ARKADELPHIA, AR- The Ouachita Tigers (5-2, 4-0 GAC) have been nothing short of spectacular this season, currently standing as the only team in the Great American Conference without a conference loss, and as of this week, being ranked eighth in NCAA Division II Super Region 4. The Tigers need to move to sixth in Super Region 4 to make the NCAA Division II Playoffs and will be looking to advance their placement this weekend when they travel to Searcy, Arkansas for a meeting with the Harding Bisons (3-5, 2-1 GAC).

DEFENSIVE PREPARATION IS KEY 
The Tiger defense is going to have to come ready to play, as Harding is coming off a performance in which they scored 70 points against Southwestern Oklahoma. The Tigers will be looking to stop Harding's option attack by looking to senior linebacker Terrence Garrett to lead the defense. Garrett is coming off a performance against Southern Arkansas in which he recorded 13 tackles, a forced fumble, a sack and three pass break ups. He currently leads the Tiger defense with 50 tackles, including two sacks, two forced fumbles and three pass break ups. Junior linebacker Augustine Ume-Ezeoke has also been a force for Ouachita this season, collecting 46 tackles of his own to complement an interception, two forced fumbles and three pass break ups. Leading the secondary against the Bisons will be junior safety Dijon Benton. Benton currently leads all defensive backs with 41 tackles, two interceptions, one of which he took back for a touchdown, two forced fumbles, four pass break ups and a fumble recovery.

MOVING THE BALL WITH A PURPOSE
On offense, the Tigers will be relying on junior quarterback Casey Cooper to help lead them into the end zone. After last week, Cooper has collected 629 yards on the ground, including seven touchdowns while throwing for 1311 yards and seven touchdowns. He is currently averaging 277.2 total yards per game. To keep the Harding defense on their toes, the Tigers will also be using running backs Chris Rycraw and Daniel McGee quite a bit. Both backs have scored eight touchdowns this season while Rycraw is averaging 62.7 yards per game to McGee's 56.6 yards per game. The Tiger receivers are going to have to come up big as well if the Tigers are going to down the Bisons. Senior Travis Anderson currently leads all receivers with 25 receptions. Junior Brett Reece leads the receiving yards category though as he has gathered 23 catches for a total of 394 yards and two touchdowns so far this year.

DON'T FORGET SPECIAL TEAMS
Although the Tiger offense has been very productive all season long, a lot of Ouachita's success can be credited to special teams. Junior kicker Jason Fowler has only gotten better as the season has drug on, as he is currently 7 of 12 on the year, including two successful 40 yard kicks, matching his career high. Sophomore punter Clark Gaddis has also been a big factor in the Tigers recent success. Gaddis is averaging 40.9 yards per punt this season, including a long of 57 and six punts longer than 50 yards, while pinning opponents inside their own 20 yard line 11 times so far this season.

BISONS RUNNING GAME COULD SPELL TROUBLE
So far this season, Harding has only recorded 561 yards through the air, but they make up for the lack of passing success with their success running the option. Harding currently has 3073 yards on the ground, including five players who average 30 yards or more per game on the ground. Leading the Bison so far this season is Kale Gelles, who currently holds 730 rushing yards and two touchdowns to his name, while averaging 104.3 yards per game. Kelvin Martin is currently averaging 55.8 yards per game on the ground for Harding, while collecting 446 rushing yards and seven touchdowns so far this season. Also notable is starting quarterback Chaz Rogers, who currently holds 426 yards on the ground and 10 touchdowns while averaging 53.2 yards per game. Through the air, Rogers currently holds 471 yards and five touchdowns while only completing 35.3 percent of his passes.

HARDING RUN STOPPERS
If the Harding defense does anything in particular that the Tigers are going to have to keep an eye on, it is creating pressure in the backfield. So far this season, the Bisons have gathered 56 tackles for loss. Josh Aldridge currently leads the team in that category with 11. Aaron Gillaspy is another force to be reckoned with for Harding, as he has recorded 53 tackles this season, including four tackles for loss and a sack. Cooper will have to be careful with his passes as well, as Harding possesses some ball hawks, currently holding 11 interceptions on the season. B.J. Jones has recorded four so far this season for the Bisons.

KEY STATS
The Tigers have won the majority of their games this season by forcing turnovers. At the beginning of the season, head coach Todd Knight spoke about how the defense bent but never broke and that continues to be the case. The Tigers have forced 19 turnovers this season, including 11 fumble recoveries. Now remember, they have collected those in just seven games, averaging almost three turnovers a game for the Tiger defense. If the Tigers want to have a shot against Harding's potent run attack, they will need to continue poking the ball loose and forcing pressure on the quarterback. The nice thing about this match-up is the fact that the Tigers have had no trouble stopping the run this season. Their weakness has been in the passing game. Based on the current statistics, the Tigers have a great opportunity to limit Harding's offensive production due to their lack of a passing game.

The Tigers will arrive in Searcy on Saturday and the game will kick off at 3 p.m. You can catch all of the action by tuning in to any of the following stations or by clicking on the "Broadcasts" link under Multimedia on the www.obutigers.com website. Rex Nelson will be covering play-by-play duties, while Dr. Jeff Root and Richard Atkinson will provide color commentary.

Network affiliates of the Ouachita Football Network include:
-KYXK-FM, 106.9, in Arkadelphia-Gurdon
-KELD-FM, 106.5, in El Dorado-Hampton
-KZHS-AM, 590, in Hot Springs
-KVMA-AM, 630, in Magnolia
-KNAS-FM, 105.5, in Nashville
-KUOA-AM, 1290, in Siloam Springs
-KQOR-FM, 105.3, in Mena

-Josh Fink, Sports Information Director