RV/NR Fort Hays State (0-0, 0-0 MIAA) vs.
#4/4 Northwest Missouri State (0-0, 0-0 MIAA)
Thursday, September 2 – 7 pm
Hays, Kan. – Lewis Field Stadium
 
Game Sponsor: Vyve Broadband
Promotion: T-Shirt Giveaway - 500 TGOF shirts will be given away for free at the north ambulance gate of the stadium starting at 5:30 pm.
Halftime Presentation: Women's Basketball Team recognition for 2020-21 MIAA Regular Season Championship
 
HAYS, Kan. – Fort Hays State will play its first official game since 2019 on Thursday night (Sept. 2) when it hosts No. 4/4 ranked Northwest Missouri State in the 2021 season opener. The Tigers and Bearcats were the last two teams to play an official collegiate game inside Lewis Field Stadium, back on November 9, 2019 before the COVID-19 pandemic claimed the 2020 season for Fort Hays State and many other schools.
 
The last three games between Fort Hays State and Northwest Missouri State have been instant classics, with FHSU claiming two of the three. FHSU won 13-12 in 2017 and 17-16 in 2018, both on Northwest Missouri State's turf, which helped the Tigers claim back-to-back MIAA titles. In 2019, the Bearcats outlasted the Tigers in Hays in double overtime, 36-33. The visiting team has won each of the last four meetings between the teams going back to the 2016 season.
 
Northwest Missouri State holds a 20-14-1 edge in the all-time series. This will be the sixth time Fort Hays has met Northwest Missouri in its season opener. The Tigers are 3-1-1 in the five previous season openers against the Bearcats, which all occurred between the 1950 and 1963 seasons. FHSU is 2-0 in season openers against the Bearcats in Hays. This will be the first time the teams meet in a season opener as members of the same conference. Fort Hays State is looking for its first win over Northwest Missouri State in Hays since 1977.
 
The Tigers and Bearcats have combined for eight MIAA titles since the 2013 season, the Tigers with two and the Bearcats with six.
 
Other Quick Hits
-Fort Hays State tops the list of teams receiving votes in the AFCA Top 25 Poll. They received 90 votes in the preseason poll, just five votes shy of a pair of teams sharing the No. 24 ranking to open the season.
-FHSU finished 8-3 in 2019 and tied for third place in the MIAA with Missouri Western. Northwest Missouri State and Central Missouri tied for the MIAA title at 10-1.
-Fort Hays State is 15-2 at home in regular season games since the beginning of the 2017 season.
-FHSU broke team records for points in a season (455), first downs in a season (270), and passing touchdowns in a season (37) in 2019.
-Fort Hays State has won at least eight games in each of the last five seasons (2015-2019). FHSU reached eight wins in a season only six other times in its history from 1902-2014.
-Head coach Chris Brown enters his 10^th season guiding the Tigers and already has the most wins of any football coach in FHSU history (66).
-2019 All-MIAA performers returning for the Tigers include Chance Fuller (QB), Manny Ramsey (WR), Amari Angram-Boldin (OL), Ted Hessing (OL), Jordan Starks (DB), and Javaris Sanders (DL).