By HAILEY CHAPMAN
The Fort Hays State football team is looking to bounce back after a late-game 34-30 setback to Central Missouri on Thursday. In the preseason polls, FHSU took a No. 8 ranking in the D2Football.com media poll after a dominant 2018 season.
This Thursday, the Tigers take on Missouri Western in their home opener. In the Griffons’ first game, they fell 45-35 to No. 6 ranked Northwest Missouri.
Fort Hays is statistically projected to have the upperhand in this week’s competition:
| FHSU (vs. UCM, Sept. 5) | MWSU (vs. NWMSU, Sept. 5) | |
| Total Yards | 470 | 349 |
| Pass Yards | 333 | 270 |
| Rushing Yards | 137 | 79 |
| Penalty Yards | 5-71 | 9-113 |
| 1st Downs | 26 | 14 |
| 3rd Downs | 6-15 | 6-15 |
| 4th Downs | 0-2 | 1-2 |
| TOP | 35:45 | 29:33 |
The Tigers dropped to No. 25 in this week’s AFCA poll after their opening loss on the road.
Senior wide receiver Andrew Jay said the Tigers are ready to bounce back after facing adversity in Week 1.
“Our offense needs to fine-tune some small things to be able to score in the red zone rather than kick field goals, and our defense has some adversity in combating injuries we faced last week,” Jay said.
The theme for Thursday’s game is blackout. Fans are encouraged to dress in black FHSU apparel to support the team in their first home appearance. A win this week would give the team a .500 record going into their following game at Washburn.
“We had some things not go our way and some guys go down,” Jay said. “Just a part of the game. We know where we are in regards to our capabilities. We are ready to win.”
Photo by Allie Schweizer; graphic by Hailey Chapman