SHAWNEE – It's Homecoming on the campus of Oklahoma Baptist this weekend as well as week seven action on the gridiron. The Bison host Southwestern Oklahoma State at 6 p.m. with the contest being sponsored by Jersey Mike's Subs.
The Bison Sports Network crew of Toddy Miller, Scott Wanish and John Brooks will be on the call of the game starting at 5:30 p.m. on KGFF.com.
Homecoming Special
Saturday's contest with Southwestern Oklahoma State marks the 11th Homecoming game since the program restarted in 2013. The Bison are 6-4 on this day and have won five of their last six including last year's 28-7 victory over Northwestern Oklahoma State. This will be the second time the green and gold match up with SWOSU on Homecoming. The last time came during the 2017 season when OBU won 28-24.
Historically Speaking
Just like the recent Homecoming games, the Bison have fared well against SWOSU. They have won five of the last six contests and in the D2 era, hold a 5-3 series advantage. The Bulldogs won the first two meetings in 2015 and 2016, but since then OBU has controlled the series. Southwestern's only win in the last six tries was a 38-31 overtime victory in Shawnee on Sept. 24, 2022.
Rosenthal's Return
Six-foot-one dual-threat quarterback
Kenny Rosenthal moved back into the Bison depth chart this week. It's anticipated that he'll see significant playing time against SWOSU. A season ago, made his first career start against the Bulldogs in Weatherford on Oct. 14, 2023. He helped lead the green and gold to a 20-13 win. In that contest, he threw for 231 with one touchdown and rushed for 24 yards and a score.
Quite the Return Specialist
Redshirt senior
Darius Melton added 85 kickoff return yards against Southern Arkansas last Thursday in Shawnee. That bumped his season total to 507 yards. That's not only the best mark in the Great American Conference (by 237 yards), it's the sixth-best total in the nation. Also, Melton's 507 return yards are second-most in school history. To date, program great Keilahn Harris owns the single-season kickoff return yardage record with 716 yards during the 2022 season.
Stepping Up
Over the last few weeks, Bison linebacker
Tyler Johnson has filled in very well for injured linebacker
Brayden Johnson (who is expected to be available against SWOSU). Johnson, a 5-foot-11 sophomore from Tulsa has racked up 26 total tackles. That included 13 tackles at Henderson State and 10 against Southern Arkansas. With those performances, Johnson shot up to 13
th in the league in total tackles.
Stacking Things Up
Offensively, both teams have had their struggles. SWOSU is eighth in scoring at 16.0 points per game while the Bison follow at 15.8 points. On the passing front, the Bison are sitting in seventh in the GAC at 141.2 yards per game. As for Southwestern, it ranks 11th averaging 107.0 yards per contest. On the rushing front, SWOSU sit there in fifth overall (157.2) while OBU is 11th (77.3).
Defensively, both teams have not slowed down opponents' rushing attacks. SWOSU is 11th in the league giving up 230.8 rushing yards per game while the Bison follow at 239.0 yards. In the secondary, the Bulldogs have been pretty good. They are fourth allowing 146.8 passing yards per game. As a unit, SWOSU's secondary has recorded 10 picks, a league-high.
OBU's passing defense checks in at tenth, allowing 191.3 passing yards per game.
Last Time vs. SWOSU
During last year's 20-13 win in Weatherford, the Bison generated six sacks and held Southwestern to 241 yards of offense including 166 yards through the air. It was the sixth straight game OBU held a team under 200 yards through the air.
Tainique Taylor broke up a career-best four passes to break the OBU record for PBUs in a season, eclipsing D'Ante Meeking's mark (10) set in 2016.
Quarterback
Kenny Rosenthal racked up 255 yards of offense, a significant contribution towards OBU's total of 305 yards.
Aaron Smith rushed for 51 yards while
Nick Harris hauled in five catches for 90 yards and a touchdown.
Scouting Southwestern
Team statistics were mentioned above but we'll focus individually here. Quarterback Kai Kunz is the GAC leader with 504 rushing yards. He averages 84 yards per game and has scored nine times, second-most in the league. Only one SWOSU receiver is slotted in the conference stat rankings: Baylor Nash. He ranks 24th with 15 catches for 147 yards and one touchdown.
Defensively, Logan Monroe is fifth in the conference with 53 tackles. He is also 18th with 5.5 tackles-for-loss and seventh with 3.0 sacks. In the secondary, there are two outstanding defensive backs for SWOSU: Desmond Greene and Wyatt Rohmer. Green is tied for the GAC lead with eight pass break-ups and five interceptions. As for Rohmer, he has notched a trio of interceptions with four more break-ups.
On special teams, Ethan McBee ranks third with five made field goals while Dylan Mauro ranks third with a 42.2 punting yards average. Maura has also pinned 10 punts inside the 20-yard line with four, 50-yard boots.
