ARKADELPHIA, Ark. — On Saturday the 3rd-ranked Ouachita Baptist University Tigers will make their fifth Division II football playoff appearance when they welcome 8th-ranked Northwest Missouri State to Arkadelphia.
The Tigers have never made it past the second round in the DII playoffs and they're hoping to go far this year.
"I think everybody's goal is to win a national championship. That's what you get in this thing to do in the end. our guys are really excited about that it still gets down to one game at a time." Head Coach Todd Knight said.
OBU went 11-0 in the regular season and won the GAC title.
They have a strong run game led by senior running back TJ Cole, who ranks second in DII with 150.3 rushing yards per game
"We just put in so much work over the summer. Over this past season, these last 15 weeks it's been a great accomplishment. We've been working on being ourselves just doing what we've been doing these past 15 weeks. Just continuing to play our ball and not getting too caught up in the moment. It's been very exciting for the team" Cole said.
OBU sophomore quarterback, Riley Harms who transferred from Nebraska-Kearney, says he's excited about his first-ever playoff game.
"This will be my first playoff experience I'm really excited about it. The good thing was that it was not unexpected. This group of guys is an old group, they've played a lot of football together. We all knew that this was our goal at the end of the season. As far as the game itself, Northwest is really good. We have a really good opponent coming to town," Harms said.
The Tigers will host the bearcats on Saturday at 1 PM at Cliff Harris Stadium.
You can watch it on Youtube or on the Ouachita Sports Digital Network.