Football 11/19/2021 3:38:00 PM

Football Game Notes -- Week 12

THE GAME
The OUAZ football team will be making its second appearance in the NAIA Football Championship Series on Saturday when the Spirit plays at No. 2 Morningside in the First Round. Kickoff from Elwood Olsen Stadium is slated for 11 a.m. (AZ).

OUAZ earned its spot in the tournament with an 8-1 record during the season and won its second Sooner Athletic Conference title with that same 8-1 record. They enter the postseason with a No. 14 national ranking.

Saturday will make the first-ever meeting between the Spirit and Mustangs. Morningside becomes the second team that OUAZ will play for the first time this season, joining a Lousiana Christian squad the Spirit defeated 49-19 in September.

OUAZ is 2-0 in the program's history in the team's tenth game of the season, including a 33-14 win at SAGU (Texas) during the 2019 season. Saturday will be the first time the Spirit has played a game on November 20. OUAZ is 0-2 in the program's history in the postseason.

GAME DAY INFORMATION
Saturday's game will be played on the FieldTurf of Elwood Olsen Stadium in Sioux City, Iowa. Gameday temperature is forecasted for 47 degrees with cloudy skies and a three percent chance of rain.

FOLLOWING THE ACTION
Saturday's game will be broadcast live on the Morningside University YouTube channel. You can access the link directly by using OUAZSpirit.com/football. Live stats will also be available at OUAZSpirit.com/livestats.

NAIA FOOTBALL CHAMPIONSHIP SERIES
The 16 teams that will participate in the 2021 NAIA Football Championship Series were announced on Sunday. All eight first-round games will be played on Saturday at campus sites across the country. The winning team will advance to the quarterfinals on November 27 at the four locations of the highest remaining seeds.

OUAZ ON THE ROAD
OUAZ heads to the road at 4-0 as the visiting team this season. They have won six straight road games dating back to the final game of the 2019 season and 13 of the last 14 overall.

INSIDE THE NUMBERS

With a win, OUAZ would record its first-ever postseason victory after an 0-2 start. The Spirit lost to Olivet Nazarene in the 2018 NCCAA Victory Bowl and at College of Idaho in the first round of the 2019 NAIA Football Championship Series.
An OUAZ win would improve the Spirit to 1-0 all-time against Morningside. It would also move them to 2-0 against first-time opponents this season.
A win on Saturday would be the team's third straight win during November. The Spirit is 5-3 all-time during the 11th month of the year.
OUAZ has scored at least 30 points in a game 31 times in the program's first 36 games. The Spirit has scored 50-plus points in a game 11 times, including four times this season.
Points have been aplenty for the Spirit in the first half of games this season. OUAZ has outscored the opposition 262-86 during the first 30 minutes of games this season. Those 262 points would rank 51st in the NAIA in total points this season.

SPIRIT NOTES
OUAZ enters Saturday as the No. 2 scoring team in the NAIA at 51.8 points per game. The team's 466 total points scored are fifth-most in the nation.

The Spirit has scored 40-plus points in every game this season. It's the longest streak of 40-point games in program history.
OUAZ has scored at least 28 points in each of the team's last 14 games dating back to the start of the 2020 season. That is the longest stretch of 28-plus points in a game since reaching the mark in each of the team's first 15 games in program history.

The Spirit is the No. 2 team in the NAIA in total offense by averaging 533.2 yards per game this season.

The team set the program record with 676 yards of offense at Wayland Baptist on November 6. It was just the fourth time in program history they gained 600-plus yards, but the second time this season, the Spirit established a new school record in the category.
OUAZ has gained at least 500 yards in six of the nine games this season, surpassing 400 yards eight times.
The team is 18-2 all-time when gaining 500 or more yards, and they have won 16 straight.

The passing game is where OUAZ has done the majority of its damage this season. The team currently averages 320.0passing yards per game to rank sixth in the NAIA.

The team has accounted for at least 250 passing yards eight times while five times throwing for over 300 yards.
The Spirit helped establish this year's total passing yards by throwing for a program-record 486 passing yards from three different quarterbacks in the season-opening win over Lyon College.

While the passing game gets a lot of the notoriety, the Spirit averages 213.2 rushing yards per game, ranking 12th in the NAIA.

OUAZ ran for a season-high 299 yards in the win at Wayland Baptist. It was the third time this season they gained at least 250 yards rushing.
The Spirit added another 202 yards rushing in the win over Panhandle State on Saturday.
The Spirit ranks seventh in the NAIA by averaging 5.5 yards per rush while sitting tied for 13th with 26 rushing touchdowns.

Defensively, OUAZ has given up 237 points, and the team ranks 52nd in the NAIA in scoring defense at 26.3 points allowed per game.

The Spirit has held three opponents under 20 points this season, and they are 14-1 all-time when that happens.

The Spirit is allowing 420.6 yards of total offense per game this season. That has them ranked 80th in the nation in total defense.

OUAZ started the season by holding Lyon to 225 yards of offense. That was the fewest yards allowed in a game since holding Doane to 186 in the 2019 season opener and the third-fewest ever allowed at Spirit Field.
The Spirit is coming off holding Panhandle State to 341 yards of offense last Saturday.

The opposition is currently averaging 181.4 rushing yards per game against the Spirit defense. That ranks OUAZ 70th in the NAIA in rushing defense.

Every opponent has rushed for over 100 yards this season, and it's 19 straight games going back to the 2019 season.
The Spirit has allowed over 200 yards rushing in three games this season.
Langston rushed for 335 yards against the Spirit defense on October 23. That was the second-most rushing yards ever allowed by the OUAZ defense.

OUAZ enters Saturday ranked 81st in the country by allowing 239.1 passing yards per game this season.

The Spirit began the season by holding Lyon and SAGU to a combined 287 passing yards.
They have allowed four opponents to throw for 250-plus yards in a game this season, with two of those going for 300-plus.
The opposition is averaging 8.1 yards per pass attempt and completing 53.0percent of its pass attempts.
The Spirit opposing quarterbacks have a quarterback rating of 116.8.

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