SHAWNEE – Oklahoma Baptist and Ouachita will square off for the tenth time on Saturday, Oct. 4 at noon inside Cliff Harris Stadium.
Both teams enter with a 1-3 record. Last week, the Bison fell at Southwestern Oklahoma State 38-24 while Ouachita was dealt a 24-7 loss by No. 2 Harding.
The Bison Sports Radio Network's Todd Miller and Dave Myrick will have the call of the game starting at 11:30 a.m. Below are notes on both teams.
Harris Reaches Rarified Air
Wide receiver
Nick Harris accomplished a feat against SWOSU that had only been achieved two other times for the OBU program in 104 all-time NCAA Division II games. The Bison's receiver had an 80-yard touchdown grab and followed that up with a three-yard scoring scamper versus the Bulldogs. The only other players to record a receiving and rushing touchdown in the same game were Tyler Stuever against Southern Nazarene on Nov. 16, 2019 and Stephan Turner against Arkansas-Monticello on Oct. 3, 2015.
More on Harris
On top of Harris' rare single-game feat, he surpassed 1,000 career receiving yards after his performance against SWOSU. The Dallas, Texas native is up to 1,031 yards. He's the 10th player in school history to reach that total. Furthermore, his 297 receiving yards this season ranks him second in the conference.
Thornton Strikes Again
OBU's last touchdown against SWOSU came courtesy of
Haydn Thornton. Following a bobbled snap by
Deuce Wise, the running back gathered himself and soft-tossed a pass to the Bison's 6-foot-2 sophomore from Oklahoma City. Thornton corralled it, his third receiving score of 2025. He's now tied with Eli Paul (2019) for the most touchdown catches by a tight end in the D2 era.
Plus, Thornton is ranked atop the GAC with his scoring catches.
Among the Best
OBU's passing offense jumped five spots (24th to 19th) in the NCAA database after last weekend's game against SWOSU. The Bison now average 277.3 passing yards per game. On top of that national mark, it's the No. 2 total in the GAC.
TJ McMahon leads the effort with 712 passing yards, the fifth-best total in the league.
Plus-One for Whitebear
Senior cornerback
Chase Whitebear notched another pass break-up last Saturday at Southwestern. That ran his season mark to seven, a career-high. Through four weeks, Whitebear's total is ranked first in the Great American Conference and checks in at fifth in the country. The D2 national leader is Darnell Stephens from Fort Valley State with 10.
Pursuing the Ball
Five different Bison recorded at least eight tackles last week at Southwestern.
Jojo Wash led with 11,
Austin Vincent and
Colt Humphrey each added nine while
Maddux Boyd and
Aditya Singh totaled eight. Plus, Boyd, a freshman, added 1.0 tackles-for-loss and a pass break-up.
This season, the Bison have four of the top-14 tacklers in the GAC: Humphrey (6th; 27),
Noah Loyd (11th; 28),
Caleb Giles (13th; 26) and Whitebear (13th; 26).
Rushing Defense Woes
Southwestern powered to 388 rushing yards last Saturday in Weatherford. That was the second-best single-game total in Bulldogs history dating back to 2001. OBU will have to clean this portion of its game up. Through four weeks, the green and gold rank 12th in the GAC and 152nd (out of 157 D2 schools) allowing 245.8 yards per game.
Not Your Typical Game vs. Ouachita
Remarkably, the Tigers have a 1-3 record coming into this early-October matchup with Oklahoma Baptist. Think about this: the last time Ouachita had three losses in a season was 2017. And that third loss in 2017 came in the NCAA Division II playoffs against powerhouse Ferris State. The last time the Tigers had more than three losses was during the 2016 campaign when they generated a 7-4 record.
Coach's Thoughts
HC
Chris Jensen: "Despite their record, they have a strong team once again. They are bringing more pressure on defense and spreading you out to run the ball on offense. Special teams have always been a strength for their team, and it is no different this year. We are focused on playing our best game this week."
OC
Daniel Eaton: "Ouachita is extremely well coached, and has some great scheme stuff. Their secondary plays very physical and we've got to match that on Saturday."
DC
Tyler Roberts: "We're excited for this matchup with one of the best quarterbacks in the conference. They have a veteran offensive line that can move you off the ball. They are physical. This season, Ouachita has been doing a great job with motions and formations and challenging your eyes. We're very motivated to show what we can do in this matchup."
About Ouachita Baptist
As mentioned before, the Tigers are in unchartered waters with a 1-3 record. The last time the Ouachita program was 1-3 through four games: 2006. That's a span of 192 games.
Despite the slow start this year for coach Todd Knight's team, they've had great success against Oklahoma Baptist. The team from Arkadelphia has never lost against the Bison, holding a 9-0 record. As of late, the last three games in fact, Ouachita has scored at least 42 points, including a pair of 55-point outings against the green and gold the last two seasons.
One of the Tigers' main issues this fall has been getting off the field. The Ouachita defense is 11th in the GAC in both third down and fourth down conversion percentage defense. Opponents are converting 48.1 percent on third down and 75 percent on fourth.
On a bright note, defensively, Ouachita leads the GAC with eight fumble recoveries.
Leading the charge on that side of the ball is Justin Crutchmer. He averages 7.3 tackles per game, a mark that's sixth-best in the conference. Crutchmer is also tied for the GAC lead with two fumble recoveries.
Offensively, there are two impactful players for Ouachita: quarterback Nate TenBarge and wide receiver Carter McElhany.
TenBarge is the conference leader in yards per completion (14.76) and third in total offense at 242.3 yards per game. The sophomore also has three rushing touchdowns, good for second in the GAC.
McElhany has been a force the last few seasons. In 2023, he was the GAC Freshman of the Year. Last season, he earned All-GAC Third Team honors. This season, he's fourth in the league in receiving yards (240), has a kickoff return for a touchdown, the only player in the GAC to do so, and is fifth in all-purpose yards per game (100.0).
Along the special teams front, Dax Jaggers and Nick Parker lead that unit. Jaggers is 4-of-6 (66.7%) in field goals with a long of 30. That percentage is third-best in the conference. As for Parker, his average of 39.7 yards per punt in slotted fourth in the GAC. Six of his punts have landed inside the 20-yard line while four have reached at least 50 yards.
