One things is perfectly clear to me, and should be for everyone witness to Thursday night’s 44-0 rout of New Mexico Highlands — The Fort Hays State University football team is much, much faster than they’ve been in recent years, and if the opener is any indication, it should be an exciting 2008.
Once the offense got rolling in the second half, the Tigers showed a few signs of things possible to come this season. With the combination of receiver Bryan Haynes, running backs Jacobb Irvin and Anthony Dickson, the Tigers could be looking at some big plays this season.
In Thursday’s game, the Tigers had just about every aspect of the game covered, a defensive touchdown, a special teams touchdown, and a multitude of big plays in the second half.
The most impressive thing, still, though has to be the Tiger defense and the ability to adjust on the fly. Coming into Thurdsay’s opener, the Tigers really had no idea what Highlands, a new offense under a new coach, and several junior college transfers were going to bring to the table. In the early going, Highlands quarterback Vince Seeno had the Tiger defensive backs on the ropes, connecting on long pass after long pass. C.J. Lovett put an end to that as the former freshman of the year in the MIAA picked him off and took it 77 yards screaming for a 14-0 Tiger lead.
“it’s a big thing because those are things you don’t expect to happen every game, so when it does happen, it’s huge,” Lovett said. “It really gets your blood pumping. It makes you think you can do so much more.”
The Tiger defense, though, has come to expect itself to perform well. One of the better groups in the MIAA last season, the Tiger defense looks eager to prove 2007’s presence wasn’t a fluke. After giving up just the few big pass plays Thursday, the Tigers gave up virtually nothing to the Cowboys’ spread-style offense.
“Guys were kind of feeling their way. I want these guys to expect to make these big plays all the time,” Tiger coach Kevin Verdugo said.
The defense buckled down in a big way, so much so the interior gave up just three total rushing yards all night, and the Cowboys were held to just 172 yards off offense on 66 plays. To go along with that domination ,the Tigers collected five sacks against Highlands’ quarterback duo, two from sophomore Garrett Nikkel.
Keep in mind, all this domination comes against an RMAC opponent that could finish near the bottom of an inferior conference, but given a little experience, Highlands has the capability to be a contender in the RMAC. Nonetheless, the Tigers were impressive in their opener, just as last season, but didn’t show any signs of a weak link.
We’ll get back to the team speed, but let’s look at the offensive line. This was the only facet of the game that seemed to be a bit shallow in the opener, but only for about a quarter and a half. Junior transfer quarterback Mike Garrison talked about the offensive line, stating they were a little baffled by what Highlands offered up front, but once they figured it out — it was smooth sailing.
“Coach got on their but a little bit and lit a fire under them,” Garrison said. “They came out in the second half and started to do a little work, and we took off from there.”
The result was Garrison having time to work the TIger offense, which ended the night with 349 yards, a good sign for an offense that was at the bottom of the MIAA last season. Garrison connected on big plays to the speedster Bryan Haynes, including a 71-yard scoring play, the longest from scrimmage since Reed Gottula’s 72-yard scoring run in 2004 against Nebraska-Kearney.
“We knew we could go down the field,” Garrison said. “There wasn’t a corner that could keep up with him.”
The passing game opened up after the TIgers got the run game going, just like good teams do. Let’s talk about Anthony Dickson for a minute. This guy is probably he most exciting thing about Tiger football in 2008. The offensive line wasn’t working well early, so Dickson’s threat as a back probably wasn’t on full display. Due to the blowout, he didn’t see much action in the second half, but take a look at his speed in the special teams and that should give you some idea.
Now, the MVPs of the night, the TIger special teams. Bryan Haynes’ kick return for a score of 97 yards (tied for fourth longest in program history) was the play of the night. When Haynes broke the Tigers’ 40, you knew the 200-meter dash national champion was gone. With Haynes, Dickson and newcomer Ethan Ungles, the return game for the Tigers will no doubt be among the elite this season in the MIAA. Garrison had the best way possible of describing the multiple specialty threats.
““We have two returners that are insanely, amazingly, crazy fast,” Garrison said. “Get the ball in their hands and they’re going to make something happen.”
The same can be said for Haynes in the offense. He had trouble with dropped passes last season, but the speedster seems to have a handle on things at least in the early going. It’s going to be exciting to see next week’s game at Colorado Mines. The Orediggers return quite a bit on defense, but still play in the RMAC. Golden is a tough venue to play in and one of the more scenic stadiums in the RMAC, plus the Tigers will play their only game of the season on grass turf, hoping to cure their road woes. Fort Hays hasn’t won a road contest in the last 13 tries, since a 21-14 win at New Mexico Highalnds in Verdugo’s first season. Should be a fun one at 5,280 feet.