Kearney, Neb. – The 37th-ranked Nebraska-Kearney football team heads to 29th-ranked Fort Hays State this Saturday for the 65th all-time meeting between the two longtime rivals.

The game kick off at 2 p.m. from Lewis Field Stadium. Check the Loper football schedule page for media links.

GAME NOTES/DEPTH CHARTS

Nebraska-Kearney

Fort Hays State

Hays, two-time defending MIAA Champions, has won five straight after a heart stopping 42-21 win at then-No. 19 Pittsburg State last Saturday night. Pitt barely missed a 38-yard field goal with 1:03 remaining, allowing the Tigers to keep its win streak alive. That pushes their mark to 33-10 since 2016 including a solid 11-4 mark in games decided by seven points or less.

One of those wins came last year in Kearney as All-American kicker Dante Brown booted five field goals, the last being a 26-yarder as part of a 29-26 victory in double overtime. UNK tied the game at the end of regulation with a three pointer but a 36-yarder didn't fall to start the second extra period.

Hays has won seven straight and nine of 10 against the Lopers but Kearney still leads the series 34-29-1. UNK's last win came back in 2005, a 54-20 score in Kansas, when both schools were in the Rocky Mountain Athletic Conference (RMAC). That victory, part of a playoff season, capped a stretch where the Lopers went 8-2 vs. the Tigers.

FHSU is led on offense by redshirt sophomore quarterback Chance Fuller (#14) who has 22 touchdown passes. Completing 64 percent of his passes the first-year starter is averaging 288 yards per game and has a deep receiving corps to throw to. That includes senior Harley Hazlett (#87), who had a big game vs. the Lopers last fall, senior Layne Bieberle (#9) and sophomore Manny Ramsey (#6).

A running game features a pair of 5-9 seniors in D.J. Hickman (#4) and Charles Tigner (#23) with the line allowing the fewest sacks (five) in the league. Finally the Tigers come in at 33 points and 444 yards per game.

UNK currently leads the MIAA in both scoring (20.0) and total defense (296 ypg). Since coordinator Scott Lewis took over prior to the 2017 season, the Lopers have finished fourth in total defense the past two years. 

Right behind Kearney in the current defensive stats is the Tigers. Hays, with five senior starters, is giving up just 22 points and 390 yards per game. They have picked off 10 passes, have a 58% red zone TD rate and gave up just 13 points over a three-game span. The headliners include senior "Bandit" Tanner Hoekman (#34), junior ILB Drew Harvey (#2) and senior end Sheldon Schmidt (#92). Since the series resumed in 2012 the Loper offense has averaged 16 points vs. the Hays defense.

Brown, the reigning MIAA Special Teams Player of the Year, has already made 13 field goals including one from 51 yards out. He also is 25 of 25 on PAT's and averages 60 yards on kickoffs with 24 touchbacks. Finally redshirt freshman back Te'Corsey Tutston (#21) has a 93-yard kick return this year.

To be the MIAA's top defense at this point of the season, UNK has a 31% conversion rate on third down, forced 13 turnovers, managed 38 tackles for loss and is only on the field for about 26 minutes. That's due to the Loper offense cranking out 322 rushing yards per game to eat up 35 minutes off the clock. So far the Lopers have run 57 more plays than its opposition.

The option offense has also had success early as Kearney has scored 70% of its 220 points in the first half. That equals out to an average halftime lead of 22-6. 

Redshirt freshman QB TJ Davis (Colorado Springs) is now the seventh QB in school history to reach 500 rushing yards in a single season. He has team-highs both carries (95) and rushing scores (seven) and was the first player in five years to rush for 100 yards (100 even) against the Northwest Missouri State defense.

The Loper pass game is at nine completions per week but those receptions often are big gainers. Colorado redshirt freshman Aubrey Marschel-Parker (35.3), Florida senior Sedarius Young (26.2), and Florida sophomore Montrez Jackson (21.0) all average at least 20 yards per catch with 32% of UNK's completions resulting in a gain of at least 15 yards.

Defensively senior ILB Sal Silvio (Kansas City) and senior OLB Zach Sullivan (Omaha) are closing in on tackle milestones. Silvio, the current MIAA Defensive Player of the Week, is 21 tackles shy of becoming the third Loper with 300 career stops. He also needs just five more tackles to past current Northern Iowa assistant coach DJ Vokolek into third place on the Loper career list. Note most defensive stats at UNK begin with the 1990 season.

Sullivan, who had a first quarter pick last Saturday against Northwest, needs two tackles Saturday to be the 46th Loper since 1990 to reach 150 career tackles. Maryland senior end Hinwa Allieu (139) could also join him by year's end.

UNK returns home next Saturday to face No. 10 Central Missouri (7-0). The Mules are host a desperate Pitt State team this weekend.