THE GAME
The OUAZ football team will close out the regular season on Saturday with a trip to Fort Worth, Texas, to face Texas Wesleyan. Kickoff from Farrington Field is scheduled for 2 p.m. CST / 1 p.m. MST.
 
The game will be the first away from home for the Spirit in 43 days as they haven't played a road game since losing at SAGU on September 29. OUAZ is looking for its first road win in program history after dropping the first two road games of the season.
 
Live video – for $7.95 – and live stats will be available during the game on the Texas Wesleyan Game Central portal. The video will also be available on the NAIA Network which can be found on Apple TV, Amazon Fire TV, Android TV, and Roku devices by searching NAIA. Links for all of the live features are available at OUAZSpirit.com/live.
 
SPIRIT NOTES
OUAZ travels to Texas with a 5-3 overall record and riding a three-game winning streak. The Spirit are tied for third in the Sooner Athletic Conference (SAC) with a 4-3 mark in conference games. They are 0-2 on the road.
 
The Spirit are coming off a 75-14 home win over Wayland Baptist last Saturday at Spirit Field. In the win, OUAZ gained 610 yards of total offense and at one point scored a touchdown on eight straight possessions, while adding a pick-six during the run.
 
On Monday, Austin McCullough was named the Offensive Player of the Week by both the SAC and the NCCAA. McCullough threw for 351 yards and five touchdowns while also running for a score in playing just three quarters. This was his second NCCAA honor and first from the SAC.
 
While Saturday is the final game on the schedule, OUAZ is still in play for a berth in the NCCAA Victory Bowl. An OUAZ win on Saturday secures a spot in the game for the Spirit with an opponent and location still unclear. Full details will be announced next week by the NCCAA.
 
OUAZ remained at No. 3 in this week's NCCAA ratings behind Concordia (Mich.) and Virginia Lynchburg.
 
In his fifth season as a head coach, Mike Nesbitt has a 30-20 all-time record and a 5-3 record at OUAZ.
 
ABOUT TEXAS WESLEYAN
Texas Wesleyan enters its final game of the season with a 2-7 overall record and at 2-5 in the SAC. The Rams have won two of their three home games this year and they are coming off a 21-20 win over Lyon last Saturday at Farrington Field.
 
TWU is averaging 26.1 points per game and gaining 363.0 yards per game. They rank 30th in the NAIA by throwing for 236.9 yards per contest. The Rams have only scored 40-plus points in a game once this season while being held below 30 points five times.
 
Le'Mant Monroe Ranks Number 16 in the NAIA by averaging 92.3 receiving yards per game. Donavan Isom accounts for 212.6 passing yards per game to place 27th in the country. Byron Tate leads the Rams defense by posting 1.6 tackles-for-loss per game.
 
INSIDE THE NUMBERS
OUAZ enters the week fourth in the NAIA and leading the SAC is scoring at 54.8 points per game. They have scored 50-plus points in six of the team's eight games played. The Spirit have scored 211 points – 70.3 points per game – during the past three games.
 
The Spirit lead the SAC and rank second in the NAIA in passing offense at 359.5 yards per game and they are third in the nation with a 182.9 passing efficiency. The team also gains 188.8 rushing yards per game to rank second in the conference.
 
OUAZ is allowing 30.4 points per game to place them second in the SAC and they lead the conference by holding opponents to 221.0 passing yards per game. The Spirit's 3.5 sacks per game is eighth in the NAIA.
 
The OUAZ offense has taken the field for 118 drives this season and scored a touchdown on 44.1 percent of those possessions. They have punted on just 22.0 percent and gone three-and-out 15.3 percent of the time. Defensively, the Spirit have allowed a touchdown on 26.4 percent of the opposition's 121 possessions and forced a three-and-out on 29.8 percent.
 
In the past two games, the OUAZ defense has held the opposition to 2 of 25 on third down. The Spirit have allowed a third-down conversion on just one of the previous 22 chances. On the year, opponents have converted just 33.3 percent on third-down to rank the OUAZ defense 23rd in the NAIA.

On the season, OUAZ has recorded three safeties and blocked four kicks.
 
UNDER CENTER
Austin McCullough has thrown for 2,260 yards and 25 touchdowns this season. He completes 58.6 percent of his attempts with seven interceptions and a 178.8 efficiency rating.
 
McCullough leads the SAC and ranks second in the NAIA by averaging 322.9 passing yards per game. He is 15th in the nation with his 276.0 total offense yards per game. His 178.8 efficiency rating is tops in the conference and fifth in the nation.
 
McCullough has thrown for multiple touchdowns in every game he has played this season, including six against Arizona Christian on October 6. He enters Saturday having not thrown an interception in 87 straight pass attempts.
 
ALL PURPOSE MACHINE
Shamar Moreland enters the week as the NAIA leader with 1,934 all-purpose yards and by averaging 241.8 all-purpose yards per game. He is seventh in the NAIA by scoring 10.5 points per game.
 
Moreland leads the SAC in rushing at 80.5 yards per game – 30th in the NAIA – and his 644 total rushing yards are second in the league.
          
He also leads the SAC by averaging 23.1 yards per punt return – third in the NAIA – and is second at 28.4 yards per kick return – fourth in the country. Moreland leads the NAIA with 462 punt return yards and 681 kick return yards.
 
RUN/PASS OPTION
Marcelous Chester-Riley is third on the team with 404 rushing yards and he leads OUAZ with 25 receptions. He has scored nine touchdowns and ranks sixth in the conference and 39th in the NAIA with 60 points scored.
 
Chester-Riley is ninth in the SAC by averaging 100.6 all-purpose yards per game and 10th by rushing for 50.5 yards per game.
 
DEEP THREAT
Brandon McLaughlin leads OUAZ in receiving yards with 548 and receiving touchdowns with 10. He ranks fourth on the club with 17 total receptions. McLaughlin averages 32.2 yards per reception and has totaled 12 grabs of 20-plus yards. Nine of his 10 touchdowns are on plays of 20 or more yards.
 
McLaughlin leads all OUAZ receivers with three 100-yard games and he has three games with multiple touchdowns.
 
OUTSIDE OPTION
Jeremiah Greylock is second in the team with 19 receptions that have resulted in 2869 yards and four touchdowns. Greylock made five catches for 138 yards and two scores at Langston on September 8.
 
IN THE BACKFIELD
Kenneth Steele Jr. has made a habit of making plays in the opponent's backfield this season. The senior is tied for the NAIA lead with 13 sacks and he is second in the country with 22.5 tackles-for-loss. He leads the country by making 2.8 TFLs per game and by getting 1.6 sacks per game.
 
He has recorded at least one-half sack in six straight games and has multiple TFLs in six of the team's eight games played. Steele leads the team with 56 tackles and is ninth in the SAC by making 7.0 tackles per game.
 
MAKING THE STOP
Da'Shawn Holcombe is second on the team with 55 tackles and leads the Spirit with 33 solo tackles. He ranks 11th in the conference at 6.9 tackles per game. Holcombe has twice made double-digit tackles this season, including a 15 tackles performance at Langston.
 
Holcombe recorded a pair of interceptions in the win over Wayland Baptist on Saturday to become the first player in school history with multiple picks in the same game. He averages 1.1 passes defended per game to rank fourth in the SAC and 42nd in the NAIA.
 
BOHNS AWAY
Austin Bohn is currently the NAIA's leader by averaging 47.0 yards per punt this season. He has punted 20 times with a long of 78 and has eight kicks of 50-plus yards. Bohn has dropped four punts inside the 20-yardline and has two touchbacks.
 
PUT IT ON THE BOARD
John Williams has hit 54 of 59 PAT attempts this season and had a run of 34 straight makes snapped against Texas College. He has made his last eight field goal attempts after missing the first two attempts of the season. His long field goal this year is from 41 yards.
 
Williams has scored 10-plus points in the past four games, including consecutive games with 15 points. He is averaging 9.8 points kicking per game this season to lead the NAIA while ranking fifth in the country with 78 total points.