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ABILENE, Texas - Loftier goals may have been set prior to the 2010 season for head coach Hal Mumme and the McMurry football team. Despite failing to contend for the American Southwest Conference title, Saturday McMurry still can accomplish one goal that would provide a very significant step in the overhaul of McMurry Football: a winning season.
At 5-4 overall and 3-4 in league play, McMurry makes its longest road trip of the season to face Mississippi College in Clinton, Miss. at 1 p.m. What's at stake is the coveted sixth win for McMurry, which would give the program its first winning season since 2000.
“We still have our goals in line, we still want a winning season. We can't control anything that already happened, but we can control this game because it's the only game we have this week,” said junior free safety
Will Morris. “We're still focused, we still want to win this game. None of us want to go 5-5.”
Obstacles stand in the way of McMurry getting to win No. 6 even before you start with the Choctaws. Two weeks ago
Jake Mullin, who was putting up all-America numbers at quarterback, went down with a separated shoulder for the remainder of the season after throwing 35 touchdowns, only two interceptions and a school record 2,859 passing yards.
To add insult to injury, backup quarterback
Stephen Warren broke his elbow in the second quarter of Saturday's 35-32 loss to Louisiana College. Third-string quarterback Landy Gunter exceeded expectations completing 11 of 14 passes for 192 yards and two touchdowns. His final throw of the game was a controversial interception in which the LC cornerback was caught on film and in the Abilene Reporter News photograph holding receiver
Marcus Franklin down while teammate Darnell Williams picked off the pass in the endzone to seal the game.
“We need to finish out with a winning season and it's going to be tough. We're going to have to do a commando raid here in Clinton, Miss.,” said Mumme. “I'm proud of our guys. They battle in every game. We've had a heart-breaking loss the last couple of weeks, but last week in particular when you look at everything we had to overcome.”
As for Gunter, Mumme said in 20 years he's never started a game with the third-string quarterback, but Saturday he'll rely on Gunter to help McMurry reach its goal of a winning season.
“We've never had that situation. It's really tough, but he really did good last week. It limited our offense somewhat because he hadn't had any reps on the intricate things we try to do. We basically had to run about three games the whole game, but he did a really good job of executing,” Mumme said. “He'll be a little more in tune with the game plan this week because he'll get reps in practice so hopefully we can get a better outing for him in the last game of the season.”
Despite an NCAA Division III playoff appearance in 2009, Mississippi College has suffered a hangover thus far in 2010 entering the contest with a 4-5 overall record and a 2-5 mark in conference play. The Choctaws took two non-conference wins to begin the season, and held a national ranking until the team lost four consecutive games in ASC play.
The Choctaws' two wins in conference play this season came against Howard Payne and Sul Ross State who each tie for last place in the ASC standings with a 1-6 conference record.
If McMurry struggles on the offensive side without its first and second-string quarterbacks it will rely on the defensive unit that ranks No. 1 in the ASC allowing just 299 yards of offense per game.
Morris helps lead that charge with 48 tackles and is tied for the team-high with five interceptions. He was named to the D3football.com National Team of the Week Wednesday.
McMurry fans can listen locally to the broadcast beginning with the pre-game show at 12:45 p.m. and fans can view live audio and video on mcmurrysports.com for a subscription price.
