The first road trip of the 2026 football season is the longest road trip of the year for Arkansas Tech University.
The Wonder Boys (1-0) will visit the Northwestern Oklahoma State University Rangers (0-1) for a 6 p.m. Great American Conference game at Ranger Field in Alva, Okla., on Thursday, Sept. 10.
“The road is a special place,” said Roy Thompson, ATU head football coach. “You don’t always get to pick your roommate and you don’t always get to pick who you eat with at the table. It’s an opportunity for our guys to get to know each other outside of Russellville. I think there’s a lot of bonding on the bus. We try to make it clear that it’s a business trip, but these are lifelong memories these guys will look back on for years to come. Those memories are a lot more fun when you win.”
Arkansas Tech experienced that winning feeling in week one, albeit by the slimmest of margins. A goal-line stand on the final drive of the game allowed the Wonder Boys to escape with a 26-20 season-opening win over Southwestern Oklahoma State University.
“We played hard, which I hope is a staple of Arkansas Tech football,” said Thompson. “We made it a little bit closer than we wanted to, but our plan was to try to win the game in the fourth quarter. Our kids had a level of confidence understanding that was part of the goal. It was hot, we have a good football team, we’re deep, we want to play a lot of people and then go try to win the game in the fourth quarter. They believed in that and bought into that.”
Thompson said he is looking for significant improvement from week one to week two.
“There were too many missed assignments, too many loafs and too many missed tackles,” said Thompson. “We didn’t play clean across the board, so this week we have to cut out those things. That’s what leads to wins and losses…turnovers, missed assignments and loafs. Those can cost you in any game, so we want to make sure we’re doing what we need to do to give ourselves a chance to win.”
Northwestern Oklahoma State dropped a 76-0 decision to nationally second-ranked Harding University in week one. The Rangers finished the game with minus-26 yards of total offense while allowing the Bisons’ offense to gain 747 yards.
NWOSU’s cumulative overall record since the beginning of the 2021 season is 8-48, and the Rangers are 2-29 against teams from Arkansas during that span.
“We want to be the best version of Arkansas Tech,” said Thompson. “We want to play good football and hold ourselves to the standard we’re trying to meet. We want to see the missed assignments come down quite a bit and we want to tackle better. We have talented athletes. Now we need to apply those principles…executing at a high level in all situations. If we do that, we’ll have a chance to win the game.”
Live coverage of the ATU-NWOSU game will be available on KCJC 102.3 FM, www.rivervalleyradio.com/river-country and www.arkansastechsports.com.
Talk to you on the radio.
Tech Tidbits is a column written by Sam Strasner, ATU director of university relations and radio play-by-play voice for ATU football and basketball.
