#13 Central Missouri (1-0, 1-0 MIAA) at Fort Hays State (1-0, 1-0 MIAA) Thursday, September 7 - 7 pm Hays, Kan. - Lewis Field Stadium
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Fort Hays State will have a solid test in its home opener Thursday night (Sept. 7) when it faces 13^th-ranked Central Missouri. Game time is set for 7 pm at Lewis Field Stadium in Hays. Both teams are coming off wins in the first week of the season, FHSU over Missouri Southern and Central Missouri over Pittsburg State.
 
Central Missouri won last year's meeting with FHSU in Warrensburg as the No. 16 ranked team in the nation. FHSU went 0-3 against nationally ranked teams last year, but Central Missouri is the last ranked opponent the Tigers defeated, which occurred in the regular season finale of 2015 in Hays when UCM held a No. 20 ranking. FHSU has won two of the last three meetings between the schools despite trailing by five games in the all-time series (UCM leads 9-4).
 
Fort Hays State had a great start to the 2017 season with a 48-7 win over Missouri Southern in Joplin last Thursday. Jacob Mezera earned MIAA Offensive Athlete of the Week honors by completing 21-of-29 passes for 245 yards and two touchdowns. Brandon Brown added 12 kicking points by going 2-of-2 on field goal attempts and 6-of-6 on PAT attempts to earn MIAA Special Teams Athlete of the Week. Both players earned the respective honors for the second time in their careers at FHSU. Brown reached 100 kicking points for his career at FHSU, becoming the 10^th kicker in school history to reach the plateau.
 
The Fort Hays State defense held Missouri Southern to just 219 yards in the season opener. The Tigers held four opponents to 300 yards or less last year and the Tigers have now limited opponents to 20 points or less in seven games of 13 games going back to the start of the 2016 season. Connor Shedeed led the Tigers in tackles in the first game with eight.
 
On the offensive side of the ball, Layne Bieberle and Kenneth Iheme both reached 100 all-purpose yards in the season opener at Missouri Southern. Bieberle had 83 receiving yards and 28 punt return yards, while Iheme had 68 rushing yards and 33 receiving yards. Ten Tigers recorded receptions in the game as Mezera and Jacoby Williams combined for 325 passing yards at quarterback. Mezera played the first three quarters before handing the reins to Williams in the fourth quarter with the game well at hand. Mezera enters Thursday's game just 202 passing yards shy of 3,000 for his career at FHSU. He looks to become the ninth player in school history to reach that mark, last accomplished by Treveon Albert (5,712 from 2012-15) who ranks fourth on the all-time passing yards list.
 
Central Missouri enters Thursday's game 1-0 after a comeback win against Pittsburg State at home. The Mules trailed 16-9 at halftime before rallying for a 28-23 win. UCM moved up eight spots in the national rankings this week from No. 21 to No. 13 in the AFCA Poll. The Mules are ranked No. 12 in the D2Football.com poll.