence in program history. The last time it happened was on Nov. 5, 2016 when D'Ante Meeking scurried 34 yards for a touchdown against Ouachita. The other significant part: the 78 yards were the longest since football returned to Shawnee in 2013. The previous long return was 73 yards by Brynden Pitzer during a Sept. 19, 2015 contest versus Southeastern Oklahoma State.
AN ELITE SEASON
Sophomore Brett Karhu added two more tackles-for-loss last week at Southern Arkansas. That bumped his season total to 10. He leads the Great American Conference in TFLs and is second behind Southwestern Oklahoma State's RJ Powell with 6.0 sacks. Karhu's sack total is also good for 11th in Division II. Furthermore, he is just the eighth OBU player to reach at least 10 TFLs in a season. The last time the green and gold had a player with 10-plus tackles-for-loss came in 2021. There were actually three that year: Josh Arnold (20.0), Nick Boone (14.0) and Robert Lolofie (11.5). Historically, OBU Hall of Famer Kimes Gilbert attained the most TFLs in a single season in 2013 with 27.5.
SPEAKING OF DEFENSE
Make no mistake about it: This is the best Bison secondary that has ever hit the field since 2013. With Taylor, Brandon Spencer, Chase Whitebear, Tyler King, Jaxon Canard and others, it has allowed 154.2 passing yards per game. That mark is 21st best in Division II. No other OBU secondary has ever allowed less than 200 yards per game through the air in a season. To date, the 2019 defense gave up the fewest passing yards to opponents at 201.6 yards a game.
ON A TEAR
Make it three consecutive games with 10-plus stops for linebacker Scooter Baker. It is the second time in his career that he has accomplished the feat. The first, in 2019 while playing with Southeastern Oklahoma State, featured three consecutive 10-tackle performances. During last week's contest at Southern Arkansas, he dialed up 12 tackles, boosting his season total to 55. That's good for 17th in the nation and third in the GAC. Over the last three weeks, Baker has 37 to his credit. Plus, he's the only Bison with at least 50 stops this season.
Averaging 9.2 tackles per game, Baker is on pace to join Josh Arnold and Zach Bishop as the only linebackers to rack up 100 tackles in a season in the NCAA era. Arnold reached the mark twice in 2021 (107) and 2019 (104), while Bishop compiled 106 in 2015.
ALMOST THERE
Freshman kicker Luke Watkins added another field goal last week at SAU. He hit a 31-yarder early in the second quarter, moving his season total to 7-for-8. His percentage of 87.5 is good for 11th in D2 and only three other freshmen have better marks. Plus, Watkins needs just two more field goals to tie the OBU single-season mark set by Austin Manger in 2013 (9).
SCOUTING THE BULLDOGS
Southwestern Oklahoma State is off to a rough start this season, marching into week seven with a winless 0-6 record. SWOSU has been outscored 234-62 this year, averaging just 10.33 points per game.
However, the Bulldogs nearly captured its first win of the season last week against Arkansas Tech. In the lowest scoring game of the week in the conference, SWOSU fell 9-7 at the hands of the Wonderboys. Southwestern held a 7-0 lead until Tech scored midway through the fourth quarter. Then, in the dwindling seconds of the contest, ATU hit a field to goal to stun the Bulldogs for the victory.
Southwestern turned in its worst performance, offensively, of the season against Tech. Tallying just 67 yards of offense, SWOSU was held to 62 passing yards and five yards on the ground. A week before (Sept. 30) against Harding, the Bulldogs compiled 79 yards of offense, a total of 146 offensive yards in the last two weeks of football. These efforts rank the team from Weatherford as the worst offense in the league. Conversely, they defense stands next to last in total yards allowed, an average of 432.3 yards per game.
Time in the pocket has been split between Scott Pfeiffer, Calvin Cloud, and Sean Shelby. Pfeiffer leads the pack with 258 yards on 22 completions and a touchdown. Redshirt sophomore Sean Shelby, who played 10 games as a defensive back in 2022, will get the start on Saturday. He has 88 passing yards with a touchdown and three interceptions. In the backfield, junior Ethan Hyche has ran for 296 yards and four touchdowns.
The GAC's leading tackler, junior linebacker Logan Monroe, has 59 stops and 5.5 tackles-for-loss on the year. The reigning conference player of the week, RJ Powell, posted career highs in tackles (11) and sacks (2.5) against Tech. He pairs the most sacks in the GAC (6.5) with third-most tackles on the team (37).
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