By TRAVIS HARMON-SMITH
Sports Editor
How often does an offensive showdown happen in college football?
It can happen on occasion and it surely happened Saturday afternoon as Northwestern took a demoralizing 62-21 defeat against the Muleriders of Southern Arkansas.
Northwestern (1-3, 1-3 GAC), came out to start the first half with an immediate focus offensively to slow down the Mulerider defense. The Rangers looked well-organized on offense as freshman quarterback Ty Hooper made his second start under center, throwing efficiently out the pocket for most of the first quarter. Southern Arkansas’s defensive unit responded quickly against Hooper and the Northwestern offense by placing pressure on the Ranger receivers. With Southern Arkansas adding pressure in the secondary, Northwestern made the adjustments on offense to execute effectively.
On the first possession, the SAU offense executed its running game with a vengeance as Deion Williams rushed for an early 40-yard score, following another deep pass from SAU quarterback Si Blackshire who connected with Mulerider receiver Walker-Hall to make the score 14-0 early in the first. On the next possession, Northwestern would have a chance to respond as Ty Hooper and the Ranger offense drove down the field for 65 yards. That included a 14-yard short pass toward the end zone to Reggie Harris, which gave Northwestern its first score of the game to end the quarter 14-7.
SAU quickly responded to open up the second quarter, as the Muleriders pressed their running game against the Northwestern defense, scoring on a short run play at the 12:45 mark. Northwestern responded once again, but this time with its running back corps of Zachary Doyle, Jarion Tudman, and freshman Justin Lord.
During Week three against Arkansas-Monticello, the Northwestern running backs combined for a massive 203 yards rushing on the ground. However, against the Muleriders only one out of the bunch contributed. Northwestern running back Jarion Tudman was the feature back for the Rangers as he rushed for 82 yards on 11 carries. Tudman’s speed against the outside of Mulerider defenders set up Northwestern for another scoring opportunity. A 43-yard rush to the SAU 35-yard line by Tudman set up freshman running back Justin Lord for a 35-yard rushing touchdown, making the score 27-13 to end the half.
Southern Arkansas implemented much more play-making on offense during the second half, as the Muleriders scored two unanswered touchdowns in just six plays in the third quarter to take a 42-13 lead. Northwestern’s defense was solid throughout the second half, looking for a critical stop against the SAU receiver corps. Ranger defensive back Jordan Norris intercepted a late SAU pass in the fourth quarter, which came from a forced punt that was attempted by the Muleriders. Northwestern linebackers Brandon Cannon and Derrick Thompson came up big for Northwestern at the end of the fourth, as Thompson stripped the ball from SAU quarterback Blackshire in the red zone, which resulted in a fumble recovered by Cannon.
At the end of the fourth with 2:06 left on the clock, Hooper scrambled from under center and dodged a few SAU defenders to make a 24-yard pass that connected with true freshman receiver DaShawn Gordon for the last Northwestern score of the afternoon.
Northwestern’s defense has given up 675 total yards of offense so far this season against conference opponents on the road.
Northwestern will look to improve this weekend as they travel to Arkadelphia, Ark., to face number seven nationally ranked Henderson State University for a 3 p.m. kickoff.