ABILENE, Texas – The American Southwest Conference football regular season wraps up this Saturday, as McMurry University will battle for postseason positioning against Howard Payne University tomorrow at 1 p.m. in Brownwood.
GAME DAY PROTOCOL:
In accordance with Texas and ASC guidelines, Saturday's game at HPU's Gordon Wood Stadium is open to the public with social distancing procedures in place. Masks are required at the stadium.
Tickets are $5 for adults, $3 for seniors, $2 for ages 12-18 and free admission for anyone under 12. All tickets can be purchased at the game with no advance sales.
FOLLOW THE GAME:
Saturday's game will be video streamed, radio streamed and have live stats per HPU's website. McMurry will not have a radio broadcast for Saturday's game.
VIDEO AND AUDIO l LIVE STATS
Each week, game day information will be posted at this link.
THE IMPLICATIONS:
With the first, second and fifth seeds locked in the ASC West Division, McMurry and Howard Payne will face off for the third place spot in the standings and the right to host a home ASC playoff game on March 27.
The loser of Saturday's game will fall to the fourth spot in the standings and defer hosting rights to the No. 4 seed in the ASC East.
THE STANDINGS:
EAST DIVISION
Mary Hardin-Baylor 3-0 W3 This week – vs. Louisiana College
Louisiana College 2-1 W1 This week – at Mary Hardin-Baylor
East Texas Baptist 2-2 L2 This week – BYE
Belhaven 1-2 W1 This week – at Southwestern
Southwestern 0-3 L3 This week – vs. Belhaven
WEST DIVISION
Hardin-Simmons 3-0 W3 This week – at Sul Ross State
Texas Lutheran 3-1 W1 This week – BYE
Howard Payne 1-2 L1 This week – vs. McMurry
McMurry 1-2 L2 This week – at Howard Payne
Sul Ross State 0-3 L3 This week – vs. Hardin-Simmons
THE SERIES:
Tomorrow will mark the 79th game in the all-time series, second only to Sul Ross State with 90 meetings as the most storied rivalry in McMurry Football history.
The Yellow Jackets lead the all-time series with a 47-29-2 record.
HPU went undefeated for the first 15 games of the series (1927-1942) with 13 wins and two ties, but McMurry snapped the streak with a 13-6 win in 1946 then won three more in a row under legendary head coach Wilford Moore from 1947-49.
McMurry's longest win streak in the series is five games – three of which came in 2009-11 and two in 2016 and 2017 following McMurry's return to NCAA Division III. HPU has won the last two meetings.
SCOUTING THE WAR HAWKS:
McMurry has leaned on the passing game so far this season and ranks fourth in the American Southwest Conference with 202.3 passing yards per contest. The War Hawks join Howard Payne, Hardin-Simmons and East Texas Baptist as the only ASC schools to average over 200.0 passing yards per game.
The War Hawks have two of the top five receiving yardage leaders in the conference with freshman Kristopher Martin averaging 65.7 yards per game and sophomore Jermond Lovely averaging 61.0. Both players have 12 receptions this season. Last week at TLU, Lovely caught all three touchdowns.
In the run game, Dee Robinson continues to lead the way averaging 57.7 yards per game. He has 51 carries for 173 yards and two touchdowns so far.
McMurry has four of the top 11 tacklers in the conference, led by sophomore linebacker Xavier Gayle with 8.7 tackles per game. He has 26 total tackles to rank third in the ASC, followed by freshman defensive lineman Colton Strickland in sixth at 8.0 per game, senior linebacker Josh Smith in ninth with 7.5 per game and junior linebacker Micheas Garibaldi in 11th with 7.3 per game.
In the secondary, freshman cornerback Perry Wells has broken up three passes and has forced one fumble.
SCOUTING THE YELLOW JACKETS:
Howard Payne is 1-2 on the season and enters tomorrow following a 41-14 loss to Hardin Simmons. HPU also dropped a season-opening heartbreaker to TLU – 39-38 – but has a 53-34 win over Sul Ross State.
The Yellow Jackets own the third highest scoring offense at 35.0 points per game, but also allow the most points in the ASC at 38.0 PPG – tied with McMurry and Southwestern.
HPU averages 475.7 yards per game, second best in the league. Offensively, the Yellow Jackets lead the league in passing behind the arm of Landon McKinney, who has completed 51 of 81 passes for 796 yards and six touchdowns with no interceptions.
Jake Parker is the leading receiver for HPU with a conference-best 26 catches for 445 yards and four touchdowns. He is the only receiver averaging over 100 yards per game at a 151.7 average. He also has the most all-purpose yards with 505 total.
On the flipside, HPU gives up the most yards in the conference at 478.7 YPG.
Kyll Bell leads the defense with 10.0 tackles per game. HPU is still looking to force its first turnover of the season.
OTHER NOTABLES:
RECORD WATCH – Senior linebacker Josh Smith ranks eighth in all-time career tackles with 276, moving past Desmond Guy (2012-2015) with his eight tackles against HSU. Smith needs 12 tackles to move into seventh place with Drew Wallace (2006-09). Only four players have recorded 300 career tackles in McMurry history, led by Chris Joseph (1982, 1984-86) with 379.
DOUBLE TROUBLE – Sophomore Dee Robinson and junior Kameron Session made quite the tandem last season at running back, combining for 1,092 yards and seven touchdowns on the ground. Robinson ranked fourth in the ASC with 65.6 rushing yards per game and currently ranks sixth at 57.7 per game.
THE FINISHER – With injuries hampering the War Hawks at quarterback last year, sophomore Carlos Garibay stepped in for the final three games of the season and led the team with a 138.9 passer rating. He finished 53-for-94 for 696 yards, seven touchdowns and two interceptions. He has since moved into the starting role full time, leading McMurry in its season-opening win.
ASC 25th ANNIVERSARY – The American Southwest Conference enters its 25th year since forming in 1996. McMurry was part of the first ASC football season in 1996, naming nine players first team all-conference and four more second team all-conference. The War Hawks have had two stints in the ASC, with the first spanning from 1996-2011. McM returned to the ASC in 2016 and is in its fifth year back.
ALL-TIME RECORD – In 95 seasons, McMurry has a 380-503-33 record for a .416 win percentage.
