McMurry University pays a visit to the Magnolia State capitol Saturday, Sept. 9. Kickoff between the War Hawks and Majors is 1 p.m. at MC's Harper Davis Field.
 
First Financial Bank presents this War Hawks weekly football outlook.
 
Fans can view live audio, stats, and video by going to the McMurry University football schedule home page and clicking the link next to the game date against Millsaps College. David Bacon and Randy Turner, The Voice of War Hawks football, provide each exciting moment along 101.7 FM, The Patriot, by visiting https://www.1017theraider.com/ and clicking on the "Listen" link at the top of the page.
 
This is the second meeting between the schools. The Southern Athletic Association members held off the host Maroon and White 27-13 in Wilford Moore Stadium last September. A trio of current War Hawks scholar-athletes had memorable afternoons in the 2022 home opener, as wide receiver Kristopher Martin (El Paso, Texas) tallied 68 yards in receiving on two catches; linebacker James White (Danbury, Texas) broke-up a visiting team aerial attempt and registered one and a half tackles for losses among his nine total; and fellow linebacker Herman Lee (Prosper, Texas) sacked Millsaps' signal caller twice.
 
Junior Kane Strohman, a defensive lineman on the 2023 McMurry University football team, was named to TexasFootball.com/Dave Campbell's Texas Football All-Texas Non-Football Bowl Subdivision preseason squad, released the last week of August.
 
The Katy, Texas, native turned in a memorable 2022. He garnered 44 tackles, six sacks, and 12 for losses over his sophomore slate. He was one of three American Southwest Conference scholar-athletes on the defensive list.
 
After a rousing final 15 minutes comeback ended a point short Aug. 31 against Birmingham Southern, McMurry University head coach Jordan Neal feels the 2023 group goes into the second game of the regular season even hungrier.
 
"Our scholar-athletes understand full well what could have and should have been in the season opener," he noted. "We had too many self-inflicted wounds to topple a program like BSC."
 
"Our staff came away impressed, despite the initial sting of a tough-luck loss, by how resilient the guys were being down 20-0 after three quarters and facing an uphill climb," he added. "There were so many positives coming from a loss, as this group just kept on working and battling even in the face of four turnovers and other difficulties. We talked afterwards about understanding how fine the line is between winning and losing. We stepped on that too much a year ago. However, I know this team will continue to progress to right as many wrongs as possible from week one to two."
 
McMurry winds up three straight road contests to start 2023 with a visit to the University of Mary-Hardin-Baylor on Saturday, Sept. 23.