Howard Payne (3-0, 0-0 ASC) at Hardin-Simmons (2-1, 0-0 ASC)
Saturday, Sept. 30, 2023 | 1 p.m. | Shelton Stadium | Abilene, Texas

Game Notes | Broadcasts  

The Teams
The Cowboys come into the game with a 2-1 record after a 37-10 loss to Endicott in Beverly, Mass., last week. Howard Payne comes into the game with a 3-0 record. The Jackets were off last week after an 85-0 win over Lyon College two weeks ago.
 
The Coaches
Jesse Burleson is in his 13th season as the head coach for the Cowboys and has posted a 90-32 record at HSU. Kevin Bachtel is in his first season with the Yellowjackets after serving as the defensive coordinator for the last two seasons.
 
In The Polls
The Cowboys are ranked No. 18 in both the D3football.com poll and the American Football Coaches Association poll. Howard Payne is receiving votes in both polls but are outside the top 25. The Cowboys have been ranked for 84 straight weeks and in the top 10 for 56 of those weeks.
 
The Rivalry Is Back
Dating back to the first meeting in 1907, Howard Payne and Hardin-Simmons have always been rivals. When HSU brought back football in 1990 the Yellow Jackets were one of the top teams in the old Texas Intercollegiate Athletic Association and the two teams split 16 games in the 1990's. Since then, HSU has won 21 of 23 meetings including the last 15. Most of those games have been blowouts. The last time HPU won a game in the series was an overtime win in Abilene in 2007. However, the Yellow Jackets have turned their fortunes around and last year the Cowboys escaped with a 28-19 win in Abilene. This year HPU was picked to be among the contenders for the league title and they are off to a blazing start that sees them leading the ASC in total offense and total defense. 
 
Broadcasts
HSU will be broadcasting home games only this season on www.hsuathletics,com. Al Pickett is back for his 19th season as HSU's play-by-play man and he will be joined in the booth by Associate AD for External Relations Chad Grubbs.
 
Tickets
All tickets can be purchased at www.hsuathletics.com. Just click tickets and you can pick out your seat and pay with your credit card.
 
Last Time Out
The Cowboys fell behind early and never recovered in a 37-10 loss at Endicott. HSU had four turnovers in the game and the Gulls turned the four turnovers into 24 points. The Cowboys had 91 yards passing in the game and finished with 269 total yards.
 
Next Up
HSU will travel across town to face McMurry for the Wilford Moore Trophy. The Cowboys have retained the cup in all but one year since it was first awarded in 1998.
 
A Cowboy Win Would
? Be the 503rd win in school history.
? Give Jesse Burleson win No. 91 as the Cowboys' head coach.
? Be the 16th straight over Howard Payne.
? Be its second over a team receiving votes in the national polls this season.
 
Running Game Continues To Thrive
The Cowboys were able to run for 178 yards on Endicott who came into the game seventh nationally in total defense. Noah Garcia finished with 72 yards on 15 carries and Colton Marshall had 10 carries for 57 yards. A.J. Hawkins ran for 59 yards, but lost 20 yards in sacks. Marshall leads the league with 222 rushing yards and Garcia is second with 217. They both have three rushing touchdowns. Marshall is also nearing the top 10 in career rushing touchdowns for the Cowboys. He has 19 and Patrick Baca is 10th with 21. The Cowboys rank No. 23 in the nation in rushing offense at 216.7 per game.  
 
Next Man Up
HSU suffered a perfect storm of injuries in the game with Endicott. All-region safety Davonte Nephew went out for several weeks in the game against UW-La Crosse. All-American linebacker Matt Mitchell had an appendectomy on Wednesday night before the team left on Thursday and linebacker Cade Michna who as among the national leaders in tackles the first two games went out on the second play on defense with an ankle injury. Starting quarterback Gaylon Glynn went down with a knee injury on the first series of the game. Cason Hanna stepped in for Mitchell and led the team with nine tackles. Blair Neighbors stepped in for Michna and had five tackles and Demarcus Coleman started for Nephew. Neighbors and freshman Tray Irvin will get their first career starts on Saturday. Veteran Tre Allen, who had missed all of fall camp and the first two games saw his first action of the year last week and he will take over at free safety.
 
Let's Go For It
The Cowboys have been really good on fourth down this season converting 5-of-6 chances. HSU ranks fourth nationally with that .833 conversion rate. HSU has been middle of the pack, ranking 121st nationally, on third-down conversions.
 
Score When You Get There
HSU is 8-of-8 on scoring when it gets to the red zone and seven of those trips have ended in touchdowns. HSU is one of just 22 schools in the country to score on every trip inside scoring territory.
 
Kicking Game
One of the bright spots for the Cowboys was the kicking game against Endicott. Cody Harral averaged 39.5 yards on six punts and four of the six were fair caught. On the year, he is averaging 41 yards per kick and six of the 12 punts have been fair caught. Sophomore kicker Grayson Bearden hit his first field goal attempt of the year and made his only extra point attempt.

Garrett Sets New Career Best
Tailon Garrett set a new career best with seven catches in the game. He and K.J. Peoples are tied for the team lead with 15 catches on the year. HSU has had 10 players catch a pass in the first three games.
 
Start Chart
Matt Mitchell and Davonte Nephew both missed the Endicott game and they went into that game as the two top players on the Cowboy roster in career starts. Mitchell had 27 and Nephew had 23. Brock Bujnoch tied Nephew with his 23rd career start in the Endicott game. Bujnoch also leads in consecutive starts with 18.
 
Conference Openers
This marks the second-straight year that the Cowboys open league play against one of the top contenders. HSU opened conference play with Mary Hardin-Baylor last year and lost that game. It snapped a streak of eight straight wins in the conference opener. HSU is 9-3 in conference openers under Jesse Burleson and 27-6 since bringing back football in the 1990 season.
 
A Sense of Normalcy
By this point in the season everything is pretty much a set routine but for the Cowboys this has been an anything but normal first month of the season. They opened the season with a Friday night game and then chartered to Wisconsin for a game. Came home and had an open week and then chartered back across country to Massachusetts for another Friday game. This will be the Cowboys' first Saturday home game of the season.
 
About Howard Payne
The Jackets are off to a 3-0 start and have been impressive as they lead the league and rank 17th nationally in total offense at 504.3 yards per game and they also lead the league and rank 21st nationally in total defense allowing just 233.7 yards per game. They also ranked second in scoring defense allowing 4.3 points per game and are 14th in scoring offense at 48 points per game. Javian Myles leads the team with 184 yards rushing. Landon McKinney is the preseason ASC player of the year on offense but he has been limited in the early part of the season with an injury. He is 41-of-70 for 526 yards and three scores. Backup Tucker Bridwell is 41-of-56 for 541 yards and nine TDs with no interceptions. Gus Charles leads the receivers with 19 catches for 236 yards and three scores. Jordan Carroll has 14 catches for 229 yards and three scores. Former Cowboy and ETBU player K.J. Kelley leads the team with 21 tackles and he also has three interceptions and a forced fumble.