SHAWNEE – Oklahoma Baptist will stay on the road in week-nine action, heading to Arkansas-Monticello for a 2 p.m. game on Nov. 2.
The Bison are coming off a near comeback at Northwestern Oklahoma State, falling 30-28 to the Rangers in Alva on Oct. 26. That result dropped OBU's record to 2-6. On the other sideline, UAM brings a 3-5 record into Saturday's game. The Boll Weevils fell 42-7 at Henderson State last week.
Todd Miller of the Bison Sports Network will be on the call of the game at UAM, with assistance from Director of Communications Clayton Coffman. Pregame coverage starts at 1:30 on KGFF.com.
McCrary's Turn
Redshirt sophomore
Camden McCrary came in during the fourth quarter against Northwestern for the injured
Kenny Rosenthal. What followed was two touchdown passes and 104 passing yards, both career-highs. That included deep passes to
Gabe Barres and
Darius Melton plus scoring strikes to Barres and
Gavin McCurley. Coming up on Saturday, McCrary will earn his second career start. Last year, on Oct. 7, he took the opening snaps at Southern Arkansas.
Bombs Over Barres
Last week at Northwestern,
Gabe Barres filled in for some injured wideouts and provided a lift for the Bison offense. The junior from Blanchard pulled in two catches for 51 yards and a score. One of those grabs was a 47-yarder down the sideline from McCary. The other was his first career touchdown, a four-yard completion that brought the scoreboard to 30-22.
Mr. Do-It-All
Darius Melton totaled 202 all-purpose yards last week. That included 155 yards receiving, 41 yards on kickoffs and six on the ground. With that, the redshirt senior from Pompano Beach, Fla., moved into 30th in the NCAA in that category. Heading into the game at Monticello, his 941 all-purpose yards are tops in the Great American Conference. Furthermore, Melton is up to 576 kickoff return yards this season. The most ever attained in single-season OBU history is 716, set by Keilahn Harris in 2022.
Amwayi's First Career Sack
Late in the second quarter, sophomore linebacker
Bradley Amwayi was sent on a blitz and what followed was an early-career milestone: his first career sack. The Mesquite, Texas native took down Northwestern quarterback Brodey Johnson for an 11-yard loss and it helped the Bison defense hold the Rangers to a field goal.
Continuing to Get Better
Freshman safety
Michael Grandy turned in a season-high 11 tackles against Northwestern. That included five solo stops and six assisted tackles. Grandy also registered a tackle-for-loss, his second in four contests, and a part of OBU's 8.0 TFLs for the game. This season, Grandy's 32 tackles lead all Bison freshmen.
Speaking of Defense
On top of the 8.0 tackles-for-loss against the Rangers, the Bison's second-best total of 2024, there were also several pass break-ups provided by the secondary.
Tainique Taylor notched two PBUs while
Jylun Spence,
KJ Price Jr. and
Bryce Starlin each registered one. As for tackles behind the line of scrimmage,
Jahden Brown contributed 2.0 TFLs while Price,
Tyler Johnson, Grandy, Amwayi,
Brady Luff, Spence and
Brayden Johnson added the rest.
Last Time vs. UAM
In a rainy Shawnee on Oct. 28, 2023, the Bison defense held Arkansas-Monticello to 149 yards of total offense during a 28-7 victory. That was the fewest yards allowed in program history.
Scooter Baker registered a career-high 19 tackles while
Chase Whitebear notched eight. Plus,
Tainique Taylor delivered a 54-yard punt return for a touchdown.
Offensively,
Aidan Thompson threw for 146 yards and two touchdowns while
Nick Harris and
Haven Lysell hauled in those scoring catches.
Playing in Monticello
Oklahoma Baptist is 0-3 all-time when playing on the road against UAM. Two years ago, the Boll Weevils won 40-17 but prior to that, the contests were within one possession. During the 2018 campaign, UAM won 45-37 and in 2016, the Boll Weevils were victorious 31-27 as they overcame a 27-24 Bison lead with under four minutes left.
Stacking Things Up
Offensively, both teams are pretty evenly matched. The Bison and Weevils are sixth and seventh, respectively, in passing offense at 166.5 and 161.4 yards per game. On the rushing end, UAM has an advantage rushing for 137 yards per game while OBU is at 86.1. Scoring-wise, the Bison are seventh at 19.8 points per game while UAM is ninth (17.3 ppg).
Defensively, Monticello ranks eighth giving up 367.5 yards of offense to opponents while OBU is 11th (394.1). UAM is also 10th in rushing defense (209.8) with the Bison following (210.5 ypg). Plus, UAM is fifth in passing defense (157.8) while the Bison are ninth (183.6).
