ARKADELPHIA, Ark. - The Ouachita Tigers' football team (4-1) will play the Harding Bison (2-3) in the Tigers' homecoming football game on Saturday afternoon at 12 p.m.
 
The Tigers are coming off of a 35-31 victory over 11th ranked Arkansas Tech. Ouachita's Drew Harris ran for a four-yard touchdown with 1:36 left, and the Tiger defense forced an incomplete pass as time expired to give themselves the victory. Quarterback Austin Warford threw for 293 yards and two touchdowns, while junior receiver Drew Harris finished the game with 178 total yards and three total touchdowns. Three Tiger defenders – Keandre Evans, Elijah Jones and Tevin Jones – had eleven tackles each.
 
The win was the Tigers' second consecutive win and gave them a 4-1 record on the season. They now sit in second place in the Great American Conference where they trail Southeastern Oklahoma, the only team to which they have lost this season.
 
Harding, on the other hand, has won two straight games after starting the season 0-3. Last week, the Bison knocked off Arkansas-Monticello by a final score of 56-46. The team ran for 474 yards in their triple-option offense. Harding has two players with more than 300 rushing yards this season and two players with seven rushing touchdowns each.
 
"They're a triple-option football team. They're going to stay with what they do. They're very talented. There's a few teams which still run it. It's a very, very tough offense to defend," Ouachita Head Coach Todd Knight said. "It's a much different week in practice. To defend the triple option, it's not just about our defense. It's about all three phases. You've got to be good everywhere. You don't get as many possessions on offense because of their time of possession. So, it's not just a deal where you go in there and you try to scheme up defensively. You've got to have a full gameplan and be able to execute and defend an option team, and they're a very good option team."
 
In the last few seasons, Ouachita has played in close games against Harding which had conference title implications. In 2014, when Ouachita won the GAC championship, quarterback Keihl Frazier led Ouachita on a game-winning drive with less than two minutes remaining to beat Harding and maintain their undefeated season. Two seasons ago, the Tigers faced the 12th ranked Bison in homecoming and won 26-21. In that game, Ouachita's tight end caught the winning pass with 1:40 left, and Ouachita's defensive end forced a safety to stop Harding's final drive. Last year, Harding beat Ouachita in Searcy by a final score of 24-20 in route to their undefeated conference slate and subsequent playoff run. Ouachita is 26-31-1 against Harding all-time.
 
"You can count on any time Ouachita and Harding play – it is a rivalry and it probably will go down to the end of the game," Knight said.
 
Every year, Ouachita's football team knows they are going to have to put up a fight against Harding. Even after an emotional win over Arkansas Tech last week and the knowledge that Harding possesses a losing record, Coach Knight does not believe Ouachita will have any trouble getting motivated for their upcoming game.
 
"There won't be any drop off," Knight said. "There will be zero drop off from coaches, players, anybody else. This is a game we look to year round and they do too. We'll play with some emotion and we'll play hard."

Kick-off will be at 12 p.m. at Cliff Harris Stadium in Arkadelphia. If you can't make it to the game, tune in to the livestream at OBUTigers.com.