Fort Hays State could potentially get to the postseason for the first time in 20 years when it hosts 20th-ranked Central Missouri in the MIAA Television Network Game of the Week Saturday at Lewis Field Stadium in Hays. Game time is 2:30 pm. It will be Senior Day at Lewis Field Stadium, as the Tigers honor 14 seniors participating in their final home game.
Promotions
Military Appreciation Day - Veterans get in
FREE by showing their Military ID, VFW Card, American Legion Card, or some other type of military identification.
Boy Scouts - All scouts in uniform get in
FREE and can stand in the north endzone during the National Anthem.
Hunter Special - Show your hunting license and get a 1/2 price general admission ticket. Only
$5 per ticket just for showing your hunting license!
FREE Volleyball and Basketball - Get into the Tiger Volleyball Match at 11:30 am and the Tiger Men's Basketball Game at 7 pm FREE by showing your ticket for the Tiger Football game.
Television| Channels That Carry MIAA TV Network Game of the Week |
| KSMO-TV (Kansas City) - 100% of KC's DMA. Broadcast over the air on Channel 62. Check local cable/satellite programming guides for specific channel number. |
| Cox Channel Xtra - Live on Channels 122 and 2122 (HD). There is also a replay on Saturday, Nov. 14 at 7 p.m., and on Monday, Nov. 16 at 3:30 p.m. on Channels 122 and 2122 (HD) |
| Cox Oklahoma - On Channel 703 in Oklahoma City area and Channels 1003 and 1333 in the Tulsa Market. |
| KGCS-TV (Joplin) - Broadcast over the air on channel 22. It will also be available on Channel 6 for CableOne subscriberts. Check other cable providers for availability/specific channel number. |
| News-Press NOW Channel (Northwest MO) - The News-Press NOW Channel is broadcast over the air on 26.2 and channel 3 and 603 (HD) on Suddenlink cable. |
| Eagle Communications (Western KS) – Channel 601 on Eagle Television. Channel 601 is in high definition. |
| Nex-Tech Television (Western KS) – Channel 109 on Nex-Tech Television. Channel 109 is in Nex-Tech's Premiere package. |
The Tigers are sitting in position to potentially make a bowl game with a win on Saturday. FHSU is a long shot to make the NCAA Playoffs, but crazy things can happen if there are enough upsets among teams in the lower half of the NCAA Super Region Rankings. The top seven teams in the Super Region make the playoffs. From the MIAA, Northwest Missouri State (No. 1) and Emporia State (No. 6) are inside the top seven. Central Missouri is just on the outside looking in at No. 8. So both FHSU and UCM will be motivated on Saturday towards attaining some sort of postseason game.
If the region rankings hold steady, Saturday's game could be a winner-take-all situation for the Mineral Water Bowl, held in Excelsior Springs, Mo. The top finishing team in the MIAA outside of the teams that make the NCAA Playoffs receives the automatic bid to the Mineral Water Bowl. However, the region rankings are often dynamic on a week-to-week basis and with Emporia State barely inside the top seven at No. 6, nothing is certain.
The 20th-ranked Mules enter Saturday on a seven-game win streak. At 8-2, their only losses on the season were to Northwest Missouri State and Emporia State. Fort Hays State enters the game at 7-3.
The Tigers are looking for their first eight-win season since 1995, which was also the last year they made a postseason appearance. The Tigers made the NCAA Playoffs that year.
Fort Hays State is the top rushing team in the MIAA at 258.4 yards per game. Central Missouri has also been good on the ground this year at 203.6 yards per game. The Mules have the top offense in the conference, which averages 490.3 yards of total offense per game. Fort Hays State is fifth in the conference in total offense at 415.5 yards per game.
Shaquille Cooper continues to lead the Tigers and MIAA in rushing at 124.8 yards per game.
Treveon Albert is third in the conference in rushing at 107.2 yards per game. Markel Smith of UCM ranks fifth in the MIAA in rushing yards per game (88.1).
The quarterback match-up will be interesting to watch as both can get the job done with their arm and legs. Garrett Fugate of UCM averages 326.6 total yards of offense per game, currently with 2,939 passing yards and 505 rushing yards. Albert of FHSU has 1,072 rushing yards and 1,559 passing yards to average 263.1 yards of total offense per game.
Brock Long leads the Tiger defense with 145 tackles on the season at inside linebacker.
Doyin Jibowu ranks second on the team with 77 tackles, while
Daniel Lindsey is third with 73 and has four blocked kicks to his credit on the season.
