Muleriders, Tigers to meet in Murphy USA Classic

For the sixth consecutive season and ninth time overall, the Southern Arkansas football team will play in the Murphy USA Classic at Memorial Stadium in El Dorado as the 2019 edition was announced at a luncheon at the Murphy Arts District's Griffin Restaurant on Thursday.

This year's game will take place on Saturday, November 2 with kickoff scheduled for 2 p.m. The Muleriders will once more serve as the home team on the scoreboard and their opponent will be defending Great American Conference champion Ouachita Baptist.

The Murphy USA Classic will be in its 11th year, and SAU has made the most appearances with 2019 being their ninth. The Muleriders played in the inaugural game in 2009 when it was simply known as the Boomtown Classic and previously made appearances in 2010 and 2012 before playing in the classic in each of the last five years.

In their most previous meeting in El Dorado against OBU in 2017, the Muleriders dropped a heartbreaker, as the Tigers scored the go-ahead and eventual game-winning touchdown with 33 seconds left. That loss snapped a two-game winning streak for the Muleriders, who captured their first Murphy USA Classic in 2015 when they edged OBU 32-28 in a thriller.

Southern Arkansas moved back into the win column at the Murphy USA Classic with a dominant 34-14 victory over Henderson State in the 2018 game. The Muleriders, behind a pair of first-quarter field goals from freshman Austin Wilkerson and 28 second-quarter points, put away the Reddies to claim the trophy in the 10th annual contest and earn the program's third win in Union County.