WARRENSBURG, Mo. (August 28, 2018) - In just two days Central Missouri Mules Football will take to the field to kick off the 2018 season.
Opponent: #5 Fort Hays State Tigers
Where: Hays, Kan. - Lewis Field Stadium
When: Thursday, August 30, 2018 - 7 p.m.
How to Watch
• The game will be broadcast on 1450 KOKO, 98.5 The Bar and warrensburgradio.com with Greg Hassler calling the action. The Tailgate Show will begin at 5:50 p.m. on the UCM Sports Network.
• The game will also be webcast online through Central Missouri's Blueframe Internet portal at http://www.themiaanetwork.com/ucm/. It is a pay-to-view webcast. MIAA Network content is available live via live DVR and is immediately archived for on-demand viewing after each event.
• All MIAA football games are also available for viewing on The MIAA Network Apps for Amazon Fire TV, Android TV, Apple TV and Roku.
KICKOFF
• The 18th ranked Mules begin their season taking on the defending MIAA Champions Fort Hays State, on the road in Hays, Kan. with a 7 p.m. kickoff.
• The Mules finished the 2017 season at 9-3 for the second consecutive year, culminating in a come-from-behind win, 38-28 in the Mineral Water Bowl against Minnesota-Duluth.
• Fort Hays State went undefeated in the MIAA in 2017, going 11-0. Despite being the No. 1 seed in the region though, the Tigers lost their first NCAA game at home to end their season.
• In the preseason coaches and media polls, UCM was selected to finish third in both which would match their place from a year ago.
• On the road, Central Missouri was 4-2 last season and are 30-16 away from Warrensburg in Coach Svoboda's seven seasons at the helm.
• Fort Hays State was 6-1 in Hays last season, their lone loss coming in the NCAA Playoffs. The Tigers haven't lost more than one game at home since the 2014 season.
SERIES HISTORY
• 2017 will mark just the 15th all time meeting between these two schools. Central Missouri leads the all-time series 9-5. The two teams first played in 1964 and 1965 with FHSU winning both. They have since played every year since 2006 and UCM has gone 9-3 with the Tigers in the MIAA.
• FHSU got the better of the Mules in 2017 in the second game of the season with a 35-6 win also coming in Hays.
PREVIOUSLY AGAINST FORT HAYS STATE
• The Mules struggled to get anything going a year ago in Hays as the offense suffered it's worst game of the 2017 season in a 35-6 loss to the Tigers.
• Fort Hays scored the first 21 points of the game and held the Mules to just two field goals.
•
Brook Bolles threw for 273 yards with 29 completions, but the running game was stymied to just 63 yards on 26 carries.
MULES IN THE NATIONAL RANKINGS
• UCM is ranked 18th in the preseason American Football Coaches Association poll. They are one spot below that, 19th in the d2football.com preseason poll.
ABOUT THE TIGERS
• The good new for the Tigers is they return their starting quarterback from 2017 in Jacob Mezera. Mezera threw for 2,824 yards last season with 23 touchdowns and just six interceptions.
• Fort Hays State was ranked in the top-10 in both the AFCA and d2football.com polls. They're tied with Northwest Missouri for fifth in the AFCA and came in ninth in the d2football.com poll.
• According to d2football.com, the Tigers have one preseason All-American, defensive back Doyin Jibowu. He picked off five passes last season and had nine other pass breakups.
• The Tigers had one of the best defenses in Division II last season, finishing the year ranked 28th in total defense. They gave up just 306.6 yards per game and less than 100 yards on the ground.
• Fort Hays State also didn't hurt themselves as they were one of the least penalized teams, 64 for 590 yards, and won the turnover margin at a +10, best in the MIAA.
THE MULES IN MIAA PLAY
• The Mules finished 8-3 in conference play in 2017 and placed third in the league standings for the third consecutive season.
• UCM now stands at 57-24 in conference games under
Jim Svoboda.
• With an 8-3 mark in 2017 the Mules again finished all alone in third place. Fort Hays State went undefeated in league play and Northwest Missouri went 9-2.
THE MULES AT HOME
• The Mules finished 2017 undefeated at home at 4-0 and are 33-9 at home under
Jim Svoboda, and winners of eight straight.
• The Mules are 238-183-13 overall and 2018 will be their 87th season playing home games at Walton Stadium/Kennedy Field.
THE MULES ON THE ROAD
• Central Missouri is 30-16 in road games during the
Jim Svoboda era following the 2017 regular-season finale win at Lindenwood.
• The Mules finished 2017 at 5-2 away from Warrensburg. They were 4-2 in true road games and had a win in their only neutral site game.
WHEN LEADING AT THE HALF
• The Mules are 50-7 during the
Jim Svoboda era when leading at halftime. Their 44-14 halftime lead against Missouri Southern was their largest of the 2017 season.
• In 2017, the Mules led at the break in just four of 12 games.
• The Mules are 11-20 all-time under Svoboda and 3-3 in 2017 when trailing at halftime after the win over the Lions.
21 AND UP
• UCM is 63-13 under
Jim Svoboda when scoring at least 21 points.
• When scoring 30 or more points, UCM is 61-7 during the Svoboda era and 35-1 when scoring 40 or more points.
SCORING STREAK CONTINUES
• Central Missouri has scored in 289 straight games and have a chance to reach 300 by seasons end.
• The streak dates back to week three of the 1991 season.
2017 MIAA AND NCAA STAT LEADERS
• Central Missouri boasted one of the best offenses in the country in 2017. They were in the top-10 in the NCAA in both scoring offense and total offense per game. At 524.4 yards per game, UCM was second in Division II in total offense. UCM's 40.5 points per game ranked 10th.
•
Brook Bolles finished last season as the Division II leader in total offense with 360.2 yards per game. He was also second in passing yards (3,766) and passing yards per completion (15.56).
• The Mules deployed two of the top-5 rushers in the MIAA last season in
Devante Turner and
Koby Wilkerson and both return in 2018. Turner was third in the MIAA with 920 yards and tied for the league lead averaging 6.2 yards per carry. Teammate
Koby Wilkerson had 728 rushing yards which was fifth in the MIAA. Turner also had 17 rushing touchdowns last season to lead the MIAA and was 14th in Division II.
• Punter
Zach Davidson set records in 2017 and finished second in Division II averaging 44.3 yards per punt. He also happened to be second in the MIAA by 0.7 yards. Davidson connected on 11 for more than 50 yards and pinned 14 of 47 attempts inside the opponents 20 yard line.
• Two Mule receivers return in 2018 that finished in the top-15 in the MIAA in receiving yards.
Kyrion Parker was ninth with 33 receptions for 650 yards and was second in the league at 19.7 yards per catch.
Seth Hebert's 573 yards put him 13th in the league and tops among tight ends.
ALL-AMERICANS
• The Mules had six players in 2017 named to at least one All-American publication and four are back for 2018:
Brook Bolles,
Zach Davidson,
Seth Hebert and
Devante Turner. Hebert received the top honor as an AFCA First Team All-American.
• D2football.com has selected four Mules as preseason All-Americans. Bolles, Davidson and Hebert all made the list, as did returning senior,
Derrick Puni.
MULES FOOTBALL HISTORY
• In the 120 seasons of UCM Football the Mules have compiled a 560-511-51 (.521) record in 1,122 total games.
• The Mules have won 10 or more games three times in the history of the program and have posted 12 seasons of eight or more wins.
• UCM won a school-record 11 games in
Jim Svoboda's first season in 2010.
• UCM has won or shared 12 MIAA championships in school history with the last coming in 2003.
• The Mules have qualified for the postseason nine times in their history, including two trips to the NCAA-II Playoffs, the last coming in 2016.
SVOBODA AT THE HELM
• Central Missouri head coach
Jim Svoboda has a record of 65-28 (.700) during his seven seasons leading the Mules. He has led the Mules to four postseason appearances.
• He is third on UCM's career wins list.
• Svoboda's .700 winning percentage is the fourth highest for a UCM coach.
• UCM posted the second most wins in a two-year span in school history in Svoboda's first two seasons.
• The Mules 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 made back-to-back postseason appearances. UCM pulled the same feat in 2016-17 with a berth in the NCAA Playoffs in 2016 and a victory in the 2017 Mineral Water Bowl.
• 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 86 school offensive records and 21 MIAA offensive records during Svoboda's tenure.
• 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.
A TRADITION OF EXCELLENCE IN ATHLETICS
• Central Missouri has won a combined 215 MIAA regular season conference championships in 14 league sports to lead all schools.
• Last season, UCM captured two national championships, two MIAA regular season and two MIAA tournament championships.
• Since 1983, the tenure of Athletic Director
Jerry Hughes, UCM has won or shared 161 MIAA championships, more than any other league school.
• Central Missouri has won 10 national championships during Hughes' tenure (men's and women's basketball in 1984, baseball in 1994 and 2003, women's bowling in 2003, men's basketball in 2014, women's indoor and outdoor track & field in 2015, and women's soccer and women's basketball) and 12 national championships overall.
• In 2016-17, Central Missouri won the first two MIAA's Commissioner's Cup trophy for the conference's top overall athletic department.
UP NEXT
• The Mules host their home opener against Northeastern State Thursday, Sept. 6 with a 6 p.m. opening kickoff.
