Northwest Arkansas Democrat-Gazette
Coin flip beginning of the end for Tigers
ARKADELPHIA — Ouachita Baptist University lost the coin toss Saturday afternoon at Cliff Harris Stadium, then Ferris State won the football game.
There was more to the end result than guessing heads instead of tails, but Ferris State’s 37-14 victory over OBU was a byproduct of a 20-mph wind it had at its back to start the game. Both coaches acknowledged as much.
“We really wanted to win the toss,” OBU Coach Todd Knight said. “We thought that was huge.”
Ferris State Coach Tony Annese said he took notice of the wind as soon as the Bulldogs took the field for pregame warmups. He made several determinations, including a decision not to utilize a return man when OBU was kicking into the wind.
“The wind, wow,” Annese said. “That was a huge factor.”
Ferris State kicked off with the wind at its back, took a first-quarter lead it never relinquished and dominated the line of scrimmage on both sides of the ball, running 90 plays and rushing for 357 yards while holding OBU to a season-low 86 yards rushing.
Ferris State (14-0) advances to the NCAA Division II semifinals, where it will meet Minnesota State-Mankato (13-0).
OBU (12-1) made errors in many of the facets it had excelled at all season — punting, kicking field goals, running the ball, stopping the run and not turning the ball over.
“Hey, it just wasn’t our day,” Knight said. “We weren’t as good in all three phases as we have been.
It started with the toss, and it trickled down from there.”
Ferris State scored first on Derrick Portis’ 14-yard run with 2:19 left in the first quarter, taking possession at its 21 after OBU all-GAC kicker Cole Antley missed on a 38-yard, line-drive attempt into the wind.
The game took a huge swing a few moments later after OBU regained possession after the kickoff at its 25.
Knight said he and offensive coordinator Jay Derby thought it was imperative for the Tigers to get at least one first down. That would have allowed the quarter to run out, and punter Jake Ford would have had the wind at his back.
Instead, OBU faced fourth and 2 after two runs and a short pass netted 8 yards, but there was still 12 seconds left on the clock.
Annese said he and his coaching staff had decided in warmups to forgo the use of a return man when OBU was kicking into the wind.
“I heard our fans yelling, ‘You don’t have a returner back,’ ” Annese said.
It paid off when the 11th man, Issa Khalil, busted past OBU’s three-man shield and got a hand on Ford’s punt. Ferris State took over at the OBU 27.
The Bulldogs scored on their fourth play of the drive, a 6-yard run by Robert Thomas, and it was 14-0 with 14:32 to play in the half.
Wind continued to play havoc in the second quarter, even when it was at the Tigers’ back.
Ford got off a 63-yard punt after OBU failed to pick up a first down after the kickoff, and Ferris State faced a punting situation from its 26.
Annese said he saw no reason to punt the ball and called for a fake punt, a pass from Evan Cummins that fell incomplete. OBU had the ball at the 26 with 10:32 to play.
“The wind was so strong, the most we were going to get, I decided, was 20 yards. That’s why we faked the punt,” Annese said.
OBU lost 3 yards on three plays, and Antley’s 48-yard field goal attempt was blocked.
The Bulldogs drove 71 yards in 15 plays, scoring on Marvin Campbell’s 2-yard touchdown run with 2:20 to play before halftime to make it 20-0 Ferris State.
A fourth OBU miscue, Sam Heyboer’s interception of a Brayden Brazeal pass near midfield, gave Ferris State just enough time to score its fourth touchdown of the half on a 2-yard pass from Jayru Campbell to Sy Barnett.
Knight said there was no question that Ferris State was the better team, but he said it might have been different if the Tigers had won the coin toss.
“I would have loved to have won the toss and have the wind in the first quarter,” Knight said, “and just make a play or two we didn’t make.”
OBU, which came into the game as the nation’s No. 1 team in scoring defense (9.4), yielded more points in the first half (27) than it had in any of its previous 12 games.
Ferris State, rolling behind an offensive line that averaged more than 300 yards per man, totaled 509 yards of offense.
“I feel like we were dominant,” Ferris State offensive lineman Tyler Allison said. “We knew we were going to pound the ball down their throats, and that’s what we did.”
Harding University, which rushed for 277 yards in a 7-3 OBU victory on Oct. 6, was the only other opponent with success running on the Tigers, who were yielding 118 yards per game before Saturday.
It was also OBU’s least productive rushing performance, gaining 86 yards after coming into the game with an average of 277.2 per game, No. 7 in the nation.
Annese said he was well prepared for OBU after seeing it on film twice in the past three weeks — when preparing for Ferris State’s opening round game with Harding and then again this week.
“Credit both those schools,” Annese said. “They’ve kind of sprung on the national scene. They’re legit. Both of those programs are legit. It’s not an easy thing to play the GAC teams.”
The Bulldogs took the second-half kickoff and drove 67 yards in 17 plays, taking up 7:54 of the third quarter.
OBU scored its first touchdown on its next drive, a 42-yard pass from Brazeal to Allie Freeman (10-115, 1 TD) to make it 30-7 with 5:51 to play in the third quarter.
OBU got the ball back after Keandre Evans blocked a field goal, but OBU was stopped on downs on its ensuing drive.