Setting the Scene
SWOSU football has an even 4-4 record following last Saturday's 24-21 loss to East Central on Homecoming. The Bulldogs will look to rebound from that loss this week when they host Southern Nazarene on Senior Day. The game will mark the final home game for 14 SWOSU seniors.
Southern Nazarene is the lone winless team in the Great American Conference following a win by Northwestern Oklahoma State last weekend. The Crimson Storm had their closest call of the year last week, falling to Arkansas-Monticello 22-19.
The Series
SWOSU and Southern Nazarene have met just twice in football, both since the Bulldogs joined NCAA Division II. Now that the Crimson Storm are members of the GAC, the rivalry will be played on an annual basis.
The first meeting was in Bethany in 2003, a game that SWOSU won 32-6. Last year, the Bulldogs got to host Southern Nazarene for the first time and came away with a 19-12 victory.
The Coaches
Dan Cocannouer enters his fifth season as the head coach of the Southwestern Oklahoma State University football team in 2013. He returned home to lead his alma mater in 2009 and helped the team better its won-loss record in each of his first three seasons. After finishing 1-10 in his inaugural season, SWOSU improved to 5-6 in 2011, the first season of the Great American Conference. In 2012, the Bulldogs slipped slightly in the win column, finishing 3-7 (2-6 GAC) with three losses of 10 points or less. Overall, Cocannouer is 16-35 overall at SWOSU and 1-0 against Southern Nazarene.
Mike Cochran is in his eighth season at the helm of the Crimson Storm football program. Cochran has compiled an overall record of 40-44 in seven-plus seasons at Southern Nazarene and has an overall mark of 86-56 in 12 years as a collegiate head coach. Prior to coming to SNU, Cochran was the head coach at SNU's sister Nazarene school, Mid-America Nazarene. In five years at the helm of the Pioneers program, Cochran compiled a 46-12 record and guided MNU to the NAIA national playoffs three times in 2002, 2003 and 2004.
The Last Meeting
In front of a large homecoming crowd Saturday evening, Southwestern Oklahoma State University turned in a dominating defensive performance ending with a 19-12 win against Southern Nazarene University.
After being down 6-0 early in the first quarter, SWOSU's
Teverick Boyd, a redshirt freshman from Dallas, Texas, gave the Bulldogs the spark they were looking for when he returned a kickoff 90 yards for a SWOSU touchdown to tie the game at 6-6. Boyd's return was SWOSU's first kickoff return since 2006 against East Central University.
That play gave the Bulldogs the momentum they needed. With 11:26 left in the first quarter, SWOSU's defense forced the Crimson Storm to a quick three and out. On the next offensive drive, the Bulldogs settled for a 36-yard field goal by
Colton Rainey that put SWOSU ahead 9-6.
After another forced three and out by the dominating Bulldog defense, the Bulldogs put together a five-play offensive drive for 61 yards. The drive ended with a
Dustin Stenta pass to
Andre Simmons for a 33-yard touchdown and put SWOSU up 16-6 followed by a missed field goal.
With a 19-6 lead, SNU would not go away easy. With 11:34 left the fourth quarter, the Storm defense scored from a SWOSU fumble by
Travis Carroll that was recovered by SNU's Blake Cavill for a 45-yard touchdown return, shorting the Bulldogs lead to 19-12.
Defensively, the Bulldogs limited the Storm to just 165 yards of offense. SWOSU's
Kale Sawatzky,
DeMarcus Miller,
Ryan Feller and
Devin Benton lead the Bulldogs with eight tackles each. Teammates
Tyler George and
Jim O'Brien were next with six each.
Last Time Out
The largest crowd at Fast Lane Field this season was on hand to see the Southwestern Oklahoma State University take on East Central on Saturday night for Homecoming, but three second half fumbles were extremely costly as SWOSU suffered a 24-21 defeat.
SWOSU got on the board first, capping off a 14-play, 85-yard drive with a seven-yard touchdown pass from
Dustin Stenta to
Hunter Dinkines. The play, which was the first career reception for Dinkines, put SWOSU on top 7-0 with 5:45 to play in the opening quarter.
East Central would tie the game on an 18-yard pass from Spencer Bond to JoJo Snell late in the first quarter. That score was set up by an interception from Stenta that bounced off the hands of
Teverick Boyd and into the arms of Reuben Tiller. It took ECU just two plays to cash in and tie the game 7-7.
ECU opened up the second half with a 10-play drive that ended with a 34-yard field goal from Trevor Hunt. That gave the Tigers a 10-7 lead with 10:56 to play in the third. SWOSU countered with seven-play drive that
Ryan Corbin capped off with a one-yard touchdown run, but a missed extra point held the SWOSU lead to 13-10 with 8:57 to play in the third quarter.
The next three SWOSU drives were marred by turnovers as the Bulldogs lost fumbles on three consecutive drives.
D.C. Walker fumbled following a 12-yard run and set ECU up with the ball at their 49-yard line and four plays later the Tigers regained the lead on a five-yard touchdown pass.
SWOSU then drove the ball to the ECU three yardline before
Ryan Corbin was stripped as he was looking for his second rushing touchdown of the night. East Central cashed in that turnover with a 79-yard touchdown pass, the longest against the Bulldog defense this season. That score gave ECU a 24-13 lead with 11:09 to play in the game.
The Bulldogs had two more drives halted in the fourth quarter before they got back into the end zone on a two-yard touchdown rush by Stenta with 1:20 to play. Stenta then found Boyd on the two-point conversion to get the Bulldogs within three at 24-21. An onside kick attempt by
Kevin Cantrell was up for grabs but no SWOSU player was able to come down with it and East Central was able to run out the clock for the victory.
Stenta finished 27-of-45 for 318 yards with one touchdown and two interceptions while Walker and
Karl Hodge each carried the ball for 78 yards.
Teverick Boyd caught 10 passes for 105 yards while
Brian Robinson also eclipsed the 100-yard mark with three catches for 111 yards.
Defensively,
Ryan Feller and
Jim O'Brien each made nine stops to lead SWOSU while adding 2.5 and 1.5 tackles for loss, respectively. SWOSU made seven tackles for loss for the game while tying a season-high with six pass breakups.
Checking the Standings
A tough loss to East Central dropped the Bulldogs from fourth place in the Great American Conference to seventh, with three times tied at 4-3, one-half game ahead of SWOSU. Henderson State still leadas the way as the lone unbeaten team in the conference and they have a one game lead on Ouachita Baptist. Harding is third at 5-2 followed by Arkansas-Monticello, East Central and Southern Arkansas at 4-3. SWOSU comes in seventh at 4-4 while this week's opponent, Southern Nazarene, is the lone winless team in the conference, checking in at 0-8 this week.
Records in Sight
The senior season for tight end
Ryan Corbin has progressed nicely. After being named a Preseason All-American by the Beyond Sports Network, Corbin has backed up the accolades on the field and now he is on the verge of some prominent SWOSU receiving records.
Corbin has 50 receptions for 617 yards and four touchdowns through eight games and he ranks third in the Great American Conference with an average of 6.2 receptions per game. His 50 receptions is tied for the fourth-most in a single-season in SWOSU history and he needs five catches this weekend to move into second place.
For his career, Corbin has made 155 receptions, a mark that is tied for second in SWOSU football history with Bruce Hatton. Hatton also made 155 catches at SWOSU from 2009-11. Johnathan Haggerty holds the career mark for receptions, making 173 as a Bulldog from 2006-09.
Scouting Southern Nazarene
The first season for Southern Nazarene as a full member of the Great American Conference has been a struggle as the Crimson Storm find themselves as the only team in the conference without a victory through eight weeks. Last Saturday, however, SNU had their closest call of the season when they dropped a 22-19 game on the road at Arkansas-Monticello.
Quarterback Dylan Terry directs the Crimson Storm offense and he is averaging 140.1 passing yards per game. SNU has a pair of linebackers, Michael Hicks and Blake Cavill, that both rank among the conference's top five in tackles. Hicks has made 9.3 tackles per game while Cavill has been in on 8.9 tackles per game this season.
Looking Ahead
After nine weeks of facing Great American Conference foes, the Bulldogs get to step out of conference action next weekend to face former Lone Star Conference foe Tarleton State. That game will kick off at 2 pm from Stephenville, Texas.
