I realize I’m past the age of 50.

I realize I’m a traditionalist.

I realize that I probably don’t understand what young athletes want today.

Just consider this a sincere plea from a native Arkansan who has always loved my state’s college football teams.

To whom it may concern: We want our Razorbacks back in 2014.

Our Razorbacks don’t wear gray uniforms.

And they certainly don’t wear gray helmets.

Our Razorbacks wear red helmets. They also wear red jerseys at home.

There. I said it.

I feel better.

In the blog post last week, I picked the Razorbacks and asked “why not?” I expected the game to be close and relatively low scoring, calling it Arkansas 24, Mississippi State 21.

It was close, and it was low scoring by today’s standards. But this Arkansas team just doesn’t know how to win, does it? So we have the first eight-game losing streak in University of Arkansas history. This team has already tied the record for most losses in a season. The Hogs went 2-8 in 1950, 2-8 in 1952, 3-8 in 1990 and 4-8 in 2012. A loss at LSU on Friday will result in the most losses in school history.

It also was the first time for Mississippi State to beat Arkansas in consecutive years. Arkansas is 15-6-1 against Mississippi State since joining the Southeastern Conference and had been 9-0-1 against MSU in games played in Arkansas in the SEC era. These two schools like to play overtime games. Arkansas won overtime games at Starkville in 1996, 2000 and 2010. There was also a 13-13 tie in 1993.

Silver linings?

Well, Arkansas’ record at War Memorial Stadium is still a stellar 149-48-5. Let’s not blame it on War Memorial.

Meanwhile, the Razorbacks started seven true freshmen on Saturday. So a lot of young players are getting experience.

Despite the Razorbacks’ awful season, college football remains fun. After 13 consecutive Saturdays attending college football games, I hope to hibernate this week and watch a whole lot of football. Yes, I’ll have the Egg Bowl on Thanksgiving night while eating leftovers (I love cold cornbread dressing). Yes, I’ll watch the Arkansas-LSU game on Friday while eating more leftovers.

Saturday will be especially fun as I check in on traditional in-state rivalries such as Florida State at Florida, Georgia at Georgia Tech and Clemson at South Carolina while polishing off the leftovers (there’s no better man’s holiday than Thanksgiving since it combines football and food).

Then there’s the Iron Bowl, which might just become as big a rivalry as the Battle of the Ravine if those folks over in Alabama will continue working at it.

I had the privilege of attending four Iron Bowls back when they were all played at Birmingham’s Legion Field. It’s a special rivalry, and the stakes have never been bigger than this year.

Auburn has had two weeks to prepare for the game. Alabama, meanwhile, warmed up with a 49-0 victory over Chattanooga as A.J. McCarron became the school’s winningest quarterback. Think about that. Think of all the great quarterbacks who have played at Alabama through the decades. McCarron now has more wins than any of them with a 36-2 record as a starter.

A few other notes from the SEC:

— Steve Spurrier might be getting old, but he’s still getting it done at South Carolina. The Gamecocks have won 17 consecutive games at home. Saturday’s 70-10 victory over Coastal Carolina marked Spurrier’s 75th victory in his nine seasons as South Carolina’s head coach. Before his arrival, South Carolina fans (among the most loyal in college football) were not used to winning consistently.

— Tennessee can’t seem to get off rock bottom. Tennessee now has had four consecutive losing seasons, the first time that has happened since 1903-06. Gen. Neyland must be rolling in his grave. Vanderbilt beat Tennessee for a second consecutive year for the first time since 1925-26. Maybe they should consider hiring James Franklin at Knoxville.

— Why does Kentucky even bother to field a football team? The Wildcats have now lost 15 consecutive SEC games.

— The shocker of the day last Saturday was Georgia Southern 26, Florida 20. Georgia Southern had come in as a four-touchdown underdog. Florida had entered the game 7-0 against FCS teams with an average margin of victory of 45 points in those seven games. Given the success of recent decades, it’s hard to comprehend that Florida is 4-7, has lost six consecutive games and will have its first losing season since 1979. Will Muschamp will make someone a good defensive coordinator next year.

— Missouri is for real. Missouri’s game against Texas A&M is going to be another fun contest to watch on Saturday as I reheat the sweet potatoes. After missing four games due to a shoulder injury, James Franklin is back at quarterback. The Tigers had no problem ending Ole Miss’ four-game winning streak as Mizzou improved to 10-1 overall and 6-1 in the SEC. Now Missouri is one win away from playing in the SEC championship game at Atlanta.

— LSU put together the game it had been looking for all season as Texas A&M fell to the Tigers in Baton Rouge by a score of 34-10. Here’s how Johnny Manziel put it: “We just got punched in the mouth tonight, and it wasn’t fun.” Manziel passed for 224 yards and a touchdown, but he was sacked twice and intercepted twice while completing just 16 of his 41 passes. LSU ended A&M’s 13-game streak of scoring 40 or more points. The game saw the lowest Aggie point and yardage totals since Manziel began starting at quarterback.

We should have quit picking games a week earlier as our percentage took a small hit with a 2-3 record last Saturday.

We’re 75-18 on the season.

As noted, we picked Arkansas to win a close game.

We also picked Henderson to win by four. Instead, the Reddies lost by five in the NCAA Division II playoffs.

We figured Sam Houston State would defeat UCA in Conway. It was good to see the Bears go out on a winning note to end a season that didn’t live up to expectations.

We correctly picked ASU to defeat winless Georgia State, but it was much more difficult than expected. The Red Wolves had to stop a two-point conversion attempt and then recover an onside kick with two minutes left to hang on 35-33 in Jonesboro on Saturday afternoon. ASU trailed 17-7 at halftime and was outgained 432 yards to 290 yards for the game. The Red Wolves were just one of 12 on third-down attempts. In the end, four turnovers doomed 0-11 Georgia State as Arkansas State improved its record to 7-4 overall and 5-1 in the Sun Belt Conference.

UCA finished the year at 7-5 overall and 4-3 in the Southland Conference with its 49-31 upset of a Sam Houston team that had come in ranked ninth in the FCS. UCA forced six turnovers. Junior quarterback Ryan Howard was 24 of 36 passing for the Bears for 349 yards and four touchdowns in his sixth start since replacing the injured Wynrick Smothers. Sophomore quarterback Taylor Reed, the son of El Dorado High School head football coach Scott Reed, also threw a touchdown pass for UCA.

The other prediction we got correct (in addition to picking ASU to win) was picking UAPB to lose. In 2012, UAPB won the SWAC championship. In 2013, the Golden Lions went 2-9 overall and 2-7 in conference play. The season ended in Texas on a cold Saturday afternoon with a 43-23 loss to Prairie View A&M. Prairie View had 597 yards of offense and scored the game’s first 22 points.

For a second consecutive season, Henderson went undefeated in the regular season and then lost its first game in the NCAA Division II playoffs. Last year it was Missouri Western that beat the Reddies. This year it was St. Cloud State out of Minnesota that won at Carpenter-Haygood Stadium in Arkadelphia. St. Cloud escaped with a 40-35 victory as the 11-1 Reddies committed four costly turnovers. The Reddies are 21-2 during the past two seasons with both losses coming in the playoffs.

The bad news for Great American Conference opponents of the Reddies is that Henderson quarterback Kevin Rodgers still has another year. He passed for 567 yards on Saturday and now has 10,076 career passing yards.

Let’s hope that Harding and Ouachita can pick up victories in their bowl games on Dec. 7 over Lone Star Conference teams to earn the GAC some respect.

Here are the picks for this week:

LSU 42, Arkansas 17 — Good riddance to the 2013 Razorback season.

Western Kentucky 35, Arkansas State 31 — We’re hoping the Red Wolves will take down Bobby Petrino’s Hilltoppers in Bowling Green on Saturday afternoon, but we’re giving the advantage to the home team. Western Kentucky is 7-4 overall and 3-3 in Sun Belt Conference play. The Hilltoppers have won three consecutive games. The seven victories were over Kentucky, Morgan State, Navy, Louisiana-Monroe, Georgia State, Army and Texas State. The losses came against Tennessee, South Alabama, Louisiana-Lafayette and Troy.

It’s going to be cold at War Memorial Stadium on Saturday morning when the Razorback game begins.

With duck season starting and Thanksgiving just a few days away, Arkansans will have plenty of excuses to miss a contest between a 3-7 team and a 4-6 team that are a combined 1-11 in Southeastern Conference play.

I’ll be there. So will my wife and our youngest son. Brenda Scisson has put together quite a Saturday morning brunch menu for the tailgate party we’ll attend.

I’ve never tried to hide my love for War Memorial Stadium. There are so many good memories of the high school and college football games I’ve seen there during the past 50 years. I’ve watched games from the stands. Arkansas games. Arkansas State games. UAPB games. Henderson in a bowl game (the 1975 Bicentennial Bowl, the first and only). Ouachita games. Arkansas Baptist games at the junior college level. Semipro games. High school games in the regular season and high school state championship games. High school all-star games.

I played there as a high school athlete in 1976.

I’ve covered games from the press box as a newspaper reporter and broadcast games on the radio.

Magic can sometimes happen there.

I was at the original Miracle on Markham. I was there again for the second Miracle on Markham. And I was there three years ago when Arkansas beat LSU to earn a spot in the Sugar Bowl.

Yes, I’ll be there Saturday. Stop by before the game, say hello and we’ll share a muffin with you.

Granted, there’s not a lot to get excited about in Arkansas on this fourth Saturday in November with the regular season winding down.

UCA will end a disappointing season with a game at home in Conway against a decent team from Sam Houston State.

UAPB will end an even more disappointing season on the road at Prairie View A&M.

Arkansas State will host an 0-10 squad from Georgia State in front of a bunch of empty seats in Jonesboro.

The best football of the day likely will take place in Arkadelphia as 11-0 Henderson hosts 10-1 St. Cloud State in the first round of the NCAA Division II playoffs.

We were 5-1 on the picks last week.

The record for the season is now 73-15.

On to the picks for Week 13 of the college football season:

Arkansas 24, Mississippi State 21 — Why not? Why not pick these downtrodden Hogs? A Mississippi State team that’s not all that much better comes to Little Rock this weekend. Arkansas is playing its final home game of the season and should be loose since there’s frankly nothing to lose at this point. It’s Mississippi State that must win its final two games to become bowl eligible. So the pressure is on the Bulldogs. MSU has only managed to defeat Alcorn State from the SWAC, Troy from the Sun Belt, Bowling Green from the MAC and Kentucky (which is from the SEC but might as well be from the Southland Conference when it comes to football). I was there when Bobby Petrino’s first team — which was not a good one — defeated LSU in late November at War Memorial Stadium. So why not?

Arkansas State 35, Georgia State 19 — Arkansas State moved to 6-4 overall and 4-1 in the Sun Belt Conference last Saturday night with an impressive 38-21 victory in Jonesboro against Texas State. The win made ASU bowl eligible for a third consecutive season, but the Red Wolves probably could use another victory or two to actually make it to a bowl game. ASU gained 328 yards on the ground against a Texas State squad that had come in holding teams to an average of 106.2 yards rushing per game. Quarterback Adam Kennedy had 78 yards rushing on 18 carries. Georgia State’s 10 losses have come at the hands of Samford, Chattanooga, West Virginia, Jacksonville State, Alabama, Troy, Texas State, Louisiana-Monroe, Western Kentucky and Louisiana-Lafayette.

Sam Houston State 28, UCA 24 — A talented Sam Houston State team rolls into Conway for Saturday afternoon’s game. The Bearkats are 8-3. The victories have come against Houston Baptist, Texas Southern, Incarnate Word, Eastern Washington, Lamar, Northwestern State of Louisiana, Stephen F. Austin and Nicholls State. The losses have been to Texas A&M, McNeese State and Southeastern Louisiana. UCA, which has been beset by injuries this entire 2013 season, escaped Thibodaux, La., last Saturday with a 17-10 victory over Nicholls State. UCA, which had lost its previous two games to Northwestern State and Southeastern Louisiana, is now 6-5 overall and 3-3 in the Southland Conference. The Bears need to pull the upset Saturday for a winning season.

Prairie View A&M 38, UAPB 33 — The only contest we didn’t pick correctly last week was the UAPB game. We picked the Golden Lions to win their game against Alabama A&M. They lost, 50-42. It just hasn’t paid this fall to go with UAPB, which is 2-8 overall and 2-6 in the SWAC. Golden Lion quarterback Ben Anderson did have another fine performance last Saturday. He completed 21 of his 35 passes for 330 yards and three touchdowns. He rushed for 88 yards and two touchdowns on 14 carries. Anderson needs to have another big game for UAPB to end its season on a winning note. Prairie View is 5-6. The victories have been over Texas Southern, Alabama A&M, Stephen F. Austin, Grambling State and Mississippi Valley State. The losses have come at the hands of Texas State, Southern University, Alabama State, Jackson State, Alcorn State and Abilene Christian.

Henderson 34, St. Cloud 30 — The Reddies completed their second consecutive undefeated regular season with a dramatic 60-52 triple overtime victory in the Battle of the Ravine against Ouachita. It was one of the best college football games I’ve ever witnessed. Now, 11-0 Henderson tries to come down off that high and advance in the Division II playoffs, something the Reddies were unable to do last year. In 2012, Henderson received a first-round bye but then lost in Arkadelphia to Missouri Western in the second round. St. Cloud is 10-1. This marks the fifth appearance in the Division II playoffs for St. Cloud and the third appearance in the past four years. The winner of Saturday’s game at Carpenter-Haygood Stadium in Arkadelphia must travel to Minnesota State-Mankato for the second round. I’m cold just thinking about it.

It’s the week when the college football focus in Arkansas turns briefly from the Division I teams to Division II.

To be exact, it’s the week of the Battle of the Ravine in Arkadelphia.

It’s one of my favorite weeks of the year, given that I grew up within walking distance of the Ouachita Baptist University and Henderson State University stadiums. This series has been a big part of my life.

This year, Ouachita is good.

Henderson is very, very good.

Ouachita is 7-2 and only about three or four plays away from being undefeated. There were close losses to Harding University and Southern Arkansas University. This will be the Tigers’ bowl game, in essence, since their postseason hopes ended with the loss to SAU in Magnolia a couple of weeks ago.

Henderson is 10-0, going for its second consecutive undefeated regular season (an amazing feat at any level) and ranked fourth nationally in Division II by the American Football Coaches Association.

The Reddies likely are headed to the Division II playoffs regardless of the outcome Saturday afternoon. Henderson will enter the contest as a heavy favorite. That said, it’s a rivalry game in which strange things can happen. And Ouachita is much healthier than it was a year ago when the Reddies easily disposed of the Tigers in the final game of the regular season.

Kickoff is at 2 p.m. on the Ouachita side of U.S. Highway 67. A joint tailgate party begins early that morning on the Henderson side of the highway. Organizers are making a strong push this year to publicize the events surrounding the game, especially since the University of Arkansas has an open date and some Razorback fans might want to sample the only college football game in America in which the visiting team walks to a road game.

We were 7-1 on the picks last week, missing only on Arkansas State’s game at Louisiana-Monroe as the Red Wolves played their best football of the season.

The record for the year is 68-14.

On to the picks for Week 12:

Henderson 39, Ouachita 28 — Kevin Rodgers, Henderson’s junior quarterback, doesn’t lose games. At least not in the regular season. Rodgers, among the finest quarterbacks in Division II, continues to pile up impressive numbers as his team dominates its opponents. Henderson wrapped up its second consecutive Great American Conference title last week. Ouachita won the first GAC title in 2011, so the football championship has never been away from Arkadelphia in the young history of the conference. Henderson warmed up for the Battle of the Ravine by thumping a decent Southern Arkansas team by a score of 66-24. The Reddies set a single-game school record with 40 first downs. Across the street last Saturday, Ouachita warmed up by shutting out UAM during the game’s final 43 minutes en route to a 35-10 victory over the Boll Weevils. Ouachita had 344 yards rushing. Senior tailback Chris Rycraw from Bryant had 198 of those rushing yards on 29 carries. Ouachita’s veteran defense held the Boll Weevils to 67 yards rushing and 81 yards passing. The keys to Ouachita staying in the game this Saturday will be to get its running game going again, control the time of possession and thus limit the time Rodgers spends on the field. If Ouachita falls behind early and has to get into a passing duel with Henderson, it could get ugly for the Tigers, just like last year.

Arkansas State 30, Texas State 27 — As noted, Arkansas State played its best game to this point in the season when it went to Monroe last Saturday and dominated the second half en route to a 42-14 victory. The Red Wolves are 5-4 overall and 3-1 in the Sun Belt Conference. The score was tied 14-14 at halftime, but the second half belonged to the Red Wolves. It was the 10th consecutive conference road victory for ASU and the biggest margin of victory in a conference road game since the league was formed. Red Wolf quarterback Adam Kennedy passed for 235 yards and rushed for 102 yards. ASU finished the game with 259 yards rushing, the most since the season opener against UAPB. Texas State comes to Jonesboro on Saturday night (it’s too late in the year to be playing night games, by the way) with a 6-3 record. Most of the wins have come against weak opponents. The victories were by scores of 22-15 over Southern Mississippi, 28-3 over Prairie View A&M, 42-21 over Wyoming, 24-17 over Georgia State, 33-31 over South Alabama and 37-21 over Idaho. The losses were by scores of 33-7 to Texas Tech, 48-24 to Louisiana-Lafayette and 21-14 to Louisiana-Monroe. Ever wonder what happened to Dennis Franchione (Alabama fans are still trying to forget him)? Well, he’s in San Marcos coaching Texas State, my wife’s alma mater. We think Coach Fran will lose a close one in Jonesboro.

UAPB 21, Alabama A&M 20 — It’s a 3-7 Alabama A&M team hosting a 2-7 UAPB team in a SWAC game that’s hard to figure. We’ll go with the Golden Lions by a point since they’re the defending conference champions and have a bit of momentum following back-to-back victories over Mississippi Valley State and Grambling State. UAPB quarterback Ben Anderson was outstanding in the 45-42 victory over Grambling. He was 19 of 29 passing for 280 yards and four touchdowns. He rushed for another 192 yards on 21 keepers. Alabama A&M’s three victories have come against Grambling, Texas Southern and Alcorn State. The losses have been to Tuskegee, South Carolina State, Prairie View A&M, Mississippi Valley State, Southern University, Alabama State and Jackson State.

UCA 36, Nicholls State 34 — A disappointing season for the Bears became even worse last Saturday night in Conway as UCA gave up 58 points at home in a 58-31 loss to Southeastern Louisiana. There won’t be any playoff trips this year for UCA. The Bears are 5-5 overall and 2-3 in the Southland Conference. Southeastern Louisiana is alone atop the Southland standings at 8-2 overall and 5-0 in conference. Southeastern led only 24-17 at halftime but then scored 27 third-quarter points. The visitors outgained UCA 545 yards to 418 yards and had 343 yards on the ground. This week’s opponent, Coach Clint Conque’s alma mater, is not as talented as Southeastern. Nicholls State enters the contest with records of 4-6 overall and 1-4 in conference. The victories have come against Western Michigan, Langston, Arkansas Tech (by only 10 points) and Northwestern State. The losses have been to Oregon, Louisiana-Lafayette, Stephen F. Austin, McNeese State, Lamar and Sam Houston State.  Nicholls has lost its past four games.

Southern Arkansas 42, UAM 38 — It’s a south Arkansas battle between two teams with similar records. SAU is 5-4 both overall and in conference play. UAM is 4-5 in conference play and 5-5 overall. SAU was picked high going into the season and has been somewhat of a disappointment. UAM, meanwhile, has been a pleasant surprise following its 1-10 season of a year ago. Both teams are coming off lopsided losses in Arkadelphia, SAU at the hands of Henderson and UAM at the hands of Ouachita. This looks to be an evenly matched game. We’ll give the edge to the home team with the contest being played at Magnolia.

Harding 50, Arkansas Tech 31 — With two losses, Harding is out of the running for a spot in the Division II playoffs. But this talented group of Bisons can secure the host spot in that new bowl game at Texarkana with a victory in Russellville on Saturday afternoon. Harding improved its record to 7-2 last Saturday with a 52-30 victory over East Central Oklahoma. The Bison defense had 10 quarterback sacks in that game along with interception and fumble returns for touchdowns. The 10 sacks were a school record. East Central finished with a negative 21 yards rushing. Tech improved its overall record to 5-5 and its conference record to 5-4 by beating Southeastern Oklahoma in overtime at Russellville. Randy Velazquez kicked a 38-yard field goal to give the Wonder Boys a 37-34 victory. Ketrich Harmon rushed for 159 yards and Preston Conder passed for 326 yards for the Wonder Boys.

After having gone 13-0 on the picks the previous two weeks, our winning percentage took a bit of a hit last week with a 4-3 record.

UCA continues to be a disappointment. The Bears let us down with a loss to Northwestern State of Louisiana, which had come into the game with just a 3-5 record.

In the Great American Conference, we knew that the Ouachita-Southern Arkansas game would be close. We had picked Ouachita to win by a single point. Playing inspired football in the second half before a large homecoming crowd in Magnolia (while Ouachita was without its star senior running back, Chris Rycraw), the Muleriders won by eight points.

Arkansas Tech upset East Central Oklahoma on the road, something we didn’t see coming. Tech gets a little better with each passing week under its first-year head coach.

As for the Razorbacks, we called for a 40-30 Auburn victory. It was a 35-17 Auburn win that went about as expected.

Unfortunately, these Razorback games are becoming all too easy to pick.

Here’s the good news for Hog fans who are going on the road this weekend: The kickoff is early, and Oxford is a great place to spend a pretty fall afternoon. You can get the game out of the way with lots of time to spare. Eat downtown. Visit Square Books. Go to Rowan Oak. At least make your trip worthwhile even if the game is not.

Arkansas’ current six-game losing streak is its longest in 23 years. If you’re keeping count, that was the start of the glorious Jack Crowe era in Fayetteville.

Auburn continues to be the surprise of the Southeastern Conference. You must give Fort Smith native Gus Malzahn his due for getting the Tigers to 8-1. I’m sure last Saturday’s game was more important to Malzahn than he was letting on. He was 0-3 at Fayetteville as a visiting offensive coordinator. He lost 30-23 in 2008 when he was at Tulsa, he lost 44-23 in 2009 when he was at Auburn and he lost 38-14 in 2011 when he was at Auburn. That’s not to mention all of the Arkansans on the Auburn staff — Tim Horton, J.B. Grimes, Rhett Lashlee.

The other losing streaks of six or more games in Razorback history were in 1950, 1952, 1958 and 1990.

As noted, the record last week was 4-3, making the record 61-13 for the season.

Let’s move on to the picks for Week 11:

Ole Miss 27, Arkansas 17 — Hugh Freeze has done a great job in less than two seasons at Ole Miss. The Rebels had their fans excited with a 3-0 start that included victories over Vanderbilt, Southeast Missouri and Texas. Losses on the road to Alabama and Auburn followed. In one of the year’s most exciting games, Texas A&M dropped Ole Miss to 3-3 with a 41-38 victory at Oxford. Since then, the Rebels have upset LSU, 27-24, and cruised past Paul Petrino’s Idaho squad by a score of 59-14. This will mark the Rebels’ fourth consecutive game in Oxford. Some of their fans have probably never left The Grove during the past month. Ole Miss had an open date last Saturday, meaning the Rebels have had two weeks to heal and prepare for the Razorbacks.

Louisiana-Monroe 38, Arkansas State 34 — Razorback fans know all about UL-M quarterback Kolton Browning. Many thought Browning’s career was over earlier this season when he suffered a quadriceps tear in a loss to Tulane. But Browning, a tough competitor, returned. He completed 21 of his 31 passes last week against Troy for 354 yards and five touchdowns. Browning is the school’s all-time leading passer. Louisiana-Monroe is 5-4. Its victories have come by scores of 48-10 over Grambling, 21-19 over Wake Forest, 21-14 over Texas State, 38-10 over Georgia State and 49-37 over Troy. The losses have been by scores of 34-0 to Oklahoma, 70-7 to Baylor, 31-14 to Tulane and 31-10 to Western Kentucky. ASU heads to Monroe with a 4-4 record, having righted the ship in Mobile last Saturday with a 17-16 victory over South Alabama. The Red Wolves couldn’t score on seven first-half possessions and trailed 6-0 at the half of that game. They went ahead with 6:29 left in the game. Poor South Alabama has now lost five games by a total of 12 points.

Southeastern Louisiana 32, UCA 29 — UCA has yet to live up to expectations. The Bears are 5-4 overall and 2-2 in the Southland Conference following that 31-28 loss to Northwestern State. The Bears outgained the Demons 438 yards to 333 yards. UCA quarterback Ryan Howard finished 26 of 43 passing for 276 yards. The Bears will need to win their final three games to have a shot at a conference title and a third consecutive playoff berth. Southeastern Louisiana comes in red hot following a 41-7 thrashing of McNeese State in Lake Charles last weekend. Southeastern is 7-2 overall and 4-0 in conference play. A six-game winning streak includes victories of 34-31 over Samford, 35-3 over Incarnate Word, 56-14 over Stephen F. Austin, 37-22 over Northwestern State, 56-14 over Lamar and that big win over McNeese State. The game is in Conway. The Bears will have to have their best effort to have a chance.

UAPB 21, Grambling 19 — UAPB has had two weeks to prepare for a Grambling squad that has been in the news for all the wrong reasons this season. The Golden Lions started the season with seven consecutive losses and then got a victory at Mississippi Valley State. Grambling also started with seven consecutive losses, failed to show up for a game at Jackson State in an incident that received national media attention, lost 23-17 to Texas Southern after the players decided to end their boycott and then posted a 47-40 victory over Mississippi Valley State. We’ll give the Golden Lions a slight edge since they’re at home.

Henderson 47, Southern Arkansas 30 — The Reddies are 9-0 overall, 8-0 in the GAC, ranked No. 4 nationally in NCAA Division II and just two games away from going undefeated in the regular season for a second consecutive year. And the game against the Muleriders is in Arkadelphia. Henderson had five interceptions in the first half last week at Monticello en route to a 30-0 lead. The Reddies then let off the gas and ended up beating the Boll Weevils by a score of 37-21. Southern Arkansas was picked in the preseason to finish second in the conference behind Henderson. SAU went 8-2 in the regular season last year. Southern Arkansas failed to live up to expectations in the first part of the season but looked like its old self in the second half last week, coming from behind to defeat Ouachita, 31-23. Chris Terry caught three touchdown passes from Tyler Sykora in that game as the Muleriders improved to 5-3.

Ouachita 40, UAM 31 — Ouachita started the season 5-0 but has dropped two of its past three games. Granted, those losses were by narrow margins to two talented teams, Harding and Southern Arkansas. Granted, Ouachita was without its best receiver against Harding and without its best running back against SAU. But Ouachita had best not take a win over UAM for granted. The Tigers will have to come to play Saturday afternoon in Arkadelphia against a Boll Weevil team that is much improved over the group that finished 1-10 a year ago. These Weevils are 5-4 overall and 4-4 in conference play. A win in one of the final two games will secure a winning season.

Harding 36, East Central Oklahoma 22 — The Bisons are 6-2 following a 42-10 victory last Saturday at Southeastern Oklahoma. The Bisons rushed for 267 yards in that game while limiting Southeastern to just 24 yards rushing. If Harding can take care of business this week against East Central and next week against Arkansas Tech, it likely will find itself playing in that new bowl game at Texarkana on the first Saturday in December. East Central comes into Saturday afternoon’s game at Searcy with a 4-4 record.

Arkansas Tech 29, Southeastern Oklahoma 15 — As stated earlier, this is a Tech team that’s getting better. The Wonder Boys improved their record to 4-5 with that 26-17 victory at East Central Oklahoma. The Tech defense came up with five interceptions and a fumble recovery in the game. Southeastern Oklahoma comes to Russellville with a 2-7 record. Tech should be able to even its record at 5-5 and could finish with a winning record with an upset of Harding on Nov. 16.