Coming off their bye week, and facing the toughest two-game stretch of the season, the Howard Payne Yellow Jackets look to keep their American Southwest Conference championship hopes alive against Top 10 foes Hardin-Simmons and Mary Hardin-Baylor.

First for the Yellow Jackets (6-1, 5-0) – who are in the midst of a five-game win streak – is a trip to Abilene to face the No. 9 Hardin-Simmons Cowboys (6-1, 4-1) at 1 p.m. Saturday.

As for how Howard Payne will handle the first game after a bye, second-year head coach Jason Bachtel said, “Time will tell. My fear is any time you hit a bye week this late if you’re playing quality football is do you hit a slump? Defensively, I think we’ve been playing outstanding so I’m a little fearful there. Offensively, we’ve hit a lull so maybe it will recharge us and gets us back on track. With the two best in the conference coming up, we needed a break, we needed some rest and we got some quality rest. It’s good and bad, but that’s anytime you have a bye week. The later in the season the harder it is to get guys going again, but it may come at the best time when you need the most rest.”

A win at Hardin-Simmons would set up a showdown with No. 3 Mary Hardin-Baylor next week at Gordon Wood Stadium for the outright ASC championship. Even with a loss Saturday, the Yellow Jackets control their ASC fate as a win over the Cru would create a three-way tie in the league standings.

“If you get a win like this it’s a monumental win for our program,” Bachtel said in regard to what an upset of Hardin-Simmons would mean. “Nobody’s going to deny that with where we’ve been over the last decade. It’s a win that could be possibly one of the biggest in Howard Payne history, but we have a long way to go to get there. It’s a tall task, we have to show up and play and then we’ll address all that after that ball game.”

Through the first seven games, Bachtel gave his assessment of where the Yellow Jackets currently stand in regard to their own expectations.

“Defensively we’ve really seen a good attack from all parts of our defense,” Bachtel said. “We started creating some more turnovers that we weren’t getting in the first part of the season and we’d like to see that continue to grow. To stay in the ball game with a Top 10 team we’re going to need some turnovers.

“Offensively, we need to get back on track and get going again. We’ve seen some things that people have tried to do defensively that we haven’t necessarily been prepared for going into a ball game. We just have to get back to being inconsistent in our play and lose some of the turnovers we’ve had the last few games.”

Hardin-Simmons, which carries its own four-game win streak into Saturday’s contest, is producing 50 points and 440 yards – 227 passing and 213 rushing – per contest, with nine turnovers. The Hardin-Simmons defense gives up just 17 points and 276 yards – 174 through the air and 102 on the ground, per game, with 21 takeaways including 15 interceptions.

“There have been several sleepless nights over the last two weeks preparing for these guys,” Bachtel said. “They’re really good offensively. Gaylon Glynn is a heck of a quarterback who has really improved tremendously throwing the ball over the last year. They used him more as a wildcat last year and the year before, and he’s a done a phenomenal job improving how he throws the ball. They are very large humans up front and physical. They’ve got one of the best offensive lines in the nation. They’ve got a plethora of backs that can go in and run the ball, both physical and finesse. They also have two of the best receivers in the conference and I love ours, but they do some really good things that stretch you vertically.”

Glynn has completed 100 of 156 passes for 1,481 yards with 17 touchdowns and three interceptions. Leading receivers include Kevi Evans (30-643, 8 TDs), Gatlin Martin (27-307, 4 TDs), Kair Brinkerhoff (15-201, 3 TDs) and Jalen Crawford (12-161, TD). Top rushers are Colton Marshall (373 yards, 11 TDs), Myles Featherston (337 yards, 4 TDs), Kolby Youngblood (355 yards, 3 TDs), and Noah Garcia (176 yards, 3 TDs).

Howard Payne counters with a defense that yields 28 points and 401 yards – 272 passing and 129 rushing – per outing, while creating 15 turnovers.

Defensive stalwarts include Kyle Bell (59 tackles, 2.5 for loss, 1 fumble recovery), Jarett Brown (43 tackles, 3 for loss, 3 interceptions), Jessie Paris (43 tackles, 4 for loss), K.C. Cornelious (38 tackles, 2.5 for loss), Peyton Lowe (33 tackles, 1 interception), James Jakubowski (31 tackles, 5 for loss, 3.5 sacks), Jaden Elie (20 tackles, 5.5 for loss, 1 sack), and Brevin Wilson (18 tackles, 5 for loss, 2.5 sacks).

“We’ve got to get some stops on defense,” Bachtel said. “We’ve got to find a way to build some confidence with our kids so that they understand that we can play with Hardin-Simmons. I think it all comes down to our kids have never been in a situation where they’ve been in this type of ball game. They have to build some momentum and believe they are where they need to be.”

On the flip side of the ball, the Cowboy defense is led by Terrell Franklin (51 tackles, 7 for loss, 1 sack, 3 interceptions), Matt Mitchell (44 tackles, 8 for loss, 3 sacks, 1 interception), Brock Bujnoch (38 tackles, 4 for loss, 3 interceptions), Jamel LaFond (35 tackles, 2.5 for loss, 2 interceptions), and Cade Michna (31 tackles, 1 for loss, 1 interception).

“Defensively, their most dynamic player is Matt Mitchell, who is a great mike backer that will make several plays,” Bachtel said. “Their defensive line is big and physical. Their two gap players force you to have to do some things with your offensive line if you’re not able. They want to take away the deep ball as well, like all the other teams have tried to. They do a good job at running their cover 2 stuff, so we’ll see. They’re a Top 10 team for a season.”

The Yellow Jackets offense is averaging 47 points and 554 yards – 399 through the air and 215 on the ground – per game, with 13 turnovers.

Quarterback Landon McKinney has connected on 125 of 221 pass attempts for 2,161 yards with 21 touchdowns and eight interceptions. Leading receivers include Otis Lanier (39-707, 10 TDs), Jordan Carroll (27-554, 6 TDs), Hunter Cheek (14-384, 5 TDs) and Samuel Sims (10-144, 2 TDs). The ground game is anchored by Billy Reagins (398 yards, 6 TDs), Tauren Bradley (387 yards, 3 TDs), and Javian Myles (369 yards, 6 TDs).

“I go back to last year and the way the ball game started, us driving the ball down on our first series and not scoring. we have to do that same thing this year but get some points,” Bachtel said referring to the 2021 loss by a 38-14 count. “Then we came right back out off our turnover, they turned it back over to us, and we were inside the red zone and we no-pointed again. We’ve got to create those turnovers again and create some momentum early and understand when we have opportunities to score, even if it’s a field goal, points are points. We’ve got to take the points, we’ve got to create some momentum.”