Coaches fine with rankings

They looked, nodded and shrugged.

What else could Todd Knight, Bill Keopple, Paul Simmons and Scott Maxfield do after the first batch of NCAA Division II regional football rankings were released Monday?

Knight, coach of 8-0 Ouachita Baptist, said he had no complaints with the Tigers’ No. 2 standing in Super Region III behind Ferris State of the Great Lakes Intercollegiate Athletic Conference.

A No. 1 seed would be better.

That earns a bye into the round of 16 in the 28-team playoff bracket, but it’s not something Knight can allow himself or the Tigers to think about with games to be played against Arkansas-Monticello (4-4), Southern Arkansas (7-1) and Henderson State (5-3).

“It’s just too early,” Knight said. “That doesn’t matter for three more weeks.”

Knight’s Tigers and Keopple’s SAU Muleriders (No. 6) will be playoff bound if Monday’s ranking order remains in tact, with Harding (No. 8) two spots back.

The Great American Conference, GLIAC and the Mid-American Intercollegiate Athletic Conference all landed 3 teams in the top 10 and each placed 2 in the top 7.

The Grand Lakes Valley Conference has one team — No. 5 Indianapolis (6-1 vs. Division II teams) — in the top 10.

Keopple said it’s nice to be in a spot where the Muleriders don’t have to rely on other teams winning or losing to determine their plight.

“It’s right there in front of us,” Keopple said. “We’ve just got to get there.”

Harding (6-2) can win out, finish 9-2 and not be assured of anything because earlier losses to SAU (2823) and OBU (7-3) put the Bisons on the wrong side of all tiebreakers.

“We’ve just got to win ballgames,” Simmons said. “It’s crazy to worry about things you can’t change.”

The Bisons will need some help, just like they received last season en route to reaching the Division II semifinals after an 0-3 start.

Simmons said he was shocked when Athletic Director Jeff Morgan broke the news to him that the Bisons (5-3) were No. 10 in the first standings.

“No. 10 in what?” he said. “What are you talking about?”

Harding’s ascent can provide hope to Henderson State (5-3 after 1-3 start), but Maxfield said the Reddies are in no position to think about anything other than winning their final three games and serving as a roadblock to playoff plans for SAU on Saturday, and OBU on Nov. 10.

“That would be a loooooong shot,” Maxfield said, all but dismissing the chances of an 8-3 Henderson making the field. “Anything’s possible.”

Ferris wheel

Ferris State (8-0), the topranked team in Region III, has been told by the NCAA it used an ineligible for the season’s first four games and is awaiting word on whether it will have to forfeit those games.

If the Bulldogs (GLIAC) are forced to forfeit, it would pave the way for the possibility of three Great American Conference teams making the playoff field. The GAC has never had more than two representatives since its inception in 2011.

Halftime hoopla

Six points in six quarters pushed SAU Coach Bill Keopple past the stage of calmly correcting mistakes at halftime of last week’s game with East Central (Okla.) in Magnolia.

The Muleriders led 6-3, one week after getting shut out by Southeastern Oklahoma State 21-0 in Durant, Okla.

Keopple said he was not happy, and he let his players know it.

“There wasn’t any talking,” Keopple said. “There was a lot of yelling.”

The Muleriders responded, scoring on all six possessions in the second half en route to a 48-9 victory.”

“There’s just a point where it becomes a mental thing and there needs to be an attitude adjustment,“he said. “It was fun to watch.”

Keopple was referring to the second half, not his halftime tactics.

Air time?

Ouachita Baptist ranks at or near the top of numerous statistical categories in the GAC and Division II, but passing offense (120.4 ypg) is not one of them.

The Tigers are ninth in the GAC and 157th in Division II, and that’s not by design.

Injuries at different times to quarterback Brayden Brazeal and wide receivers Allie Freeman and Drew Harris have stunted the passing game’s development.

The weather hasn’t helped — three games played in rain — and thanks to a productive rushing attack (second in GAC/10th in Division II), the Tigers have not been in must-pass situations very often.

But Coach Todd Knight said the pieces are in place for the Tigers to pass and pass effectively as they gear up for the final three games of the regular season and a possible run into the playoffs.

OBU is first in the GAC and seventh in Division II in completion percentage (65.3).