The Mules’ home and season opener turned into a shootout last Thursday night at Walton Stadium. Several thoughts went through my head as I watched the game unfold. The first and most important was that I heard that Southwest Baptist was much improved, but I think they were bigger and better and more athletic than I had expected.

The Bearcats brought a talented offense and a much improved defense to Warrensburg that gave the Mules all they wanted for 60 minutes. Steve Gachette is one of the most athletic quarterbacks I've ever seen in person. I think the best term to describe him is slippery. He just kept finding ways to keep plays alive. Gachette finished the game with 339 yards passing and two touchdowns. He also accounted for 32 rushing yards in the game.

SBU used a no-huddle offense to make it difficult for the Mules’ defense to make substitutions and line up properly. The Bearcat defense gave up the first 13 points of the game, but they bounced back and held down the Mules' offense until junior quarterback Eric Czerniewski found junior running back Tywon Hubbard for a 30-yard touchdown pass. This play started the momentum back in the Mules favor.

The UCM defense responded on the next SBU possession. Redshirt freshman defensive back Brett Ginn forced and recovered a fumble to set the Mules up to grab a lead that they would never relinquish. Czerniewski found the junior tight end DeMarco Cosby with his fourth touchdown pass of the game. Junior running back Anthony Stewart put the icing on the cake for the Mules with a one-yard touchdown run to close the scoring. That gave the Mules a 39-28 victory to open the season.

Several Mules had impressive performances against Southwest Baptist. Czerniewski had an outstanding game. He was responsible for five UCM touchdowns and 354 yards passing. Two newcomers had solid games. Stewart proved to be a dual threat rushing for 70 yards and a touchdown, and he caught six balls for 105 yards and a 70 yard touchdown reception on UCM’s first offensive play from scrimmage. I thought Hubbard really stepped up and provided a spark when the Mules desperately needed it. He amassed 32 rushing yards and three receptions for 57 yards and one key touchdown reception. Cosby led the team with seven catches for 77 yards and two touchdowns.

Senior wide receiver Bobby Guillory was huge on the kickoff return. He averaged 31 yards per return, with a long of 40 yards. I really don't understand why SBU kept kicking the ball to him. I thought he was within an eyelash of returning one of those kickoffs for a touchdown.

Junior linebacker Cody Scribner and senior defensive end Marc Tiernan really did a nice job on defense recording 10 and seven tackles respectively. Tiernan added 1.5 sacks. I thought the Mules did a nice job of putting pressure on Gachette, especially in the second half. Junior defensive tackle P.J. South also recorded 1.5 sacks.

Even with those positives, the Mules have a lot of room for improvement between week one and week two. The first is tackling, UCM missed too many tackles. They have to improve this in order to be successful this week and beyond. Second, the Mules committed way too many penalties. They committed 13 penalties for 109 yards. That area needs to be improved significantly in order to be a factor this week and in the conference race.

The third area of improvement is the offensive line needs to continue to get better. They showed flashes of what they could be; now they need to become more consistent. The fourth area of improvement is that the Mules just need to clean up some assignments and improve on execution. I think the Mules will improve in these areas and improve their performance when Missouri S&T comes to Warrensburg. Kickoff is set for 7 p.m.

Scouting Missouri Science & Technology

The Miners are led by Head Coach Kirby Cannon, who enters his 11th year at S&T. The Miners will feature a spread offense and a 4-4 defense. This will be their season opener. They're coming off a season in which they compiled a 7-4 record. S&T won its first conference football championship in 25 years last season in the Great Lakes Football Conference. The Miners are the preseason favorite to win their conference again this season. They return six starters on offense, five on defense and two on special teams.
The S&T offense is led by senior quarterback Jason Schlueter. Schlueter threw for 1,848 yards last season and 17 touchdowns. He returned the top two targets from last season in senior wide receiver Chad Shockley and senior tight end Bryan Crider.

Shockley had 56 catches for 724 yards and seven touchdowns last season. Crider amassed 53 catches for 549 yards and five touchdowns. Senior Dan Hickman returns to anchor a veteran offensive line. Senior linebacker Steve Edwards returns to lead the Miner defense. Edwards is the team’s leading returning tackler with 66 tackles, two for loss and three interceptions which tied him for the team lead last year.

Sophomore cornerback Terry Robinson recorded 57 tackles, one interception and two pass breakups. He also recovered a fumble last season. Senior free safety Brian Jordan also returns to the Miner secondary. He compiled 51 tackles, 2.5 for loss. He appeared to always be around the ball grabbing two interceptions, breaking up two passes and recovering two fumbles.

I will guarantee you this will not be the same type of S&T team that used to come to Walton Stadium. This is a vastly improved team, who will present challenges for the Mules. I expect this to be a good football game for four quarters.

Keys to the Game
I believe there are five keys to UCM winning this football game. The first two are basic to winning any football game. The Mules must control the line of scrimmage on both sides of the football and win the turnover margin.

Third, the Mules must make S&T one-dimensional. The defense has to take away their ability to run the football and force them into predictable passing situations to make it easier on the defense to defend. Fourth, the Mules’ secondary has to avoid giving up the long pass and make the Miners drive the entire field. The defensive line has to get pressure on the quarterback to disrupt the timing of the passing game. Finally, the UCM defense must handle the pace of the no-huddle S&T offense.

I thought the crowd of just under 7,000 last week was fairly good and managed to make a make a lot of noise at crucial points during the game. My challenge to the UCM faithful is to come to the game and bring a friend. Let’s make the S&T offense’s life miserable by making a lot of noise when they have the ball. As usual, come early, stay late and help cheer the Mules to victory!