With the football team’s early success, and coming very close to beating a top 10 consensus team in the country, there is a new buzz around campus. The team has played well through 4 games, only really having one bad loss to Arkansas-Monticello, and of course, that game did no represent the team that everyone saw through the first two games.
Through the first two games the Bulldog defense led the nation in turnover margin with +7 and as of last week the team is now tied for 23rd in the country. They have played outstanding this year. Jalen Carr is leading the team with 3 interceptions, and 3 pass breakups. He is second on the team with 18 tackles and is also second on the team with 15 solo tackles. Teams have started to stay away from his side of the field as his targets have slowly come down as the season has moved along, but when it is thrown his way, he is half a step away from an interception every single time. Against Ouchita Baptist, the defense only allowed 26 points despite being on the field 37 minutes of game time, despite the SWOSU offense only being on the field for a total of 23 minutes. The defense also kept OBU under their average points scored for the season. This is a huge bonus as the defense has struggled over the last few years, and with second year Defensive Coordinator Colin McQuillan, the Dawgs seem to have found their groove.
On the offensive side of the ball, the Dawgs are averaging 22 points a game and 330 yards a game. Tyler Marr is ranked 3rd in the country, as of last week, in yards per completion with 17.33 yards. He has thrown 5 interceptions, but a few of those have come at the end of a half where his is throwing the ball deep to try and get a score before the break. He has been very consistent, with the only game going awry was Monticello. His top receiver, Jared Rayburn, has 3 scores with 263 yards. He averages 26.3 yards a catch which is top 10 in the country. Tristian Houston is the leading rusher for Dawgs, but still hasn’t had his breakout game and the team is just waiting for it to happen. He has 137 total yards with 3 scores, 2 of them coming in week 1 against Southeastern Oklahoma State University. The offense is producing at a much higher level and a much more consistent level than they were a year ago and that is due to veteran leadership, along with younger players stepping up in big ways to help the team.
Now these are all stats from last week, but these numbers are all promising and give the program a very good future. With the younger players getting playing time, and learning from the veterans, SWOSU should continue to see more and more wins as the years roll along.
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