10 Most Significant Games In Mules Football History

To start off our countdown, we start with the Mules greatest team of the 1980s. The 1986 Mules ended up 9-2 and barely missed the playoffs. Perhaps their most exciting game was on homecoming in Warrensburg on October 4th vs. the Miners of Missouri-Rolla. Central was 3-2 at the time (later a loss was changed to win thanks to a forfeit), while UMR was 3-1.

The 1986 Mules were the greatest team
of the 1980s at Central..

Central found itself down in the second half, and QB Jeff Phillips, making one of his first starts, rallied a senior-laden Mules squad to two scores, the last coming in the final minute, as Central beat UMR 35-28. It was quite the historic day for Phillips, the sophomore from Lee's Summit. He threw for 432 yards on 27/46 passing.  That was, and still is a single-game record for most passing yards, as well as total offense. Phillips also threw three touchdowns. Junior WR Craig Copridge had seven catches for 156 yards on the day.

Rolla had it's share of stars as well that day. UMR QB Brad Haug went 15/25 for 274 yards, with WR Ron Reimer on the receiving end for 182 of those yards.

That win over the Miners catapulted the Mules to four more successive victories, giving Central a six-game winning streak, and a 9-1 record as they headed to Springfield to end their season against 1-AA Southwest Missouri State. However, the Mules lost 24-13. The loss to the Bears, coupled with an early season defeat to NAIA Washburn meant that the Mules went undefeated in Division II play in 1986.

After the season, head coach Terry Noland was named MIAA Coach of the Year, while Phillips was named MIAA Offensive Player of the Year. Not only that, but Central Missouri gained its first undefeated MIAA football championship in 60 years. The team was inducted to the Central Athletics Hall of Fame in 1998. In 1986, the Mules had eight 1st-team All-MIAA performers, and DE Phi Grimes was named Football News 1st Team All-America.

The 2003 Mules are given their MIAA Championship trophy
by President Bobby Patton..

When the 17-ranked Mules traveled to Emporia, Ks. to take on the #10 ESU Hornets, they thought that a win in the Flint Hills meant a trip to the Division II playoffs. Central came into the contest with an 8-2 record, reeling after a close loss the previous week against Pittsburg State in Warrensburg. The Mules knew that ESU, which had nine wins, would be a tough matchup.

Central got the opening kickoff and sputtered out of the gate, as they punted to ESU, who went right down the field, using almost all runs. Hornets RB Tyler Paul scored from two yards away to give ESU a 7-0 lead. The two offenses then traded punts, giving the Mules the ball on their own 40.

On the strength of RB Kegan Coleman, Central went 60 yards in nine plays, and Coleman scored on a five-yard TD run to tie the score. The only scoring the rest of the half was a field goal by ESU's Justin Gray on the final play of the half, giving the favored Hornets a 10-7 advantage. In the first half alone, Paul had 26 carries for 132 yards.

 Momentum changed harshly and quickly in the third quarter. ESU took the ball first, and on the second play from scrimmage, Paul showed his first sign of fatigue, as he fumbled the ball away to Central. Starting at the ESU 30, Central only needed three Coleman runs to hit the endzone. Coleman's 23-yard scamper gave Central a 14-10 lead. ESU would never lead again.

Coleman had two more fourth quarter TDs and Central led 28-10 late in the game.  The Hornets scored and made a two-point conversion with 4:49 left to make it a 10-point game, but a Colin Johnson interception on their next drive sealed the win for the Cardinal & Black. Central's win, coupled with other events that day, meant the Mules shared the MIAA title with four other teams.  However, the bad news came the next day.

The NCAA determined in their final regional rankings that Emporia State would go to the playoffs, despite having the same record as Central, and having just lost to them. Mules coach Willie Fritz was bewildered. The following is from Adam Glenn Dean's postgame article in The Muleskinner.

"I was shocked that we didn't make the playoffs," said Fritz. "I was sitting there watching the screen and they announced that North Dakota State did not make the playoffs and I thought that was great for us. They were No.5 in the region and we were No.6, before our win on Saturday. I figured we must have leap-frogged over them into the No.4 spot."
The other possible post-season hope for Central was Excelsior Spring's Mineral Water Bowl. Instead of picking the Mules, who hold the attendance record for the bowl, the bowl selection committee picked co-conference champs, Missouri Western.
"That really shocked me as well," said Fritz. "Things were said to our athletic director that made it sound like they (the Mineral Water Bowl Selection Committee) wanted to have us back. I don't understand it. They could have chosen by national rankings, overall record or regional rankings, but they chose to go with conference record."

Nevertheless, Central did win the game and a share of an MIAA crown. For the game, Coleman ended his Central career with a huge game. He had 132 yard on 25 carries, scoring all four Mules TDs. He also had four catches.

Game Stats
Game Audio
Recap from UCM Muleskinner
Article from Topeka Capital-Journal
Pre-Game preview from Topeka C-J

Central's Jimmy Sangster (#9) and Ted
Maxwell (#88) celebrate with Lee Thompson
after one of his two TD runs.

The 7th-ranked Central Missouri Mules traveled to Maryville to open the 2003 MIAA schedule against the 17th-ranked Bearcats.  Both teams were coming off playoff appearances, and the game lived up to the hype.

Central was led by senior QB Zach Threadgill. Threadgill transferred from Nevada-Reno where he set records in his only season starting in 2002. Threadgill ended up at Central for one last season after declaring for the NFL draft and backing out. The NFL's loss was Central's gain.

Central came out of the chute hot after the Bearcats punted. The Mules used 10 plays to go 53 yards and Threadgill, the nation's leading passer, found TE Ted Maxwell in the endzone for a seven-yard TD to open the scoring. Northwest answered to make it 7-7, and from there the teams traded several punts. On the third play of the second quarter, Northwest's Chad Bostwick jarred the ball loose from Threadgill, and the Bearcats had the ball at midfield. The Mules bent, but did not break, and the Bearcats converted a 40-yard field goal to take a slim lead 10-7. The action then became furious as the teams traded touchdown drives, with Threadgull scoring for Central on a QB keeper from a yard out. With 3:32 left in the half, it was 17-14 Northwest.

Just 90 seconds later, Threadgill and Maxwell connected again, this time from long distance. Maxwell hauled in a 67-yard scoring strike to give the Mules a halftime lead, 21-17. On Northwest's first play from scrimmage in the second half, LB Joe Brown knocked the ball loose from Bearcats QB Josh Lamberson, and the Mules recovered at the Northwest 19. They were unable to take full advantage of the turnover, and instead PK Brandon Starks hit a 19-yard field goal to give the Mules a touchdown lead.

Lamberson then drove his team all the way inside the Mules 5.  On 4th and 1 from the Central three-yard line, he put the ball on the ground yet again, and LB Jason Vanloo recovered.  Central ended up punting, but the turnover was huge. On their next drive, the Bearcats kept the ball and hit paydirt. With :09 left in the third quarter, WR Andre Rector caught a 20-yard strike, and the Mules found themselves tied.

Things seemed to get worse from there. On the third play of the fourth, Threadgill completed a pass to WR Jimmy Connor, but in the process tore his ACL -- the same one he injured while at UNR. So, Central has to turn to redshirt freshman Jimmy Sangster. Sangster completed a short pas two plays later, and then RB Kegan Coleman scored on a 40-yard scamper to give the Mules another seven-point lead.

After that, the Mule Train was rolling downhill and would not be stopped.  In a very impressive display, the Mules scored three TDs in 5:28. Sangster threw his first TD as a Mule, and RB Lee Thomspon scored on two long TD runs to make the final 52-24 Mules. The win was costly, as Threadgill was out for the season, his Central career lasting all of 11 quarters. Coleman and Thompson each had over 125 rushing yards to lead a Mules attack that rolled up 490 yards.

Game Stats
Game Audio
Article from UCM Muleskinner
Recap from TheMIAA.com
Article from Topeka Capital-Journal

Mules RB Will Caldwell had a record-setting
day against PSU, including this long run.

Murphy's Law is often cited as "Whatever can go wrong, will go wrong."  In the final game of the 2005 season, Murphy would have had a field day with the Mules game vs. the 11th-ranked Pittsburg State Gorillas. Only in this instance, he would have been focusing on the Gorillas. In a display that set numerous team and individual records, the Mules dominated the Gorillas at Walton Stadium.

The game started innocently enough, as the Mules punted on the opening possession. The Gorillas then went three-and-out and punted from their own endzone. The Mules returned the ball to the PSU 29, and three plays later, RB Will Caldwell scored from a yard away. The Gorillas again only had three plays on offense and punted, pinning the Mules inside their own 10-yard line. That did not last long though, as RB Jim Bouknight scampered 57 yards to the PSU 35.  The drive ended four plays later when QB Toby Korrodi found WR Matt Jacobsen on a 7-yard scoring pass.  The Mules were up 14-0 less than eight minutes in.

It went downhill quick for the Gorillas. They managed a first down on their next drive, but punted again. On the next play, Caldwell exploded through the line, and sprinted 84 yards for his second TD. PSU started the ensuing drive on the 29-yard line. On the first play, Gorillas QB Andy Majors made a bad pitch on an option and Central's Andy Hodges scooped it up and made it to the PSU 16. Three plays later, WR Micah Hefner caught an out route in the endzone, and it was 28-0 Mules.  On the next play from scrimmage, Majors was picked off, as Mules LB Rod Washington made the INT at the PSU 39, and ran it back to the 19-yard line.

Four plays after the Williams pick, Korrodi connected with TE Zach Zwilling on a three-yard scoring pass.  When the PAT was blocked, it represented the best play of the game for PSU, and the Mules were up 34-0. From there, the Gorillas awoke from their fog, and scored twice within the first nine minutes of the second quarter.  However, the Mules responded with two of their own TDs and it was 48-14 at halftime.

The second half was more of the same, as Central outscored the Gorillas 35-7, to make it an 83-21 final. Caldwell ended up with 276 yards rushing and five TDs. The 276 yards set a school single-game rushing mark, besting Kegan Coleman's 271 yards against Southwest Baptist in 2002. Caldwell also tied the single game TD record set by Elliott Eley against Northwest Missouri State in 1988. The 428 rushing yards on the ground by the Mules broke the old school mark of 420 against Emporia State in 1969. The 704 yards in total offense broke the record of 672 against Eastern Illinois, also in 1969.

Mules head coach Willie Fritz summed everything up in a quote from Dave Kopp's article on digitalBUIRG.com.

“I really believed we were going to win coming into the game, but I certainly didn’t think we were going to win 83-21,” said Fritz. “I certainly hope no one thinks we ran the score up because we weren’t trying to do that. There have been times when Pittsburg has been all over us and Coach (Chuck) Broyles has always handled it with class. He’s never run up the score on us and he’s had many opportunities to do that, I hate to admit that....We certainly didn’t want to do that to Pittsburg. They’re a class football program. I just thought our kids played really well and there, at the end of the game, we were running the ball effectively.”

Game Stats
Game Audio
UCM Athletics recap
digitalBURG recap
Article from UCM Muleskinner
PSU Collegio article

MSU Coach Frank Beamer

The 1982 season was a notable one for Central Missouri. Coach Al Molde's Mules had their most wins (seven) in 12 years. Their 7-3 record included a win over Division I-AA (now FCS) Murray State in Murray, Ky. To date, it is the only win that Central has over a I-AA opponent.

The Mules not only won the game on the Racers' home turf, but shut out MSU, winning 10-0.

The Racers were coached by Frank Beamer. Beamer was in his second season as head coach in Murray. Beamer stayed at MSU through the 1986 season, with the '82 campaign being his only one that finished with a sub-.500 record at 4-7. Beamer used his success at MSU to get hired at Division 1 Virginia Tech, where he has become one of the most successful coaches of his era.