SHAWNEE – The Oklahoma Baptist football team is 3-1 to start the season for the second time since joining Division II, and looks to build upon its momentum with No. 24 Henderson State (3-1) coming to town this Saturday for the annual Hall of Fame Game on Bison Hill. Kickoff inside Crain Family Stadium at the Hurt Complex is scheduled for 7 p.m.
Saturday's contest will double as the recognition for four new OBU Athletics Hall of Fame inductees and as a game to raise awareness for Duchenne muscular dystrophy, put on by the AFCA's Coach to Cure MD initiative. Fans will see AFCA coaches, including head coach
Chris Jensen, wearing the Coach to Cure MD logo patch on the sidelines, educating fans about the cause on and inviting young men battling Duchenne to their campuses over the next two weekends.
OBU has never beaten Henderson State, as the opposition leads the all-time series 7-0. When the programs first met in 2015, the Bison nearly bested the then-ranked No. 9 Reddies 22-14.
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
MATCHUP HISTORY
Though HSU has come out on top in the previous matchups, the wins have not come easy in Shawnee. Here are the finals from the four all-time meetings at Crain Family Stadium: 36-34 (2021), 35-28 (2019), 14-13 (2017), 22-14 (2015). The most recent contest in 2021 was a thriller that saw Henderson State prevail with a game-winning field goal as time expired. OBU's defense produced 4.0 sacks, 6.0 tackles-for-loss, and an interception in the game, categories they've found success in this season. The same production will be called upon against an offensive line that has given up the fifth-most sacks in the conference.
CAUSING HAVOC
In last week's dominant defensive showing at East Central, the Bison defense tallied 10 tackles-for-loss including five sacks. That boosted the team's total to 13.0 sacks. With that, OBU moved into a tie for 17th in the country. Only one other GAC school has been better on the sacks front through four weeks: Southern Arkansas. The Muleriders have registered 14 so far. Furthermore, OBU has already reached the number of sacks it attained all of last season.
YOU CAN BE SURE OF SPENCER
He has made, arguably, the biggest splash on defense through four games. Junior safety Brandon Spencer, who didn't have an interception as a freshman or sophomore, has picked off three passes so far. That's good for an eighth-place tie in Division II and two off the lead of Central Washington's Tanner Volk. Plus, he needs only one more interception to tie the OBU single-season record held by D'Ante Meeking in 2013 and 2015 and Eugene Estes (2013).
Spencer's interception against East Central brings the team's total to five, which ranks second in the GAC. With an interception in all but one game in 2023, Spencer and company are on track to eclipse last season's sum (6) and pursue the most single-season picks in the program's Division II era (15), attained in 2015.
THERE'S THIS OTHER GUY, TOO: TAINIQUE TAYLOR
Taylor's presence on the boundary has paid huge dividends for the Bison pass defense. He has six pass break-ups as well as an interception for a total of seven PBUs. That slots the sophomore from Longview, Texas in a tie for ninth place in the country. To date, his seven passes defensed are the second-highest total by a Bison corner in the D2 era. Tyler King had seven in 2021 while program great, Meeking, notched 10 in 2016. Taylor adds eight tackles, the second-most at the cornerback position for OBU.
STAYING NEAR THE TOP
Sophomore Brett Karhu came up with another sack last week versus East Central. He has four to his name in 2023, which is good for fourth in the GAC and 17th in the nation. After one sack in his freshman campaign, Karhu has flipped a switch and has his eyes set on the Bison single-season sack record for a defensive lineman (9.0), held by Robert Lolofie. Lolofie posted three games with 2.5 or more sacks in 2021, including a three sack performance that earned him conference player of the week honors. Karhu matched the sack total (3.0) in the first game of the season and also garnered the league's nod for his actions.
Karhu has 11 tackles this year to go along with a team-best 6.0 tackles for loss. His contributions against opposing quarterbacks has steered the Bison defense to a match of the program's third-most sacks in a season (13.0) since joining the NCAA, 21.0 off the DII record of 34.0 sacks recorded in 2021.
BAKER, THE BIG-HITTER
Last week's box score against East Central saw Scooter Baker attain a team season-high 15 tackles, including eight solo stops. That mark is tied for the fourth-most in a single game in OBU's Division II history and three off the record held by Josh Arnold who notched 18 during a matchup with Arkansas-Monticello on Oct. 20, 2018. For Baker, he currently ranks 38th in the nation with 33 tackles, and fourth in the GAC in the same category.
For his efforts, Baker was awarded the league's defensive player of the week honor for the second time in his career and first time on Bison Hill. He earned another in 2021 as a member of Southeastern Oklahoma State. The Jacksonville, Texas native recorded 3.0 TFLs one other time in his career. That performance, a Nov. 6 matchup against Ouachita Baptist while playing for Southeastern in 2021, earned him the league's weekly honor as mentioned before. In his career, which includes stops at Southeastern (2019-21) and the University of Incarnate Word (2022), Baker totals 176 tackles, 12.0 TFLs, 3.5 sacks, three fumble recoveries, and one forced fumble.
MOORE'S BIG NIGHT
EJ Moore went for a career-high 153 yards against East Central last week. That included an impressive 6.7 yards-per-carry average. In the process, he became just the third OBU sophomore in the D2 era to reach 150 yards. The last time a second-year player went for 150-plus yards was by program great Tyler Stuever. He rushed for 184 yards against Northwestern Oklahoma State on Nov. 2, 2019. Furthermore, Moore's rushing total marked just the 13th time in OBU's D2 history that a player ran for 150 yards.
WHO DO YOU STOP
Through four games, Bison receivers Nick Harris, Michael Marshall and Jaiden Henry have each hauled in two receiving touchdowns from quarterback Aidan Thompson. That makes OBU's receiving corps one of only three GAC teams to have three players each with two scores. Saturday's opponent, Henderson State, is one of those teams as well as Arkansas-Monticello. For Marshall, his total has tied his personal-high attained during the 2022 and 2021 campaigns and as for Henry and Harris, their two receiving touchdowns are personal-bests.
SCOUTING THE REDDIES
Much is to be said about the nationally ranked Reddies of Henderson State, who will march into Shawnee this weekend with a 3-1 record following a 27-16 loss against No. 10 Harding. HSU, who has reached as high as at No. 20 in the AFCA Division II football rankings, saw its placing drop after Saturday's loss. Henderson State stands alongside Oklahoma Baptist and two other teams with one loss in the Great American Conference.
The Reddies are led by head coach Scott Maxfield, who boasts an 128-63 record at the helm. Under Maxfield's tutelage, HSU has seen three GAC championships (2012, 2013, 2015) since joining the league in 2011. Furthermore, Henderson State has reached the Division II playoffs three times since 2012.
What stands out this season for HSU is its passing attack that accounts for 256 yards per game, the second-most in the conference. Redshirt-sophomore quarterback Andrew Edwards is the sole contributor in the passing game, totaling 1,024 yards with eight touchdowns without an interception. He is one of three signal callers in the country with 1,000-plus yards and no interceptions. Edwards has spread the ball well between three targets: Jalen Abraham (264 yds), Timieone Jackson (251 yds), and Chris Hatzis (224 yds). Abraham heads the trio with three scores while Jackson has the most receptions in the conference (26).
Henderson averages 147 yards per game on the ground, the fifth-best rate in the league. Junior tailbacks Korien Burrell and Jaquarion Turner have split the backfield duties, totaling 204 and 152 yards, respectively. Edwards also doubles as a running threat, leading the Reddies in rushing scores (3) while ranking second in yards (197).
The HSU defense is tied for the most sacks in the conference (14), including 10 in the last three weeks. Their success up front proves why they rank fifth in the league in total defense (326.5 yds/gm) and fourth in rushing defense (135.8 yds/gm).
Three Reddies, Jakob Neel, Tyler Strain, and Zach Dixon have 20-plus stops this season. The trio also has a combined 6.0 TFLs, led by Strain's 2.5 tackles behind the line of scrimmage. However, defensive lineman Trenton Moore and Denzel Walter are the reasons HSU has caused the most havoc in opposing backfields as they have 3.5 and 3.0 sacks, respectively. Henderson State is the only school with multiple players ranked in the top 10 for sacks in the league.
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