Page 23 - 2018 Arkansas Football

Sunday, August 26, 2018 Arkansas Democrat-Gazette 23K
GREAT AMERICAN CONFERENCE PREVIEW
In GAC, it’s hard to separate Arkansas teams
JEFF KRUPSAW
SPECIAL TO THE DEMOCRAT-GAZETTE
There are countless angles to work when attempting to make sense of Great American Conference football, especially on the Arkansas side.
Want a winning pedigree?
Start with Harding University, which has gone 24-5 over the past two seasons, including five victories in the NCAA Divi- sion II playoffs.
The Bisons are respected nationally — ranked No. 7 in the preseason D-II poll — as well as regionally. GAC coaches made Harding the preseason conference favorite, with of 8 of 12 voting the Bisons as their choice to finish on top.
“The bar doesn’t go down,” said sec- ond-year Harding Coach Paul Simmons, whosawhisteamwin11inarowandad- vance to the national semifinals after an 0-3 start. “I hate that.”
Last year’s conference champion, Ouachita Baptist University, finished 9-3 after being eliminated in the first round of the playoffs. The Tigers are No. 24 in the Division II preseason poll.
Coach Todd Knight, entering his 19th sea- son in Arkadelphia, knows how to play the pass-the-pressure-to-somebody else game as well as anybody, noting that Harding won eight consecutive conference games, plus three road victories in the playoffs.
“I’d pick ‘em, too,” said Knight, whose team returns offensive starters at every po- sition except quarterback. “I think there are three or four teams that should have been picked ahead of us.”
Neither Harding nor OBU have a re- turning starter at quarterback, and they are not alone.
Arkansas Tech University (picked to fin- ish tied for fourth) and Henderson State (picked to finish sixth) face the same situ- ation, and it’s something ATU Coach Ray- mond Monica said can’t be underestimated.
“I think the quarterback situation is a big key,” said Monica, pointing to Southern Arkansas University (Barrett Renner) and the University of Arkansas at Monticello (Cole Sears, 2,668 yards, 29 touchdowns last season) as the Arkansas teams with experienced, productive returning starters at quarterback.
Henderson State Coach Scott Maxfield agreed.
“SAU’s got the best quarterback,” Max- field said of Renner.
“That guy is a stud,” Harding’s Simmons said.
Renner enters his senior season with 9,905 career passing yards and 95 touch- downs, a Hail Mary from taking down the state’s all-time passing leader, Henderson State’s Kevin Rodgers (13,678 yards, 124 touchdowns).
Southern Arkansas Coach Bill Koepple won’t downplay his team’s chances.
Final GAC standings
CONF. ALL
Ouachita Baptist ........................... 9-2 9-3 Harding...................................... 8-3 11-4
Arkansas GAC schedules All games are conference games
Arkansas Tech.............................. 8-3
Southeastern Oklahoma State.................7-4
Southern Arkansas ........................ 7-4 Henderson State ........................... 6-5 Arkansas-Monticello ...................... 5-6 Northwestern Oklahoma State ................5-6 Southern Nazarene ..................................4-7 Southwestern Oklahoma State................3-8 East Central (Okla.) ..................................2-9 Oklahoma Baptist.....................................2-9
8-4
7-4
7-4 6-5 5-6 5-6 4-7 3-8 2-9 2-9
DATE
Aug. 30 Sept. 8 Sept. 15 Sept. 22 Sept. 29 Oct. 6 Oct. 13 Oct. 20 Oct. 27 Nov. 3 Nov. 10
DATE
Aug. 30 Sept. 8 Sept. 15 Sept. 22 Sept. 29 Oct. 6 Oct. 13 Oct. 20 Oct. 27 Nov. 3 Nov. 10
DATE
Aug. 30 Sept. 8 Sept. 15 Sept. 22 Sept. 29 Oct. 6 Oct. 13 Oct. 20 Oct. 27 Nov. 3 Nov. 10
Arkansas-Monticello OPPONENT
at SW Oklahoma State NW Oklahoma State at East Central (Okla.) SE Oklahoma State Harding
at Arkansas Tech
at Southern Nazarene Oklahoma Baptist Ouachita Baptist
at Henderson State Southern Arkansas
Arkansas Tech OPPONENT
at Southern Arkansas Henderson State
at Oklahoma Baptist Southern Nazarene
at Ouachita Baptist Arkansas-Monticello at NW Oklahoma State SW Oklahoma State
at SE Oklahoma State East Central (Okla.) at Harding
Harding OPPONENT
at Henderson State Southern Arkansas at Southern Nazarene Oklahoma Baptist
at Arkansas-Monticello Ouachita Baptist
at SW Oklahoma State NW Oklahoma State
at East Central (Okla.) SE Oklahoma State Arkansas Tech
TIME
6 p.m. 6 p.m. 6 p.m. 1 p.m. 1 p.m. 6 p.m. 1 p.m. 3 p.m. 1 p.m. 2 p.m. 1 p.m.
TIME
6 p.m. 6 p.m. 1 p.m. 6 p.m. noon 6 p.m. 2 p.m. 2 p.m. 2 p.m. 2 p.m. 2 p.m.
TIME
7 p.m. 6 p.m. 1 p.m. 6 p.m. 1 p.m. 6 p.m. 2 p.m. 2 p.m. 4 p.m. 2 p.m. 2 p.m.
DATE
Aug. 30 Sept. 8
Sept. 15 Sept. 22 Sept. 29
Oct. 6
Oct. 13
Oct. 20
Oct. 27
Nov. 3
Nov. 10
*at El Dorado
DATE
Aug. 30 Sept. 8 Sept. 15 Sept. 22 Sept. 29 Oct. 6 Oct. 13 Oct. 18 Oct. 27 Nov. 3 Nov. 10
DATE
Aug. 30 Sept. 8
Sept. 15 Sept. 22 Sept. 29
Oct. 6
Oct. 13
Oct. 20
Oct. 27
Nov. 3
Nov. 10
*at El Dorado
Henderson State OPPONENT
Harding
at Arkansas Tech
at NW Oklahoma State SW Oklahoma State
at Southern Nazarene Oklahoma Baptist
at East Central (Okla.) SE Oklahoma State
vs. Southern Arkansas* Arkansas-Monticello Ouachita Baptist
Ouachita Baptist OPPONENT
at NW Oklahoma State SW Oklahoma State
at SE Oklahoma State East Central (Okla.) Arkansas Tech
at Harding
at Oklahoma Baptist Southern Nazarene
at Arkansas-Monticello Southern Arkansas
at Henderson State
Southern Arkansas OPPONENT
Arkansas Tech
at Harding
at SW Oklahoma State NW Oklahoma State
at Oklahoma Baptist Southern Nazarene
at SE Oklahoma State East Central (Okla.)
vs. Henderson State* at Ouachita Baptist
at Arkansas-Monticello
TIME
7 p.m. 6 p.m. 6 p.m. 6 p.m. 1 p.m. 2 p.m. 3 p.m. 2 p.m. 2 p.m. 2 p.m. 1 p.m.
TIME
6 p.m. 6 p.m. 6 p.m. 6 p.m. noon 6 p.m. 1 p.m. 6 p.m. 1 p.m. 1 p.m. 1 p.m.
TIME
6 p.m.
6 p.m.
6 p.m.
6 p.m.
1 p.m.
2 p.m.
2 p.m. 2:30 p.m. 2 p.m.
1 p.m. 1 p.m.
Along with the return of Renner, the 2017 GAC Offensive Player of the Year, the Muleriders also feature the conference’s reigning defensive player of the year, line- man Davondrick Lison.
The Muleriders finished 7-4 after being picked to win it all in 2017.
“I think we’ve got a chance to have a good year,” said Koepple, pleased to be se- lected third instead of first. “We’ve got our trigger-guy back, so that’s critical.”
The only one of six Arkansas teams to finish under .500 last season was UAM, which finished 5-6 after dropping its final three games.
“I think we’ve got a chance to be good,” UAM Coach Hud Jackson said.
The loss of wide receiver Jalen Tolliv- er (67 catches, 1,109 yards, 16 TDs) is one gaping hole the Boll Weevils have to fill.
Replacing skill players isn’t a problem at OBU, where the Tigers return 10 offensive starters — a good thing when breaking in a quarterback like Braden Brazeal, a redshirt freshman from England.
“The situation we’re in, 10 returning starters, we’ve got to play really good around him early,” Knight said. “This is the best scenario for us to break in a young quarterback.”
The Tigers’ top two receivers — Allie Freeman (63-879 receiving, 9 TDs) and Drew Harris (42-723, 6 TDs) — are back, along with their top rusher Kris Oliver (131- 795 rushing, 3 TDs).
Harding will rely on a defense that re- turns 10 starters, a unit that matured during its 11-game winning streak.
The Bisons don’t have a returning start- ing quarterback, but they’ve got the next best thing with Preston Paden, a redshirt sophomore who didn’t play a meaningful snap until the 15th game. He was thrust into the starting role for the national semifinals, after Terrence Dingle was declared ineligi- ble by the NCAA.
The Bisons lost to Texas A&M-Com- merce 31-17 without Dingle, but nobody complained about Paden’s performance.
“He’s a no-flinch kind of guy,” Simmons said. “He knows who he is.”
Harding is strong up the middle on the offensive line, with center Bryce Bray and guards Heath and Keith Pledger, who are
identical twins.
Sophomore fullback Cole Chancey
(253-1,347 rushing, 15 TDs) led the team in rushing, but Grant Kimberlin, Zach Shelley, Dingle and Brandon Gates (2,921 yards, 33 TDs combined) have to be replaced.
“We lost a lot of production on offense,” Simmons said.
Linebacker Sam Blankenship anchors a defense that benefits from an offense that controlled the ball 35:24 per game.
One team that can’t be forgotten is Hen- derson State, which went 6-5 under Max- well, its fewest victories since 2010.
“We weren’t happy with what our out- come was last year,” Maxfield said. “We had some inconsistencies. We had a little bit of complacency. We felt like we could just show up. There’s teams that can beat you any week.”
And that includes the six Oklahoma teams, even though only one of them, Southeastern Oklahoma State, was picked to finish in the top five. The other five Oklahoma teams — Northwestern Okla-
homa State, Southern Nazarene, South- western Oklahoma State, East Central and Oklahoma Baptist — were projected to finish eighth, ninth, 10th and tied for 11th.
Coaches from Arkansas are careful with their words when talking about the Okla- homa teams.
“It’s a phenomenal league,” OBU’s Knight said. “Southeast had one of the top teams before they started losing quarter- backs. You can’t take a week off.
“You tell me where our soft spot is. You can’t take a week off.”
The GAC is one of the few conferences in college football at any division to play nothing but conference games. No war- mups for these guys, something Simmons learned the hard way last season with an 0-3 start in his first season.
This year, Harding opens at Henderson, then plays host to SAU.
“We haven’t talked about the conference title, the playoffs or anything like that,” Sim- mons said. “It’s been, ‘Let’s just figure out awaytogetawin.’”