Football 10/8/2024 8:00:00 PM Chris Brannick

No. 13 Central Oklahoma Hosts Northwest Missouri

Bronchos Battle Bearcats In Crucial MIAA Game

EDMOND – No. 17 Central Oklahoma returns home in Week 6 for the annual Hall of Fame Game and will host Northwest Missouri in a crucial MIAA tilt Saturday afternoon. Kickoff is scheduled for 1 p.m. at Chad Richison Stadium.

The Bronchos are 5-0 on the season for the first time since 2004, and UCO has a 4-0 record in the MIAA. The Bronchos are the only remaining unbeaten team in the league. Northwest Missouri comes to Edmond with a 4-2 overall record and a 3-1 record in conference play. The Bearcats of Maryville, Missouri lost their first two games of the season before getting on the current four-game win streak they bring to Edmond Saturday afternoon.

UCO ranks No. 1 in total offense in all of Division II at 587.4 yards per game. The Broncho passing attack ranks fourth at 342.2 yard per game, and the Broncho rushing attack ranks 10th at 245.2 yards per game. UCO is second in the country at 53.8 points per game.

The highly rated offense begins with the quarterback play of Jett Huff. The sophomore himself ranks No. 2 in the country in pass completion percentage (75.2), No. 3 for total offense (328.2), passing yards per game (318.2), and points responsible for per game (21.6). Huff also ranks No. 4 in the country in passing efficiency (189.3) and No. 5 in passing touchdowns (17).

In four games with the Bronchos, the former Midwest City kid and College Station High School Class 5A Division I state finalist in Texas, has 1,591 yards passing to go with 17 TD strikes. Huff is 121-for-161.

Terrill Davis leads the country in receiving yards (649) and receiving yarsds per game (129.8), and he ranks second nationally in receiving TDs (eight). He's already set a UCO record for receptions in a single game (14) and tied the school records for receiving touchdowns in one game (four) and most 200-yard receiving games in one season. Davis is on pace for just north of 1,400 yards receiving this season, which would rank third in school history. He's also on pace for 81 receptions, which would also rank third in school history.

With the production of Jaylen Cottrell in the backfield, Central Oklahoma has a solidified Big 3 on offense with Jett Huff and Terrill Davis.

Cottrell leads the country with an astonishing 10.1 yards per carry. He's up to 588 yards (seventh in DII) and his seven rushing touchdowns ranks ninth nationally. Cottrell, who had two 80-yard touchdowns when the season started, has a 79-yard score, a 67-yard score, and a 61-yard score on the ground this season. The junior running back also has four 100-yard rushing games already this season, halfway to the school record of eight 100-yard games in a single season.

On the defensive side of the ball, while Central Oklahoma's numbers don't rank as high nationally as the offense, the production is still a big part of the Bronchos' 5-0 start. UCO gives up just 21.0 points per game and has allowed just one score in the first quarter through the first give games of the season. Central Oklahoma holds opponents to 406.6 yards of offense per game, splitting that mark with 280.0 passing yards and 126.6 rushing yards per game this season. The Bronchos have 31 tackles in the backfield through five games, and 13 of those are quarterback sacks. Additionally, UCO's defense has 14 QB hurries and 29 pass breakups.

Central linebacker Jack Puckett leads the team with 33 tackles while linebacker Connor Johnson has 26. Dylan Buchheit, a safety, has 27 tackles. Johnson has a team-high 5.0 behind the line of scrimmage, while Puckett has 4.5 stops behind the line. Noah West, who has 18 total tackles, also has 4.0 behind the line. Central has 13 sacks in five games this season. Zane Adams and West lead the team with 2.5 each. Johnson has two sacks and Hunter Largent and Johnny Wilson both have 1.5 sacks. Central also has seven interceptions in five games, with seven different players grabbing one ball out of the air. Kobey Stephens, Buchheit, David Williams, Kazeyn Bird, Curtis Miller, JK Moore, and Kaunor Ashley each have one pick this season.

For Central Oklahoma's special teams play, punter Grayson Miller has been a target seeker for the Bronchos. The junior has just 14 punts in five games but is booming kicks 47.2 yards per punt and has already seven punts of 50 or more yards. He booted a 65-yard kick in Week 1, a 63-yarder in Week 3, and then another 60-yard punt in Week 5. Miller was named MIAA Special Teams Athlete of the Week after Week 4. Miller's 47.2 yards per punt would rank No. 1 in the country, however, he doesn't meet the minimum standards to be listed. Miller has just 14 punts, and the NCAA statistics requires a minimum of 3.6 punts per game.

Nicky Quevedo is 4-for-6 on field goal attempts this season and 33-for-36 on PATs. The senior All-American also has 45 kickoffs at 61.7 yards per kick with 22 touchbacks. In the return game, Stephens leads the way. The senior defensive back has four punt returns for 110 yards with a 90-yard touchdown. He also has five kickoff returns for 195 yards and a 98-yard touchdown.

Central Oklahoma and Northwest Missouri met twice in the 1980s and twice in the 1990s and split those meetings 2-2. Then the Bronchos joined the MIAA in 2012. It's 9-2 Northwest since then for an 11-4 mark overall. But UCO has won the last two meetings in Edmond. The Bronchos won in 2018 for the first time since joining the MIAA, and then again in 2022 in Adam Dorrel's first game against his alma mater. AD is 1-1 against his former squad now and looks to make it three in a row in Edmond this Saturday.

Central Oklahoma has made a long-awaited return to the national rankings and made a big jump in both national polls this week. UCO moved up from 23 to 17 in both the AFCA and D2Football.com Top 25s. The Bronchos are one of 20 teams in the country without a loss entering Week 5. Central's last appearance in the rankings prior to this season was 2009 and prior to that 2004.

Adam Dorrel is 111-51 as a head coach and has a 16-11 record as the head coach at Central Oklahoma. Dorrel has 92 wins as a head coach in the MIAA, which puts him in ninth place on the league's all-time wins list. ADs 92 wins are the third-most for active head coaches behind Craig Schurig (140) and Garin Higgins (111). Dorrel has a 71-16 career record in MIAA games.

Central has won 660 football games in its 117-year history. The Bronchos entered the 2024 season tied for fourth on the list of active NCAA Division II schools. Pittsburg State (754), Tuskegee (716), Hillsdale (665), and Carson Newman (660) make up the Top Five along with Central Oklahoma.

UCO plays its home games at Chad Richison Stadium. The 12,000-seat facility underwent significant improvements in 2022, expanding the east side of the stadium with new bleachers and amenities. The south end of the stadium was also restored with a beautification project that includes a massive waterfall feature and a landscaping project consisting of several boulders and trees. New turf was also laid out in 2022. A new video board in the south end zone with two LED ribbons on the Sports Performance Center in the north end zone were installed in 2023. UCO named the stadium after the Central alum in 2021.

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Players Mentioned

#31 Zane Adams: DL; 6' 1"; Senior

#13 Kazeyn Bird: LB; 5' 11"; Sophomore

#10 Dylan Buchheit: DB; 6' 1"; Senior

#0 Jaylen Cottrell: RB; 6' 2"; Junior

#8 Terrill Davis: WR; 6' 0"; Junior

#21 Connor Johnson: LB; 6' 3"; Senior

#97 Hunter Largent: DL; 6' 2"; Senior

#19 Grayson Miller: P; 5' 10"; Junior

#16 JK Moore: DB; 6' 1"; Junior

#30 Jack Puckett: LB; 6' 1"; Sophomore

Players Mentioned

#31 Zane Adams
: 6' 1"; Senior
: DL

#13 Kazeyn Bird
: 5' 11"; Sophomore
: LB

#10 Dylan Buchheit
: 6' 1"; Senior
: DB

#0 Jaylen Cottrell
: 6' 2"; Junior
: RB

#8 Terrill Davis
: 6' 0"; Junior
: WR

#21 Connor Johnson
: 6' 3"; Senior
: LB

#97 Hunter Largent
: 6' 2"; Senior
: DL

#19 Grayson Miller
: 5' 10"; Junior
: P

#16 JK Moore
: 6' 1"; Junior
: DB

#30 Jack Puckett
: 6' 1"; Sophomore
: LB