There is a considerable amount of good news in the wake of Arkansas Tech University’s season-opening 44-41 overtime victory over Oklahoma Baptist University on Thursday, Sept. 5.
The Wonder Boys earned their first season-opening win since 2017 and collected their first overtime victory since 2013, snapping a four-game losing streak in contests that extended beyond 60 minutes.
Arkansas Tech averaged 4.8 yards per rushing attempt and limited Oklahoma Baptist to 2.5 yards per rush. It was a 180-degree turn from the 2.7 yards per carry gained and 5.0 yards per carry allowed the Wonder Boys posted during the 2023 season.
But as Arkansas Tech prepares for its first road game of the season against Southern Nazarene University on Saturday, Sept. 14, perhaps the best news of all is that Gage Porter has finally completed his eligibility and will not be playing quarterback for the Crimson Storm.
“Thank the Lord,” said Kyle Shipp, ATU head football coach. “We went back and looked at (Porter’s) rushing stats, just against us, and it was a lot. We’re very happy that he’s gone.”
Porter was Great American Conference offensive player of the year in 2022 and 2023. He had some of his best performances against Arkansas Tech, amassing 705 rushing yards and nine rushing touchdowns in his last three appearances against the Wonder Boys.
Southern Nazarene dropped a 59-0 decision at nationally top-ranked Harding University in the first game of the post-Porter era on Sept. 5. Harding had 607 yards of total offense. The Crimson Storm had 49 yards of total offense.
“I know that Southern Nazarene will be much better this week,” said Shipp. “The thing I’ve talked to our guys about is how to handle success. Congratulations, we won. Now we’re 0-0 this week. We have to get to 1-0 again. We can’t look at a score from another game. (SNU) is going to figure out a way to get better.”
Shipp said correcting mistakes from game one, particularly on special teams, will be essential if the Wonder Boys want to start 2-0 for just the fourth time since 2009.
“Our kicking game must be better, especially as far as our punt, punt return and kickoff coverage,” said Shipp. “Those are three aspects that we need to make some big improvements on this week. We have to be consistent on offense, and we have to stop the run again because (SNU) will go sideline-to-sideline with power reads and counter reads. They do a really good job scheme-wise. They’re good enough to hurt us, so we must have good eyes defensively and tackle the football. If we do those things, we’ll be in a good spot.”
Kickoff at the SNU Football Stadium in Bethany, Okla., is set for 6 p.m. Saturday. Live coverage of the ATU-SNU game will be available on KCJC 102.3 FM, the EAB Media Group app and www.arkansastechsports.com.
Talk to you on the radio.
Tech Tidbits is a column written by Sam Strasner, ATU director of university relations and radio play-by-play voice for ATU football and basketball.
