Stiff test for Harding
The good news for Harding Coach Ronnie Huckeba is that he thinks his team is better now than it was four years ago, when it lost 35-0 at Northwest Missouri State in its first ever NCAA Division II playoff game. The bad news is Huckeba thinks the Bearcats are better this time, too, heading into today’s quarterfinal matchup against the defending national champions.
The good news for Harding Coach Ronnie Huckeba is that he thinks his team is better now than it was four years ago, when it lost 35-0 at Northwest Missouri State in its first ever NCAA Division II playoff game.
The bad news is Huckeba thinks the Bearcats are better this time, too.
Harding (13-0) will try to keep its best season going at 1 p.m. today when it plays a Division II quarterfinal against Northwest Missouri State (12-0), the defending national champion that brings into today’s game a 27-game winning streak, the longest active streak in college football regardless of division.
“I would say they are not a typical Northwest team,” Huckeba said this week. “They’re better.”
The Bearcats, who lost in the round after beating the Bisons in 2012, look every bit the premier Division II program their past suggests. Last year was their fifth Division II championship — the most among programs still at that level — and they’re 40-2 since the end of the 2012 season.
They won the Mid-America Intercollegiate Conference — generally considered the deepest Division II league — this year and have won every game by 21 points or more.
They lead Division II in scoring defense, giving up 13.1 points per game, and they’re second in scoring offense at 48.6 points per game. They’ve won 16 in a row at Bearcat Stadium, where it is 58-2 in six seasons under Coach Adam Dorrel.
Northwest Missouri State is also putting Division II’s top rushing defense (63.9 yards allowed per game) against Harding’s top rushing offense (381.5).
Defensive coordinator Paul Simmons didn’t tread lightly when putting today’s opponent into perspective.
“I think this is the best team we’ve ever played, and I’m not sure it’s close,” said Simmons, who played at Harding from 1991-94 and has been an assistant there since 2006.
But if Huckeba, who is retiring after the season, had his pick of any Harding teams to take on such a challenge, it’s this one.
The Bisons are second behind the Bearcats in points allowed (13.7 per game), are 12th in scoring (41.0 per game) and have won all but two games by 17 points or more. One of those came last week when they beat Sioux Falls 27-24 in overtime to advance to today’s game.
Huckeba doesn’t think his players have a mentality that would allow them to be intimidated by a powerhouse program. Huckeba remembers the 2012 trip and looking up at signs commemorating national titles in 1998, 1999 and 2009. Today, the Bisons will see two more for titles won in 2013 and 2015.
“This group is the furthest thing in the world from arrogant,” Huckeba said. “But they’re extremely confident that we can play with anybody, and so far they’ve been right.”
Harding also has its health going for it this time around. In 2012, two Harding fullbacks got hurt during the game, forcing Huckeba to move his quarterback to fullback.
So with health and confidence, the Bisons are eager to take on one of their biggest challenges.
“Our guys, we don’t enjoy playing in a blowout,” Simmons said. “We want to be in a dogfight, and we’re going to be in a dogfight on Saturday.”