ABILENE, Texas – The American Southwest Conference Football Championship Playoff takes place this weekend, as McMurry University will travel to Louisiana College for the No. 4 seed game on Saturday at 1 p.m. in Pineville, La.
The War Hawks (1-3) will play their first postseason game since 2014 – back when they were a member of the Lone Star Conference.
Both McMurry and Louisiana College (2-2) made postseason appearances in 2012, with McMurry winning 36-35 in the C.H.A.M.P.S. Heart of Texas Bowl over Southern Arkansas and LC facing Mary Hardin-Baylor in the first round of the NCAA Division III Playoffs.
GAME DAY PROTOCOL:
Louisiana College is limiting Wildcat Field at 50 percent capacity – which equals 3,000 fans permitted. Fans are asked to abide by social distancing guidelines and to wear a mask at all times while inside the stadium.
For more information on LC's guidelines, click here.
FOLLOW THE GAME:
Saturday's game will be video streamed, radio streamed and have live stats per LC's website. McMurry will not have a radio broadcast for Saturday's game.
VIDEO l AUDIO l LIVE STATS
Each week, game day information will be posted at this link.
THE PLAYOFFS:
ASC Championship Game – #1E Mary-Hardin Baylor (4-0) at #1W Hardin-Simmons (4-0)
#2 Seed Game – #2W Texas Lutheran (3-1) at #2E East Texas Baptist (2-2)
#3 Seed Game – #3E Belhaven (2-2) at #3W Howard Payne (2-2)
#4 Seed Game – #4W McMurry (1-3) at #4E Louisiana College (2-2)
#5 Seed Game – #5E Southwestern (0-4) at #5W Sul Ross State (0-4)
THE SERIES:
Saturday will be the 20th meeting between McMurry and Louisiana College. The Wildcats own a 13-6 advantage in the all-time series, including wins the last three seasons.
McMurry's last win over LC came in 2016 at Wilford Moore Stadium, as the War Hawks overcame an eight-point deficit to win 34-28. The last time McMurry won in Pineville was in 2011 – a 49-28 victory – in which LC was ranked No. 20 coming into the day.
The series began in 1962 and 1963 with a pair of games, as McMurry won the first game (22-8) and Louisiana College took the second meeting (21-6). The teams went nearly 40 years without playing, until they met again in 2000. McMurry won the Y2K meeting 26-0 – the only shutout by either team in the series.
The only overtime matchup in the series came in 2005, in which McMurry pulled out a thrilling 53-47 victory.
In last year's battle in Abilene, Louisiana College trailed 14-13 in the second quarter and returned a 99-yard interception to take the lead and break the all-time ASC record for longest INT return. This proved to be the turning point, as McMurry got back within five points at 28-23, but could never regain the advantage as LC won 49-36. Quarterback Carlos Garibay made his first career start in that game, going 22-for-37 for 237 yards, three touchdowns and two interceptions.
SCOUTING THE WAR HAWKS:
McMurry enters this week's game following a 24-3 loss at Howard Payne. The War Hawks allowed a couple of big plays in the first half, but pitched a shutout in the second half to stay alive. Unfortunately, the offense was never able to get in the end zone despite 353 total yards and 16 first downs.
McMurry has leaned on the passing game so far this season and ranks fourth in the American Southwest Conference with 209.0 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 six receiving yardage leaders in the conference with freshman Kristopher Martin averaging 49.3 yards per game and sophomore Jermond Lovely averaging 68.8. Among the top 25 receivers, Lovely has the second-longest reception of the season at 83 yards.
Lovely also leads the lead in kick return yardage, averaging 25.7 yards per return and 154 total yards. He ranks seventh in all-purpose yards with 107.8 per contest.
In the run game, Dee Robinson continues to lead the way averaging 59.8 yards per game. He has 69 carries for 239 yards and two touchdowns so far.
McMurry has two of the top five tacklers in the ASC with senior Josh Smith leading McMurry in third place at 9.3 per game. Sophomore Xavier Gayle ranks fourth in the league with 8.8 tackles per game and a league-high 22 assisted tackles.
In the secondary, freshman cornerback Perry Wells has broken up three passes and has forced one fumble.
SCOUTING THE WILDCATS:
The Wildcats come in off a 65-20 loss to East Division winner UMHB, which set up a three-way tie between LC, East Texas Baptist and Belhaven in the division standings. ETBU earned the two-seed based on the points tiebreaker, while Belhaven and LC slotted in third and fourth, respectively.
LC ranks fifth in the ASC for rushing offense (181.0) and seventh for passing offense (168.5) in a balanced attack. The Wildcats also have one of the better kicking games in the ASC, ranking second with 40.5 net yards per kickoff.
The Wildcats have the leading rusher in the ASC in Devin Briscoe, who has 70 attempts for 417 yards and three scores for an average of 104.3 yards per game. Last week against UMHB, he rushed for 202 yards and two scores to land a spot on the D3football.com Team of the Week.
Following a come-from-behind win over Southwestern two weeks ago, Louisiana College swept the ASC East Division Player of the Week awards with Canaan Leon, Micah Latin and Hunter Martensson all winning ASC East Offensive, Defensive and Special Team awards, respectively.
Sal Palermo III is the team's leading passer, ranking fourth in the conference at 177.3 yards per game. He's thrown for six touchdowns and three interceptions. Leon is his favorite target, ranking third in the ASC just ahead of Jermond Lovely at 69.5 yards per game. He has 23 catches for 278 yards and four TDs.
Julius Johnson leads the defensive unit with 7.5 tackles per game (30 total) to rank among the top 10 in the conference. As a team, the Wildcats rank third in sacks with eight and in interceptions with six.
OTHER NOTABLES:
RECORD WATCH – Senior linebacker Josh Smith has 289 career tackles following his 13-tackle game at Howard Payne last week. His final tackle of the game moved him into seventh all-time past Drew Wallace (2006-2009) who finished with 288. Five more tackles moves Smith into fifth all-time, while 11 tackles gives him the 300 milestone. Chris Joseph (379), Colby Witt (344), Kevin Hirst (327) and Brian Valenzuela (305) are the only four McMurry players to achieve this milestone.
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. His first career start came last season against Louisiana College.
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 380-504-33 record for a .416 win percentage.
