4:25 p.m.: You think UNO's football rivalry with UNK – hey, the Victory Bell means something now that the Lopers have won two in a row – is good and getting better? Intrastate rival just 2-1/2 hours down the road (that's sportswriter, speed). About to become conference rivals. Hey, great stuff.

But how about the rivalry that Ouachita Baptist – UNO's Thursday night opponent – has? The Tigers play Henderson State each year in the Battle of the Ravine. It's no intrastate rivalry, and it's better than an intracity (Arkadelphia, Ark.) rivalry. The teams' stadiums are about 500 yards (yards!) apart, according to OBU sports information director Alan Greenwood. Across a ravine. OBU players walk to the game at Henderson State from their own stadium. OBU coach Todd Knight can see the top of Henderson State's bowl-style stadium from a hill on campus. Heck, some of Henderson State's buildings appear to be on the OBU campus. Crazy.

What else do we know about OBU? Well, just as they are starting to move solidly into the middle of the pack – and perhaps higher – in the Gulf South Conference (a league often considered the football equal of the MIAA in Division II), the Tigers are leaving. The six Division II Arkansas schools, plus three Oklahoma schools from the Lone Star Conference – are forming their own league, cutting down travel costs for all. It looks like OBU has a leg up on being one of the best, if not the best, football school in that league.

There isn't a whole lot of tremendous football history at OBU, which moved from the NAIA to Division II in the late 1990s and hadn't had a winning season since 1987 until 2008. But the Tigers do own three victories over Arkansas and another over Ole Miss — from back in the 1920s and earlier. Check the start of the 1922 season: win over Arkansas, tie against Ole Miss, loss to Texas A&M. Things have changed.

So, there's your Ouachita Baptist (named after the Ouachita River, by the way) primer. Enjoy what should be one of the more intriguing, non-UNK nonconference games in several years at Caniglia Field.

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