Rex Nelson: Ode to Small College Football

I guess you could call this an ode to small college football in Arkansas.

For a 31^st season, I’m doing the play-by-play on radio for Ouachita Baptist University. I haven’t missed a game, home or away, since 1998. The reason I missed a couple of games that year was because I was the campaign manager for Gov. Mike Huckabee and didn’t feel as if I could be out of state during the stretch run of the campaign.

Ouachita’s late start – the opener wasn’t until last Saturday — allowed me to see all of the state’s NCAA Division I teams and its lone NCAA Division III team in person during the first 10 days of the season. On Aug. 29, I watched the University of Central Arkansas beat Incarnate Word in Conway. Two days later, I drove to Jonesboro to see Arkansas State University defeat the University of Arkansas at Pine Bluff. On Sept. 7, I watched Hendrix College beat Westminster College during the afternoon in Conway and saw the University of Arkansas down Samford University at War Memorial Stadium in Little Rock at night.

It was all great fun. I love college football.

But I’m glad that my next nine Saturdays are devoted to the Division II teams that play in the Great American Conference.

It’s who I am.

It’s what I was raised on.

If you’re tired of traffic, inflated ticket prices and high concession costs – or if your favorite Division I team is simply playing out of state – you ought to try catching a game in Arkadelphia, Magnolia, Monticello, Searcy or Russellville. You might be pleasantly surprised by the quality of play.

Growing up in Arkadelphia within walking distance of the Ouachita and Henderson stadiums, the old Arkansas Intercollegiate Conference was what I knew when it came to college sports. I look back fondly all these years later on the games I attended as a child. I still remember the afternoons at A.U. Williams Field when Ouachita upset previously undefeated Arkansas Tech teams in both 1968 and 1970.

I remember most of the Battles of the Ravine between Ouachita and Henderson that I attended.

I especially remember the road trips with my father to see Ouachita play its AIC foes. I even remember the places where we would eat (before the game if it were an evening kickoff and after the game if it were an afternoon kickoff). What’s college football without food?

Trips to Magnolia to play the Muleriders of Southern State (later Southern Arkansas University) always meant a meal at the Chatterbox downtown. The owner, Mr. Duke, knew my dad and would greet him by name. You could buy copies of the Magnolia Banner-News, The Shreveport Times and the Texarkana Gazette right by the cash register.

Trips to Monticello to play the Boll Weevils of Arkansas A&M (later the University of Arkansas at Monticello) meant a foot-long hot dog at Ray’s or a stop at a catfish restaurant whose name I forgot long ago.

Trips to Conway to play the Bears of ASTC (later SCA and later still UCA) meant a meal at Tommy’s. The owners – Tommy Paladino and Johnny DeSalvo – were quail hunting buddies of my dad. He wouldn’t think of eating anywhere else. It was at Tommy’s where I had my first whole trout and had to be told by my father not to try to eat the head.

Trips to Searcy to play the Bisons of Harding (it seemed that those games were always in the afternoon) meant a stop at Anderson’s in Beebe for the Saturday night seafood buffet prior to the drive home.

Trips to Russellville to play the Wonder Boys of Arkansas Tech meant fried chicken at the Old South. If Ouachita and Tech were playing an afternoon game in late October or early November, my mom would insist we take Arkansas Highway 7 north all the way from Arkadelphia to Russellville in order to “look at the leaves.” Those trips usually included a stop for breakfast at Sam Ann’s in the heart of the Ouachita National Forest near Hollis.

There were seven football-playing schools in the AIC in those days (I came of age after Hendrix and Ozarks dropped the sport). Six of them – all except for UCA, whose enrollment is now at the point that the Bears are where they should be in the Southland Conference – are together again in the GAC. Throw in five Oklahoma schools with similar athletic budgets and it’s a good fit; as close to the old AIC as we’re likely to get.

The demise of the AIC came in the 1990s when many of the NAIA schools across the country that played football began moving to NCAA Division II. The athletic directors of the AIC schools couldn’t agree on whether all the schools should move or not. UCA and Henderson forced the issue with their move to the Gulf South Conference of NCAA Division II for the 1993-94 school year. That left the AIC with just five institutions that played football – UAM, Southern Arkansas, Arkansas Tech, Harding and Ouachita. They played what some called an “AIC Lite” football schedule in 1993 and 1994.

UAM, Southern Arkansas and Arkansas Tech were admitted to the Gulf South Conference beginning with the 1995-96 school year. The Gulf South wouldn’t admit Ouachita and Harding, the only two private colleges playing football in Arkansas at the time.

Ouachita and Harding wound up in the Lone Star Conference, which already had members in Texas, Oklahoma and New Mexico. Harding and Ouachita finally were admitted to the Gulf South Conference beginning with the 2000-01 school year. UCA left the Gulf South for Division I in 2006.

The GAC was born in the fall of 2011, and the first two football champions have been from Arkadelphia – Ouachita in 2011 and Henderson last year. The fall of 2012 was a banner one for Division II football programs in the state. Consider these facts:

• Henderson finished the regular season 10-0, the first undefeated, untied regular season in school history. Sophomore quarterback Kevin Rodgers was one of eight finalists for the 2012 Harlon Hill Trophy, which is the Division II version of the Heisman Trophy. During the 2012 season, Rodgers earned GAC Player of the Week honors six times. He threw for more than 300 yards in seven games.
• Harding finished the regular season 9-1.
• Southern Arkansas finished the regular season 8-2.
• With its 6-4 record, Ouachita posted its fifth consecutive winning season. Ouachita has the only college football program in the state – at any level – with five consecutive winning seasons.
• Of the four Division II teams with winning records in the state, there was only one loss to a team from outside Arkansas during the regular season.

It’s no wonder that the top four teams in the GAC preseason poll – Henderson, Southern Arkansas, Harding and Ouachita – were all from Arkansas.

After just two weeks of the 2013 season, it appears that it’s going to be a case of everyone else chasing Henderson. The Reddies returned 11 all-conference selections and certainly look to be on their way to another undefeated season. Last year, Rodgers threw for 4,002 yards and 41 touchdowns. He averaged a national best 14.77 yards per pass completion and 9.78 yards per pass attempt. He has taken up right where he left off last year. Henderson beat new GAC member Southern Nazarene by a score of 82-10 in the opener and then won a nonconference game against McKendree from Illinois by a score of 75-14. Against McKendree, Rodgers was 31 of 45 passing for 380 yards and five touchdowns. He has now passed for 6,117 yards in his college career.

Southwestern Oklahoma at 2-0, Henderson at 1-0 and Ouachita at 1-0 are the only teams still undefeated in conference play.

The two new GAC members – Southern Nazarene and Northwestern Oklahoma – are 0-2.

Southern Arkansas, Arkansas Tech, UAM, Harding, East Central Oklahoma and Southeastern Oklahoma are all 1-1.

In other words, it’s going to be a fun season with a whole lot of balance in the middle of the pack.

It’s also going to be hard for me to pick winners each week. Think about what has already happened:

• UAM suffers its 11th consecutive loss to start the season and then jumps up and upsets Southeastern Oklahoma.
• SAU is upset by Southeastern Oklahoma on the road to start the season and then destroys East Central (which had defeated UAM in Week 1) by a score of 50-16.
• Harding is upset by Southwestern Oklahoma on the road in the first game and then posts a 69-0 victory over Northwestern Oklahoma.
• Arkansas Tech wins its first game at Northwestern Oklahoma and then loses at home to Southwestern Oklahoma.

Outside Henderson being very good and the two new schools from Oklahoma struggling, every other team is hard to figure.

Last Saturday morning, I hit the road early in order to broadcast Ouachita’s game against Southern Nazarene in Bethany, Okla. The Tigers won their season opener for a seventh consecutive year.

We’re establishing some new traditions in this conference. I can tell you, for example, that the chicken fried steak at Ed’s Truck Stop in Sallisaw, Okla., is very good.

This Saturday morning, I’ll hit the road early yet again in order to broadcast Ouachita’s game against East Central in Ada, Okla. I think we’ll stop for lunch at Ed’s for a second consecutive weekend.

Whether you’re talking about small college football or chicken fried steak, it’s hard to get too much of a good thing.