ABILENE, Texas – For the second-straight season, McMurry's star quarterback Jake Mullin won't be able to close the season or start against Louisiana College. A separated shoulder in Saturday's loss to Hardin-Simmons has McMurry looking to redshirt freshman Stephen Warren to help deliver McMurry's first winning season since 2000.

With five victories in 2010, McMurry has two games to spare to reach at least a 6-4 season ensuring the program's first above .500-record since Steve Keenum coached the 2000 squad to a 6-4 mark. Saturday's final home game of the season beckons Louisiana College to Wilford Moore Stadium at 2 p.m.

The Wildcats share McMurry's 5-3 overall record, but have a 5-1 record in league play compared to McMurry's American Southwest Conference mark of 3-3.

Mullin threw a school record 2,859 passing yards and 35 touchdown passes while throwing only two interceptions before his season ended in the third quarter. However, the freshman Warren said he's geared up for his first collegiate start.

“It's going to be hard to play as well as Jake did statistic wise; he's a great quarterback and he's been great this whole year,” Warren said. “It's been good for me to watch him this whole year. I think this next week will be good, I'll be able to get in a rhythm and get to play, and hopefully things will look up from there.”

Warren, the Abilene High native, was actually offered a scholarship by McMurry head coach Hal Mumme when he was the head coach at NCAA New Mexico State in 2008. However, Mumme's departure led Warren to choose NCAA Division II Valdosta State for his first college season in 2009 where he red-shirted. Warren returned home to be the quarterback-in-waiting after Mullin's record-setting season in 2009. However, his chance will come sooner rather than later Saturday.

“I love the offense, I've been trying to get with these coaches ever since I got out of high school,” said Warren. “We actually ran a lot of their plays in my high school, so I'm actually very comfortable with the offense.”

While Mumme said that obviously the team was disappointed to lose Mullin, he's anxious to see what the freshman can do.

“He's got two games to play. It's a lot better than last year headed into Louisiana College when Jake had the swine flu Thursday and poor Landry Gunter never took any snaps in practice,” Mumme said. “At least Stephen has played some and cleaned up some games, and he's thrown some touchdown passes.”

Mullin played nine games last season, but didn't make the trip to Pineville, La. for the season finale against the Wildcats. LC jumped on McMurry for a 55-13 victory without Mullin and Gunter tossed five interceptions in the loss.

Warren, however, has had a few reps in the season when games have gotten out of hand. Not withstanding the two interceptions he threw Saturday after being thrown into the fire against HSU in the second half, Warren has thrown for 205 yards and three touchdowns this season.

“He's a lot like Jake was when we started last year. Basically it's all about game reps,” Mumme said. “You can practice all you want and throw drills, but game reps are what counts. He's had a few, and he's done well when he's been in there so we just get a chance for him to play a whole game and see how he does.”

To say the least, Saturday may not be game to watch for the running game enthusiasts. McMurry and Louisiana College have flip-flopped all season as the No. 1 and No. 2 passing offenses in all of the NCAA Division III. Headed into the contest, the Wildcats take the nod as top passing team in the nation at 385.3 yards per game while McMurry is second at 383.

“We're kind of battling them to see who's the third-best team in this league. Mary Hardin-Baylor is the class of the league and Hardin-Simmons is right there behind them,” Mumme said. “Then, there's us and Louisiana College; every week we look at the national passing stats to see if we're No. 1 and they're No. 2 or vice versa. It ought to be a fun thing, hopefully Stephen will have a good game and we can keep up with them.”

Saturday will also mark the final games in McMurry uniforms for seniors Marcus Franklin, Desmond Baker, Josh McKinnis, Ricky Jimenez, Marcus Sanchez, Antwaun Harris and Kelvrett Mattox. Mumme said that it was important to the seniors that they leave a legacy as a team that posted a winning record for the first time in a while.

“This is senior day, it's our last home game. We need one more win to have our first winning season in over a decade, so there's a lot for us to play for,” he said. “And I know Louisiana feels the same way, and we've got two teams that are pretty entertaining to watch.”