The Missouri Southern Lions football team held the Pittsburg State University Gorillas to a scoreless tie on Oct. 25 until there was only 1:06 left in the first quarter.

From there, the Gorillas would go on to rack 571 total offensive yards and 26 first downs in a 49-0 defeat of the Lions.

“Pittsburg State was a bad match up for us physically,” said assistant head football coach Rob Green.

“Once they got up on us it forced us to do some things offensively that we really didn’t want to have to do.”

In the loss, the Lions were only able to manage 143 total yards of offense, including 38 net passing yards.

Up next, Southern will face off with the Bearcats of Southwest Baptist University.

On offense, senior quarterback Kokain Mothershed will be facing a Bearcats defense that has been allowing 31.2 points per game and 195.4 passing yards per game.

SBU’s rush defense is allowing 190.8 rush yards per game and a 4.7 per yard carry average with 18 touchdowns.

“Hopefully this will be a kind of coming out party for us offensively,” Green said, “which we desperately need.”

The Bearcats’ offense will be bringing an offense that is scoring 25.2 points per game on average, while gaining 344.9 total yards per game.

“They don’t do a lot offensively,” said Mark Smith, defensive coordinator. “But they are good at what they do.”

Wide receivers Marc Green and Dimetric Lyons are combining to gain 104.1 of the Bearcats’ 161.6 passing yards per game.

“Any time you have a double threat at wide receiver, that’s going to present a few problems,” Rob Green said.

Smith thinks the key to stopping Marc Green and Lyons is “knowing where they are on the field at all times.”

Southern’s defense is allowing 33.9 points per game through eight games this season and allowing 355.6 total yards.

The Lions’ offense is putting up 14.1 points per game and is gaining 255.9 total yards per game, with 3.6 yards per play average. The Lions’ rushing attack is gaining 117.6 yards per game.

Kickoff is set for 2 p.m. Saturday at Hughes Stadium.