vs.

KICKOFF
• The Central Missouri Mules open the 2012 season on the road in St. Joseph, Missouri as they face the No. 18-ranked Missouri Western Griffons at 6 p.m. on Thursday, Aug. 30 at Spratt Memorial Stadium. Both teams are coming off postseason appearances in 2011 as the Mules qualified for the Kanza Bowl and the Griffons made it to the NCAA-II Playoffs.

QUICK HITS
• The Mules will go for their fifth straight season-opening win when they take on 18th-ranked Missouri Western on Thursday night at 6 p.m. in St. Joseph.
• The Mules are opening the season on the road for the second time in three seasons under Jim Svoboda.
• The Mules were 8-4 a season ago and received a bid to play in the Kanza Bowl. The Griffons were 9-3 and advanced to the NCAA-II Playoffs.
• This will be the 29th meeting all-time between Central Missouri and Missouri Western.
• The Mules will play a 10-game schedule in the new-look MIAA this season. UCM will play five home games and five road games, this is the third straight year that the Mules have just five home games in the regular season.
• Central Missouri will break in a new starting quarterback for the third straight year under Jim Svoboda. Making the transition a little easier on offense is the return of All-Americans Logan Freeman on the offensive line and tight end David Cannon. Freeman has started every game the past two seasons and Cannon ranks just outside UCM's top 10 in career receptions, yards and touchdowns.
• Central Missouri's 2011 offense ranked No. 6 in NCAA-II in passing at 321.5 yards per game.
• UCM averaged 33.6 points per game last season ranking fifth in the MIAA. Defensively, the Mules gave up 24.6 per contest, fourth best in the league.
• The Mules hired assistant coach Kyle Westphal in the offseason. Westphal will oversee the UCM special teams as well as defensive backs.

SERIES HISTORY
• Central Missouri and Missouri Western have met 28 times on the gridiron with the Griffons holding a slim 14-13-1 lead in the series.
• The Griffons won last season's meeting 23-6 in St. Joseph and have now won eight of the last nine meetings between the two schools.
• The Mules are 1-1 against Missouri Western in Jim Svoboda's first two seasons.
• The Griffons lead the series 8-6 in games played in St. Joseph.

LAST TIME VS MISSOURI WESTERN
• The Mules suffered their first loss of the 2011 season with a 23-6 setback at Missouri Western in week two.
• It was the fifth straight loss for UCM in St. Joseph dating back to 2003.
• The Mules were held without a touchdown for the first time since 1997 and it was the lowest point total since a 3-0 win over Wisconsin-Whitewater to open the 1993 season.
• The Griffons jumped on top 17-0 in the first half.
• The Mules were held to 178 total yards and turned the ball over three times.
• UCM was held to 20 yards rushing on 24 carries.
• Missouri Western had 347 yards of offense, including 238 on the ground. Michael Hill rushed 25 times for 113 yards and Travis Partridge had 92 yards on five carries.

ABOUT MISSOURI WESTERN
• The Griffons enter the 2012 season ranked No. 18 in the AFCA Preseason Top 25 Poll.
• Missouri Western was 9-3 a season ago, including 7-2 in MIAA play. The Griffons advanced to the NCAA-II Playoffs before falling to Northwest Missouri 35-29 in the first round.
• The Griffons are 112-62 during head coach Jerry Partridge's 15 seasons.
• MWSU returns 45 letterwinners and 20 starters, including 10 on offense and seven on defense from the 2011 squad.
• The Griffons return two players on offense (RB Michael Hill and OL Macon Allan) and two on defense (DL David Bass and DB Shane Simpson) who were first team All-MIAA selections a season ago.

MULES IN SEASON OPENERS
• Central Missouri is 2-0 in season openers under Jim Svoboda and the Mules have won four straight season openers overall.
• UCM is averaging 51.0 points per game in the two season openers under Svoboda.
• The Mules are 57-49-9 all-time in season openers (no results available for 1896).

MULES IN MIAA OPENERS
• The Mules are 2-0 in conference openers under Jim Svoboda.
• UCM beat Missouri Southern 42-24 in last year's MIAA starter.
• Central Missouri has won five straight conference openers dating back to 2006.

MULES IN MIAA PLAY
• The Mules are 14-4 in MIAA play in Jim Svoboda's first two seasons. The 14 conference wins are the most by a UCM head coach in their first two seasons.
• UCM was 6-3 in MIAA play last season.

THE MULES AT HOME
• Central Missouri is 8-3 at home under Jim Svoboda
• The Mules are 213-177-13 in their 82nd season playing home games at Walton Stadium/Kennedy Field.

THE MULES ON THE ROAD
• The Mules are 11-3 in road games under Jim Svoboda.
• UCM was 5-1 on the road last season.
• The Mules averaged 43 points per game in their five road wins last year and 36.8 points per game on the road overall.

THE MULES VS. RANKED OPPONENTS
• The Mules are 4-4 against ranked opponents during the Jim Svoboda era.
• The Mules were 1-2 against ranked opponents last season.
• UCM's last win over a top 5-ranked opponent was a 55-41 win at No. 2 Abilene Christian on Nov. 27, 2010 in the second round of the NCAA-II Playoffs.
• UCM's last win over a top 10-ranked opponent was a 39-21 win at No. 6 Washburn on Nov. 12, 2011.

A UCM WIN WOULD...
• Give the Mules five straight season-opening wins.
• Give UCM six straight wins in MIAA openers.
• Give Central Missouri two wins in the last three meetings with Missouri Western.

A UCM LOSS WOULD...
• Be the Mules' first season-opening loss since 2007.
• Be UCM's first loss in an MIAA opener since 2006
• Give Missouri Western two straight wins over UCM and wins in nine of the last 10 meetings.

MULES FOOTBALL HISTORY
• In the 117th season of UCM Football the Mules have compiled a 514-490-51 (.511) record in 1,055 total games.
• The Mules have won 10 or more games three times in the history of the program and have posted 11 seasons of eight or more wins.
• UCM won a school-record 11 games in Jim Svoboda's first season.
• UCM has won or shared eight MIAA championships in school history with the last coming in 2003.
• The Mules have qualified for the postseason seven times in their history, including two trips to the NCAA-II Playoffs, the last coming 2010.

SVOBODA LEADING THE WAY
• Central Missouri head coach Jim Svoboda has a career record of 19-7 (.731) in his third season leading the Mules.
• Svoboda's .731 winning percentage is the third highest for a UCM coach.
• UCM has posted the second most wins in a two-year span in school history under Svoboda.
• The Mules have appeared in the postseason in each of Svoboda's first two seasons. UCM made the NCAA-II Playoffs in year one under Svoboda and earned a bid to the Kanza Bowl in his second season. It is just the second time in school history that Mules Football has made back-to-back postseason appearances.
• UCM hosted the first ever playoff game in school history and won the school's first two playoff games in Svoboda's first season in 2010.
• The Mules have set or tied 63 school offensive records in Svoboda's first two seasons and 20 conference offensive records.
• The Mules became the first team in NCAA-II history to have a 5,000-yard passer (Eric Czerniewski) and a 1,000-yard rusher (Anthony Stewart) in the same season when they accomplished that feat in 2010.

MULES IN THE PROS
• There are two former Mules currently with NFL teams entering the 2012 season. Tight end Delanie Walker enters his seventh season in the league with the San Francisco 49ers. Last season, Walker had one of his best years to date. He started seven games, hauling in 19 passes for 198 yards and three touchdowns, including the game-winning TD in San Francisco's 25-19 win at Detroit in week six. For his career, Walker has 102 catches for 1,121 yards and five scores. Another former UCM tight end is trying to make it in the league. DeMarco Cosby signed a free agent contract with the Green Bay Packers prior to the start of 2012 training camp.
• Former Central Missouri All-American running back Anthony Stewart is continuing his football career north of the border. Stewart is currently a member of the BC Lions practice sqaud in the Canadian Football League.

JAMIESON NAMED TO WATCH LIST
• Senior placekicker Aaron Jamieson has been named to the Fred Mitchell Outstanding Placekicker Award watchlist for the second straight season. Jamieson was a semifinalist for the award last season. The award is given annually to the nation's top collegiate placekicker among FCS, DII, DIII, NAIA and NJCAA.

A TRADITION OF EXCELLENCE IN THE ATHLETIC ARENA
• Central Missouri has won a combined 190 MIAA regular-season conference championships in 14 sports to lead all conference schools.
• Last season, UCM captured seven MIAA regular-season and three tournament championships.
• Since 1983, the tenure of Athletic Director Jerry Hughes, UCM has won or shared 136 MIAA championships, more than any other league school.
• Central Missouri has won five national championships since 1980 (men's and women's basketball in 1984, baseball in 1994 and 2003, and women's bowling in 2003) and seven national championships overall.

A TRADITION OF EXCELLENCE IN THE CLASSROOM
• The 500+ Central Missouri student-athletes received 245 Academic Awards from the MIAA office for the 2011-12 academic year.
• 195 UCM student-athletes were named to the MIAA Academic Honor Roll with a 3.0 GPA or higher.
• 32 UCM student-athletes were named MIAA Scholar Athletes with at least a 3.5 GPA and having earned all-MIAA honors in their respective sport.
• 18 UCM student-athletes were named MIAA Academic Excellence Award winners with a 4.0 GPA.
• UCM had 10 student-athletes earn Academic All-American honors, including Shawn Boss being named the CoSIDA Academic All-American of the Year for Track & Field.

MULES FOOTBALL ON THE AIR
• Central Missouri football is broadcast live on 1450 KOKO/98.5 “The Bar”, 90.9 The Bridge and on the internet at warrensburgradio.com. 90.9 The Bridge will pick up the broadcasts at kickoff. The broadcast team of Shawn Jones (play-by-play), Bill Turnage (color commentary) and Greg Hassler (sideline) will have all the UCM action. The Mules Tailgate show begins 80 minutes prior to kickoff.
• The Jim Svoboda Mules Football Radio Show, presented by Bob Showers of Ameritas Investment Corp. airs on Wednesday nights at 7 p.m. on 98.5 The Bar and 1450 KOKO as well as online at warrensburgradio.com. Show dates are August 29; September 5, 12, 19, 26; October 3, 10, 17, 24 and Tuesday, Oct. 30.
• The Central Missouri Sportspage is your weekly one-hour look at UCM athletics each Thursday night at 7 p.m. on KMOS-TV starting September 13.  Senior Associate Athletic Director Shawn Jones will sit down with Mules head coach Jim Svoboda to discuss the previous week's game as well as weekly spotlights of Mules football players.

LIVE VIDEO STREAMING
• Live video coverage for all Central Missouri home and away MIAA games will be available through the America One Sports Network on a pay-per-view basis. The cost is $8 per game, $30 for a 30-day pass or $69.95 for an all-season pass for UCM football. Fans can access webcasts through the America One Sports link on the UCM Athletics homepage or by going to AmericaOneSports.com.

UPCOMING
• The Mules return to Warrensburg for their home-opener on Saturday, Sept. 8 against Northwest Missouri. Kickoff is set for 1:30 p.m. at Walton Stadium/Kennedy Field. The matchup between these two teams has set the MIAA on-campus attendance record in each of the last two seasons.
• Central Missouri heads back to Lindenwood for the second straight year on Saturday, Sept. 15 for the first meeting between the two as MIAA foes. UCM defeated LWU 47-28 last year in St. Charles in the Lions' first season as an NCAA-II institution.