No. 22/24 Mulerider Football opens 2017 season at Arkansas Tech
August 31, 2017
SETTING THE SCENE
Kick-Off 2017
Thursday under the lights will see the highly-anticpated 2017 college football season kick-off for the Southern Arkansas football team. The Muleriders will embark on the new campaign by taking to the road with a trip Northwest to Russellville
to take on the Arkansas Tech Wonder Boys.
Last season, the Muleriders turned in a 9-2 regular season campaign and received their second bowl bid since 2012 with an apperance in the Agent Barry Live United Bowl in nearby Texarkana. That successful 2016 season has resulted in high
expectations both internal and external for the 2017 team that has the luxuary of returning 43 letterman and 17 starters across both sides of the ball. Those external expectations include being picked to win the Great American Conference by the
league coaches and a pair of preseason national rankings according to the two major Division II Football ranking outlets.
ABOUT ARKANSAS TECH
SCHEDULE
The Arkansas Tech football team opens their 2017 season at home and will host Great American Conference preseason favorites, Southern Arkansas. It will be the first time since 1920 that SAU and Arkansas Tech have met in the first game of a season. As is the case this year, SAU trekked up to Russellville for that 1920 season-opener. Thursday night's game will also be the first of 11-GAC games on the regular season schedule for both the Muleriders and Wonder Boys.
THE COACH
The Wonder Boys are coached by Raymond Monica, who enters into his fifth season with Arkansas Tech while entering into his 12th season overall as a head coach. In his time as the head man of the Wonder Boys, Monica has amassed a 23-22 record. After a pair of sub-.500 seasons to begin his tenure are Tech, Monica has guided the Wonder Boys to consecutive winning campaigns with a 9-3 year in 2015 and a 6-5 mark last season.
Before coming to Tech, Monica was the head coach at DII Kutztown University in Kutztown, Pa. for seven seasons. In his time at Kutztown, Monica went 45-34 including going 28-8 over his final three years.
SCOUTING THE OFFENSE
A year ago, the Wonder Boys averaged 31.5 points per game and averaged 397.2 yards of total offense per game. Their points per game ranked seventh in the GAC while their total offense ranked ninth in the league. Last year, Tech averaged 215.4 yards per game rushing to rank fourth in the GAC and passed at a clip of 181.8 yards per game to rank ninth in that category.
Under center for the Wonder Boys will be senior Ty Reasnor. Reasnor played in just four games last year after getting hurt during the SAU/ATU game in Magnolia. In his time on the field, Reasnor threw for 727 yards and five touchdowns. Tech's leading
ball-carrier returns in Bryan Allen. Last year he carried it 123 times for 584 yards and five scores. The leading receiver returner is J.V. Davis. He caught 19 passes for 133 yards and one score.
SCOUTING THE DEFENSE
Defensively, the Wonder Boys allowed 24.5 points per game and held their opponents to 380.2 yards of total offense per game. Their points allowed per game ranked fourth in the GAC while their total offense allowed was also fourth.
As a defense, the Wonder Boys racked up 56.0 tackles for lost yardage with 17.0 being sacks. Additionally, the Wonder Boys forced 28 turnovers with 17 being fumble recoveries and 11 coming as interceptions.
The returning leading tackler for the Wonder Boys is Seth Culp. Last year, Culp totaled 95 tackles with 3.0 coming for lost yardage.
THE SERIES
This will be the 81st meeting all-time between the Muleriders and Wonder Boys and will be the 46th meeting since 1970. In the all-time series, Tech leads SAU 45-31-4, but since 1970, the Muleriders lead the series 25-19-1. In games played in Russellville since 1970, Tech leads 12-8-1. Since the year before Bill Keopple took over at SAU (2008), the home team has won each meeting in the series. The last road win for either came in 2007 when SAU beat Tech, 56-49.
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