Game Day Central |
Bacone Game Photo Gallery
ABILENE, Texas - Both the offense and defense shined in McMurry's 41-6 victory over Bacone College Saturday night and after putting up 477 yards of total offense and the defense holding the Warriors' offensive unit to just 222, a struggling Texas College team comes to town Saturday for McMurry's home opener.
The Steers, who hail from the same Central States League Conference that Bacone College does, are an NAIA school with an 0-2 record and just three total points on the season. Texas College fell to Bellhaven College 58-3 Aug. 28 before NCAA Division II Ouachita Baptist shutout the Steers 70-0 Saturday night.
Even with the rough start, both head coach Hal Mumme and offensive coordinator Matt Mumme said that Texas College could not be taken lightly.
“They're a scholarship program with 30 scholarships, we won't be able to take them lightly, we'll have to defend our turf,” said Matt Mumme. “They're going to run around, they're going to give us a few different looks coverage wise and they're also going to blitz us some. They're probably going to try and duress Jake [Mullin] more so than we saw from Bacone.”
Hal Mumme echoed his son's sentiments.
“Texas College is a formidable opponent. They're a scholarship school with lots of great athletes,” he said. “It's our home opener, so obviously we're excited about playing, and it's an important thing to win your last game before the conference schedule starts.”
McMurry didn't turn the ball over against Bacone Saturday night, Mullin threw for 420 yards and five touchdowns, and the defense held an opponent to its lowest output since the 2006 season at just 222 yards.
Junior strong safety
Jimmy Terrell had one of McMurry's two interceptions against the Warriors and said he felt good about where the team was headed.
“It felt good to come out and get a win. We still have a lot of things we need to do and accomplish, but it felt good knowing the offense had our back,” Terrell said.
Like his coaches, Terrell said McMurry is not looking past Texas College even with the nationally-ranked Mary Hardin-Baylor slated to visit Abilene Sept. 18 to face McMurry.
“I expect [Texas College] to be athletic; we just can't take them for granted,” said Terrell. “We've just got to come out, play ball and play lights out as a defense.”
Matt Mumme said he was pleased with the effort out of McMurry, but said that the next couple of weeks will be a time where McMurry will fine tune its mistakes and become more fluid once the American Southwest Conference schedule begins.
“We made a lot of mistakes, but we were able to correct those mistakes,” Matt Mumme said. “It's always a good thing to sit there and say we have a lot of improvement and we made mistakes, but we were still able to win the game.”
McMurry will shoot for its first 2-0 start since the 2005 season against the Steers with kickoff at 6 p.m. at Wilford Moore Stadium. Fans can purchase individual tickets at the gates beginning 90 minutes before kickoff, or they can purchase season tickets online at mcmurrysports.com/tickets.
Live stats as well as live audio and video will be available as well by visiting mcmurrysports.com. The game will be broadcast locally on KZQQ 1560 AM with the pre-game show beginning at 5:45 p.m.
