ARKADELPHIA, Ark. – No. 24 Henderson State eyes a return to the win column when it heads to Shawnee, Oklahoma, to take on Oklahoma Baptist Saturday, Sept. 30. Kickoff from Crain Family Stadium is set for 7 p.m.  
 
STORYLINES: SETTING THE SCENE
No. 24 Henderson State suffered its first loss of the season last week against No. 10 Harding, 27-16. The Reddies will look to return to its winning ways when it meets Oklahoma Baptist Saturday, a team which has never beaten HSU in their seven all-time meetings. Henderson has not lost back-to-back games since 2018, which was also the last time the red-and-gray started out 3-2 or worse. In what will be the fifth time for Henderson to make the trip to Shawnee, the previous four such trips have all been decided by eight points or fewer.
 
Oklahoma Baptist has tied its best start through the first four games of a season since joining the GAC in 2015. The Bison have defeated and lost to the same teams Henderson St. has with their 3-1 record coming from wins over Arkansas Tech, Southeastern Oklahoma State and East Central - the same three teams the Reddies have beaten - with their one loss coming against then-No. 12 Harding, as was Henderson's. OKBU has won its three games by a combined score of 82-39 with HSU seeing a 106-65 total such score, while the Bison lost to Harding by 39 compared to 11 for the Reddies.
 
REDDIES REPORT: OFFENSE
Henderson State's offense put up the second most yards Harding has allowed this season, totaling 244 yards with 190 of them coming through the air – also the second most the Bisons have given up in 2023 behind Oklahoma Baptist's 229 in week two. For the second time this season, the Reddies, who are third in the league in turnover margin, did not turn the ball over via interception or fumble, despite playing the GAC's leader in turnover margin in HU after averaging more than two interceptions a game coming into this past Saturday's contest.
 
A big reason for Henderson's ball control success has been quarterback Andrew Edwards, who has the second most pass attempts without throwing an interception of anyone in NCAA Division II this season (Braden Gleason, Emporia State). For his 14-game career, Edwards has 3161 yards and 29 touchdowns to only four interceptions on 348 attempts. Among the national leaders, Edwards is 26th in passing efficiency (156.65), 23rd in passing yards (1024) and 13th in total yards (1221).
 
Korien Burrell (204), Edwards (197) and Jaquarion Turner (152) serve as HSU's three-headed rushing attack as the Reddies are one of just three teams in the conference with at least three players who have 150 or more rushing yards. As an entire unit, Henderson is fifth in the league with 147.0 rushing yards per game. Henderson has only been able to find paydirt with the ground game six times this season as Edwards leads the way with three rushing scores. Korien Burrell, after posting 14 rushing touchdowns last season, has only one through four games this campaign.
 
Wide receiver Timieone Jackson has proven to be Edwards' favorite target as Jackson has a team-high 26 receptions – 14 more than the next closest receiver – including seven or more catches in three of the four contests, for 251 yards. Jalen Abraham continues to lead the squad with 264 receiving yards and three touchdowns while Chris Hatzis, similar to HSU's rushing attack, serves as the third threat in the passing game as the third red-and-gray receiver with 200 or more yards (224). The Reddies currently average the second most passing yards in the conference at 256.0 per game.
 
Henderson State's short-handed offensive line did a fine job keeping Andrew Edwards clean for the most part Saturday, allowing just two sacks while he was hurried six times. Harding was averaging two sacks a game coming into Saturday's contest as the Reddies have allowed a GAC eighth-most 10 sacks.      
 
REDDIES REPORT: DEFENSE – SPECIAL TEAMS
Henderson's defense was brilliant in the first quarter against Harding Saturday, forcing two punts in the first 15 minutes of game time when the Bisons had only punted once in each of its first three games as a whole. For the entire contest, HU punted four times, which it had only done two other times in the previous two seasons heading into Saturday.
 
Henderson forced the Bisons into putting the ball on the turf three times while HSU came away with one of those on special teams. The red-and-gray held Harding to its second fewest rushing yards of the season (353) despite posting a season high in rushing attempts (64) as well as their fewest passing yards (10). After allowing just 136 rushing yards to the leading rushing team in the nation in the first half, HU's bruising rushing style wore down the Reddie defense as it racked up 217 yards on the ground in the second half.
 
Linebacker Jakob Neel led the Reddie defense with eight tackles, establishing himself as the leading tackler with 24 total take-downs. Fellow linebacker Zach Dixon backed up Neel with seven tackles, one of which was a tackle for loss. Back-up linebacker Jordan Owens was busy on the evening, recording five tackles, a tackle for loss, and a forced fumble. As a unit, Henderson logged three tackles for loss.
 
The Reddies are one of the best defenses in getting to the quarterback as they currently are tied for the league lead in sacks and tied for 10th in the country with 14 total sacks. Henderson is currently on pace to have 38.5 sacks by season's end, which would break HSU's single-season GAC record for sacks of 34 set back in 2014. Trenton Moore continues to pace HSU with three sacks – seventh among the conference's leaders – while Tyler Strain and Denzel Walter are ranked ninth and 14th in the conference with two and a half and two sacks, respectively.
 
Four games into the 2023 season, Henderson ranks among the top five in the GAC in scoring defense (23.0 ppg), total defense (326.5 ypg) and rushing defense (135.8 ypg). The Reddies have also improved in defending the passing game, an area where they struggled last season, as they are currently seventh in the league with 190.8 yards allowed per outing.
 
The one takeaway HSU produced on the evening was on special teams as a punt from Kolby King bounced off a Harding player's back before long snapper Connor Villalpando corralled it at the Bisons' 26-yard line before Henderson scored on the ensuing drive to give the game its first points. King punted a total of seven times in the contest, including a long of 50, for an average of 35.1 yards per boot. King also connected on his longest field-goal of the season, hitting on a 38-yard try halfway through the opening period.
 
Neither team saw a punt return Saturday evening, but Henderson returned four kickoffs compared to HU's three. The Reddies did give up 54 yards on two returns to Bisons return specialist Kendale Allen while HSU's Cameron Thomas recorded 49 yards on his two returns, including a long of 25. On the season, Thomas is pacing the team with an average of 23.80 yards per kick return on a minimum of four attempts.
 
SCOUTING OKLAHOMA BAPTIST
Through the early going, Oklahoma Baptist has shattered expectations of what this team would be coming into the 2023 campaign. After finishing 2022 tied for the worst record in the league at 1-10, the Bison have opened a 3-1 record, matching its best four-game start in conference history. This weekend will tell a lot about both teams as the combined record of each teams' victims is 2-10.
 
Oklahoma Baptist has leaned on its defense to help reach its 3-1 record as the green-and-gold are ranked third in the league in scoring defense at 22.0 points per game. In their three wins, the Bison have not allowed more than 21 points. In their loss, they gave up 49 to then-No. 12 Harding. The last two meetings between OKBU and HSU in Shawnee, the Bison have given up at least 35 points to the red-and-gray.
 
Against East Central, Oklahoma Baptist held the Tigers to 330 total yards and forced nine punts while picking off ECU quarterback Traair Edwards once. The Bison are ranked fourth in the conference in turnover margin with a league second-most five interceptions and are tied for second with 13 sacks, five of which came against East Central.
 
Leading the defense has been linebacker Scooter Baker with 33 tackles in four games, along with four tackles for loss and two sacks. In the secondary, Brandon Spencer and Chase Whitebear have combined for four interceptions and six pass break-ups. Oklahoma Baptist has garnered back-to-back GAC Defensive Player of the Week honors with Whitebear earning it after OKBU's 36-3 win over Southeastern Oklahoma State before Baker won it for his efforts in the East Central victory.
 
On the others side of the ball, Oklahoma Baptist is pinned at seventh in the league in scoring offense (23.0 ppg), total offense (325.3 ypg) and rushing offense (114.5 ypg). The Bison's best attack is their passing game, where they are fifth in the GAC with 210.8 yards through the air per contest. Quarterback Aidan Thompson is completing 58.5 percent of his passes for 843 yards and eight touchdowns. Thompson's favorite target has shown to be redshirt junior Michael Marshall with 19 receptions for 269 yards and two touchdowns.
 
Of the Bison's 124 rush attempts this season, 74 of them have gone to true sophomore EJ Moore, which is tied for the second most rushing attempts of anyone in the GAC. Moore has recorded a league fourth-most 350 yards this season, including a long of 72, and two touchdowns. The Leander, Texas, native has back-to-back 100-yard games, including 153 yards against East Central most recently.      
 
THE COACHING MATCHUP
From the only team Henderson State head coach Scott Maxfield has never beaten at home in GAC play in Harding to now the only team Maxfield has never lost to in GAC play, the Reddies' head ball coach is 7-0 against Oklahoma Baptist. This will be the fifth time Maxfield leads his HSU squad into Shawnee, with the previous four such trips being decided by eight points or fewer.
 
Oklahoma Baptist head coach Chris Jensen is entering his 11th year and 10th season (no season in 2020 due to Covid-19) at the helm of the Bison program. Jensen is two years removed from leading OKBU to its first Bowl game victory in program history and has already tripled the green-and-gold's win total from a year ago. Since the beginning of 2021 season, Jensen's Bisons are 8-4 against the GAC's Oklahoma schools but just 3-11 against the Arkansas programs.
 
THE LAST MEETING
Henderson St. scored 24 of the first 27 points last season against the Bison in Arkadelphia as the Reddies took the win, 51-24, marking the last time HSU scored at least 50 points. After opening a 10-0 lead after the first quarter and then 24-10 at halftime, Henderson outscored Oklahoma Baptist 27-14 in the second half for the 27-point victory. The Reddies finished the blowout victory going an efficient 7-for-11 on third downs and a perfect 2-for-2 on fourth downs.
 
Quarterback Andrew Edwards accounted for as many touchdowns as he had incompletions on the afternoon, going 17-for-20 while recording 338 total yards and three total touchdowns. Running back Korien Burrell carried the ball 18 times for 122 yards and a pair of scores as Henderson ran for 338 yards with five runners totaling 50 or more yards. Former-Reddie Xavier Malone tallied one of his seven 100-plus yard games in 2022 with seven catches for 189 yards and a score.
 
Henderson's defense turned over the Bison once and held OKBU to 268 yards - the fewest yards put up against HSU all season. Defensive back Cameron Thomas recorded a team-high nine tackles, including one tackle for loss, followed by linebacker Jakob Neel with eight take-downs. Gary Lewis and Catrell Wallace combined to lead the unit with one sack a piece.  
 
HOW TO LISTEN AND WATCH
The game will be broadcast and available by the Henderson State Sports Network on KDEL 100.9 FM and KVRC 1240 AM in Arkadelphia, KWPS 99.7 FM in Hot Springs, KYXK 106.7 FM in Gurdon, and KZYP 104.1 FM/1310 AM in Malvern. Coverage begins one hour prior to kickoff.

In order to watch the stream of the Henderson State versus Oklahoma Baptist football game, fans will need to visit https://team1sports.com/obubison/ and pay $10 for a single day pass. There are additional packages offered for the fall, winter and spring seasons, as well as All-Access passes to view all Henderson events happening in Shawnee for the 2023-24 season. Fans may visit this LINK for more information.