SHAWNEE – The Oklahoma Baptist football team (5-3, 5-3 GAC) will wrap up its 2023 showing at Crain Family Stadium on Saturday in a matchup against GAC foe Arkansas-Monticello (2-6, 2-6 GAC) at 2 p.m. Before the contest, 19 seniors will be recognized for their contributions to the program.
This will be the eighth all-time matchup between the two programs, with the Boll Weevils holding a 4-3 advantage over OBU. UAM claimed the upper hand in the series with a win a season ago.
Live video of Saturday's contest will be available on The Bison Sports Network with purchase and fans can listen to the broadcast on the Bison Radio Network with the trio of Todd Miller, John Brooks, and Scott Wanish. For more information regarding BSN purchasing options, click here.
Reserved tickets for the game will be sold online only, while general admission tickets are available on-site or online with credit-card transactions at the OBU box office. The box is office located at the Southeast corner of the stadium. There will no cash transactions. Additionally, fans are encouraged to visit the Football Game Day information to view clear-bag policy and tailgating policies.
Game Notes
AIR IT OUT AIDAN
Redshirt sophomore Aidan Thompson had a career night last week against Northwestern. He threw for a personal-best 279 yards and tied his previous high with three touchdown passes against the Rangers. Thompson's performance marked the 16th time in OBU's D2 era that a quarterback passed for at least 275 yards with three touchdowns in a game. Program great Preston Haire has the most 275-yard, three-score games in history with 12.
Thompson totals 1,259 yards and 12 touchdowns, despite missing two games this season. Averaging 209.8 yards per contest, he has thrown for over 200 yards and three touchdowns in three separate games. The redshirt sophomore has the third-most touchdown passes and sixth most passing yards in the league.
NEXT MAN UP
Junior Nick Harris once more led the Bison receiving corps during their win over Northwestern. He notched career-highs in passes caught (6) and yards (97). Harris also caught a 51-yard touchdown. With that, he registered his second straight game with at least 90 yards receiving and a score.
Remarkably, Harris is only the fourth Bison receiver to post totals like that in two consecutive games. Keilahn Harris had a run of four straight games in 2022 with those marks and had a stretch of five consecutive games in 2021. Additionally, Josh Cornell reached those statistics in 2019 and 2021 while Josh Pettijohn did the same during games against East Central and Arkansas-Monticello in 2016.
WATKINS WINS ANOTHER
On Oct. 23, freshman special teams player Luke Watkins was named the GAC's Athlete of the Week. It is the second time this season Watkins has earned the honor, making him the only Bison specialist to achieve that. The only other kicker in program history to collect the league's weekly nod was Luke Wendl in 2018. He punted 10 times against Northwestern and landed four of those inside the 20-yard line. Watkins also averaged 39.9 yards per punt.
This season, he is the conference leader with 16 punts inside the 20. The McKinney, Texas native has also booted the ball 50-plus yards or more a half-dozen times. To date, only one freshman in the country has a better yards-per-punt average than Watkins (40.7): Concord's Josh Hutley (43.43). Watkins has been just as effective when attempting field goals, as his nine makes rank in a tie for second in the conference. He has a season-long make of 44 yards and accounts for 41 of OBU's total points scored this season.
TO THE FRONT OF THE LINE
Sophomore corner Tainique Taylor moved into the GAC lead in pass break-ups after last week's 28-7 win over Northwestern Oklahoma State. He had a PBU along the right hash in the first quarter before jarring a Rangers receiver near the OBU sideline in the fourth. Taylor bumped his record-setting OBU season to 15 break-ups which is two more than Southern Arkansas' Melvin Smith Jr. Through eight games, Taylor has two interceptions and 13 passes defensed, an average of 1.9 per contest. That's good for seventh in Division II.
KEEP 'EM COMING
Make it five straight games with a sack for sophomore Brett Karhu. He got another one on Oct. 21 against Northwestern, moving his season total to nine. He is atop the GAC with that number and ranks fourth in the country. Plus, Karhu is only 1.5 sacks off the national lead held by UNC Pembroke's Jamae Blank. Also of note, no Bison defensive lineman in the D2 era has ever recorded a sack in five consecutive games.
Karhu has tied the OBU Division II single season record for sacks (9.0), set by Robert Lolofie in 2021. Additionally, Karhu moved to fifth all-time in program history with 10.0 sacks in his career. He needs another to tie Bryden Pitzer for the fourth-best total in the NCAA era (11.0).
WHOA NELLY
Did you see the box score after last week's win against Northwestern? The Bison generated a season-high and GAC-program best 13.0 tackles-for-loss against the Rangers. It was the seventh occurrence in OBU's D2 history that a Bison defensive unit generated at least 10.0 TFLs and the second time this year. The previous high came a season ago, 11.0, also against Northwestern. During last week's 28-7 win, Karhu and Scooter Baker led with 2.0 apiece while Nick Carpin generated 1.5 TFLs. In total, 12 OBU defenders helped attain that mark.
This Oklahoma Baptist defense has a chance to do something no other unit has done since joining the NCAA in 2015. Four out of the last seven seasons (2016, 2017, 2018, 2022), the Bison defense had allowed 40 or more points per game. Those remaining three, OBU gave up the following points per game: 34.8 ppg (2015), 34.5 ppg (2019), and 30.3 ppg (2021). In 2023, opponents are averaging just 24.8 points against the Bison, which ranks sixth in the conference. The green and gold could set a new program-best mark with three guaranteed games remaining.
The season (2021) Oklahoma Baptist allowed its least amount of points per game (DII era), they finished with a program-best 8-4 record and a postseason bowl victory. That defense posted 79 tackles-for-loss and 34.0 sacks. This season, OBU has 54.0 TFL and 26.0 sacks, with the latter ranking second in the GAC. The number of sacks is already the second-most in the DII era, while the TFL total is fourth-most. In the 2015 and 2016, the Bison recorded 62.0 and 60.0 tackles behind the line of scrimmage, respectively.
SCOUTING THE BOLL WEEVILS
Arkansas-Monticello holds a 2-6 record going into week nine of action in Great American Conference football. The Boll Weevils have lost six straight after beginning the season 2-0. Their last triumph came over Southwestern Oklahoma State in week two, where they beat down the Bulldogs 58-21 at home.
Much of UAM's struggles can be credited to the loss of their All-GAC performer and starting signal caller, Demilon Brown. The senior quarterback went down against Ouachita Baptist in week four. Up to that point, he'd thrown for 1,046 yards and 11 touchdowns to go along with 223 rushing yards and three scores. He still leads the Boll Weevils in the aforementioned categories. Since, redshirt freshman Buddy Taylor has taken over the quarterbacking duties.
Taylor has compiled 1,029 yards and four scores with eight interceptions. Additionally, he ranks fifth in the GAC in passing yards per game (169.8). His favorite target, junior wideout Isaiah Cross, checks in with 497 yards and three touchdowns on 37 receptions. Nick Howard, the Boll Weevils' next leading receiver, totals 417 yards with a team-best four touchdowns. On the ground, Gary Ferman is the leading rusher with 142 yards, averaging 5.1 yards per carry. Collectively, UAM is sixth in the GAC in total offense (368.5). Of note, opponents have sacked UAM's quarterbacks a league-high 27 times.
Defensively, the Boll Weevils rank ninth of 12 in the GAC in total defense as teams are averaging 379.5 yards per game. During their losing streak, UAM gave over 450-plus yards three times. Monticello's rushing defense ranks 10th (194.1). Damarous White leads UAM and is 21st in the GAC in total tackles (45) while Alfernee Hankins checks in at No. 4 with 11.0 tackles-for-loss. In the defensive secondary, Greg Hooks is third in the conference with 11 pass break-ups.
Lastly, UAM has committed a tie of the league's most penalties (71), accounting for 631 yards lost. That is a tie for eighth most in DivisIon II football.
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