The Braves lost their season/home opener last Saturday to Southwestern College, 41-0. Ottawa finished the game with 93 yards of offense. Southwestern had 590 yards.
Jordan Clay rushed for 33 yards on eight attempts.
De'Anthony Curtis led OU with two receptions.
AJ Hemphill led the Braves with 10 tackles, 1.5 sacks and three tackles for loss.
Cody Presley,
Marcus Mendoza, and
Ethan Fuentes had six tackles apiece.
On offense in 2024, Ottawa is averaging 93 yards of offense per game. Opponents are scoring 41 point per game and averaging 590 yards of offense (353 rushing/237 passing).
This season, OU is ranked 45th in the NAIA in rushing yards (75), 44th in rushing attempts (29), 45th in rushing yards per game (75), 44th in yards per rush (2.6), fifth in kick returns (No.-Yards) (7-154), 20th in kick return average (22), second in punts (No.-Yards) (11-409), 34th in average per punt (37.2), sixth in defensive INTs (2), 20th in tackles (69), and 11th in sacks (3).
Jordan Clay leads the Braves in rushing with 33 yards. He is averaging 4.1 yards per rush.
Taylor Eggers is OU's leader in passing yards (4-for-16) with 18.
De'Anthony Curtis leads the team in receptions with two.
AJ Hemphill is the team's leader in tackles with 10. He is also OU's leader in sacks with 1.5 and tackles for loss (3).
Rhett Andersen is averaging 37.2 yards per punt. He has a long of 51 yards, two inside of the 20, and four fair caught.
Saturday is the 71st game between Ottawa University and Friends University. OU leads the series, 39-30-1. The Falcons snapped OU's three game winning streak against Friends last season with a 49-20 victory over the Braves at AdventHealth Field. The Braves are 17-13 against Friends in Wichita and are on a seven game road winning streak against the Falcons. The last time Ottawa lost in Wichita was on Sept. 8, 2008. OU fell to then no. 9 Friends 46-45. The first time the two teams met was on Oct. 24, 1914 in Wichita. Friends won the game, 21-2.
Saturday will be OU's 1,142 game in program history. OU is 592-494-46 all-time and has a record of 475-303-18 against KCAC Teams.
Friends is ranked no. 24 in the NAIA Preseason Poll. Saturday will be the 127th game for the Braves against a ranked opponent. Against ranked teams, Ottawa has a record of 31-94-1 and have a road record of 16-51.
Friends University opened 2024 with a 52-6 win over the University of Saint Mary in Leavenworth last Saturday night. The Falcons rushed for 464 yards, an average of 9.1 yards per rush. They passed for 56 yards, only attempting six passes and completing three. The Falcon defense held USM to one yard rushing and 219 yards through the air. Spire quarterback Erick Covington was sacked five times.
Elias Pino led Friends in rushing against USM with 121 yards and two touchdowns. Nick Cordova finished the game with 105 yards rushing and one touchdown. Quarterback K'Vonte Baker rushed six times for 54 yards and one touchdown. He was 1-for-2 through the air for (-)1 yard. DJ Dingle was 2-for-3 through the air for 57 yards. Shamarius Davis led Friends with six tackles.
This season, the Falcons are averaging 520 yards of offense. They average 464 rushing yards per game and 56 passing yards per game. The Falcons are averaging 52 point per game.
The Friends' defense is allowing 220 yards of offense per game, 219 yards passing and one yard rushing. They are holding opponents to six points per game.
The Falcons are ranked fourth in the NAIA in scoring (52), fourth in points per game (52.0), 10th in total offense (520), ninth in yards per game (520.0), 13th in passing yards per attempt (9.3), sixth in passing yards per completion (18.7), second in rushing yards (464), sixth in rushing attempts (51), first in rushing yards per game (464.0), first in yards per rush (9.1), first in rushing touchdowns (8), 16th in first downs (23), fourth in rushing first downs (18), 15th in first downs per game (23.0), 34th in third down conversions (5-9), 29th in tackles (62), fourth in sacks (5), and 40th in penalties (8).
Friends had eight players named to the 2024 KCAC Kessinger Division Preseason Team. They are K'Vonte Baker, Elias Pino, Kel Stroud, Laken Clowdus, Nolan Ewing, Kyree Watkins, Marquis Willoughby, and Jairo Castillo.
