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ABILENE, Texas - For 12 seniors on the McMurry University football team, receiving a bid to the NCAA Division III playoffs was almost unthinkable three years ago.

Back in 2008, McMurry was just trying to win a game. It didn't.

Still without nickname or mascot after being pressured by the NCAA to drop Indians in 2006, McMurry went 0-10 in 2008, part of a losing streak that reached 17 games. The season was part of a nine-year stretch in which McMurry finished no better than 5-5.

"My freshman year was rough," said offensive lineman Bertrick Ervin, one of the dozen seniors still with the program from 2008. "The only thing that got me through it was the fact that I was on the field playing."

Things have changed dramatically in three seasons under head coach Hal Mumme, who came to McMurry after Division I stints at Kentucky and New Mexico State. The program has posted a 18-12 record over the last three years, going 8-2 this season for the best record since 1998. A 6-4 mark in 2010 was the program's first winning record since 2000.

The War Hawks get a chance to continue their run at noon Saturday when they visit Trinity in the first round of the playoffs. In getting there, McMurry has won seven in a row, finishing second in the American Southwest Conference, and gained its first national ranking as an NCAA member (No. 19 by D3football.com, No. 22 by the American Football Coaches Association).

"It's been an experience, I'll tell you that," linebacker Nick Hernandez said. "I'd never been a part of a winning program. Since Coach Mumme has been here, it's just translated to everybody.

"This year, I feel like we've just come together as a team so well. It seems like everybody's got each other's back. It's the first time I've ever been a part of a team like that, and it's real enjoyable to have everybody there for you like that."

Ervin said Mumme's hiring in April 2009 was definitely a turning point for the program.

"You could just feel the whole atmosphere of the program change," Ervin said. "Even those first few games we lost, they were close games and we felt like we were in it.

"Now, football players get way more respect than they used to. At the beginning, it was like, 'Why do you play football?'"

Ervin's sentiment was shared by others in the group that has played its entire college career at McMurry.

"When Coach Mumme came in, he brought in a good coaching staff," tight end Delfonte Diamond said. "They taught us every technique, that we could rise above adversity and all that. It's been a real tough road to overcome it all."

Said safety Jimmy Terrell: "When coach Mumme and his staff came, I knew that was going to be the foundation that we were going to build on. I knew the program was going to turn around. I had confidence just because I knew what they were about and we just bought into it real well."

But while the atmosphere was different, the results weren't. McMurry opened 2009 with losses of 31-26 to Trinity and 30-27 to Austin College in starting 0-4. The tide finally turned with a 45-21 victory over East Texas Baptist, and McMurry won the next three before losing to crosstown rival Hardin-Simmons for the 22nd consecutive time.

Further steps were taken in 2010 as McMurry won its firs two games and was 5-2 before losses to HSU and Louisiana College. The winning record was clinched when third-string quarterback Landry Gunter, forced into the starting role because of injuries to Jake Mullin and Stephen Warren, passed for four touchdowns in a 28-17 victory at Mississippi College.

Even with the progress already made, a playoff berth did not appear to be in McMurry's future after an 82-6 loss at Stephen F. Austin — the worst in McMurry's 89-year history — in the season opener.

"What I learned from that, just like what I learned from the 0-10 season I had as a freshman, was how to handle adversity and how to overcome," Terrell said. "I think that was really important as a football team that we learned how to bounce back when we get knocked down like that."

The War Hawks bounced back to beat Texas-San Antonio 24-21 before an Alamodome crowd of 31,634 as Diamond scored on a 32-yard reception with 19 seconds left, then lost 28-27 at ASC champion Mary Hardin-Baylor in its conference opener. The War Hawks haven't lost since, ending the 23-game slide against Hardin-Simmons with a 24-14 victory.

After beating Louisiana College and Mississippi College to close out the schedule, the War Hawks still had to wait for an at-large bid for the playoffs.

"It was so crazy," Diamond said of Sunday's announcement, which gave McMurry its first playoff berth since 1980 when the Indian competed in NAIA Division II. "That was probably the happiest moment of my life."

Hernandez said excitement has been running high on campus ever since.

"This is my first time in the playoffs, so I'm going to go out there and give it all I've got," he said. "We want to keep going as far as we can and give the community something to cheer about."

Regardless of what happens Saturday in San Antonio, the seniors know they will leave the program in much better shape than it was when they arrived.

"Coming here and basically going from the ground up ... you can't get any worse than 0-10," Terrell said. "It's meant a lot to us to see the fruits of our hard work. It's amazing. For me personally, it's been a blessing."

Said Ervin: "It feels like we started a tradition, a legacy. We just hope it keeps on going. After I leave here, I want to see McMurry football do great things."

The Persevering Dozen (part of the 0-10 2008 team; and the 2011 playoff team)
No. Name Pos. Ht. Wt. High School
1 Jessie Garcia K 5-8 180 El Paso Ysleta
8 Kyle Wayne Kelley LB 6-1 200 Mineral Wells
9 Delfonte Diamond TE 6-1 240 Aldine Nimitz
16 Jimmy Terrell DB 5-10 195 Lexington
18 Nick Hernandez LB 6-0 200 Richmond Foster
20 Kerry Gamble LB 5-11 220 Athens
23 David Boyd LB 6-1 190 Houston King
29 Austin Cleere DB 5-11 190 Robinson
39 Alex Crisman DE 6-1 230 Abilene Wylie
62 Bertrick Ervin OL 6-0 250 Fort Bend Marshall
70 John Duplichan OL 6-1 275 New Waverly
76 Bret Heitzman OL 6-3 245 Pearland