The Opening Kickoff
The Cowboys will host Howard Payne for the Homecoming game on Saturday at 1 p.m. at Shelton Stadium. HSU will also host Howard Payne in volleyball on Friday night and women's and men's soccer on Saturday night. HSU is 13-0 in homecoming games under Burleson (no homecoming during COVID year). All-time HSU is 49-13-5 in homecoming games and has won 16 straight. Friday night HSU inducted five into the Athletic Hall of Fame, including all-time leading passer Justin Feaster. Longtime athletic trainer David Stuckey, men's basketball player Mardochee Jean, women's soccer All-American Katie Kuykendall and men's soccer all-time leading scorer Brian Nelson also got the call to the Hall of Fame. HSU is opening conference play against Howard Payne for the third straight season and the Cowboys are looking for a 19th straight win in the series. HSU leads the all-time series between the two teams, 48-24-4, and has won 18 straight meetings. HSU has played more games against HPU than any other opponent. The Cowboys won both meetings last year, 38-6 in the season opener in Brownwood and 44-17 in Abilene on Nov. 1. The game in Abilene was a rare Friday night game. 
 
On The Air
Hardin-Simmons' games will be broadcast for free on HSUAthletics.com. Al Pickett is in his 21st season in the Cowboys' play-by-play chair and 22nd overall on the broadcast team. Former Cowboy offensive lineman Ty Crain will handle the color commentary for the third straight year.
 
Up Next
Hardin-Simmons will be home for the fourth straight game and will play host to Mary Hardin-Baylor. The Cowboys won both regular-season meetings against the Crusaders last year before falling in the second round of the playoffs. It will be the first of two meetings between the two teams that have won or shared every ASC title since 1998. 
 
In The Polls
Hardin-Simmons is now No. 10 in the D3football.com poll and No. 7 in the American Football Coaches Association ranking. HSU has been ranked for 106 straight weeks and in the top 10 for 68 of those weeks.
 
A Cowboy Win Would
? Be the 523rd in school history.
? Be the 19th straight over Howard Payne.
? Be the 17th straight regular-season home win.
? Be the 17th straight Homecoming win. The last loss on Homecoming was in 2007, an overtime loss to Howard Payne. 
? Be the 111th in the Jesse Burleson era.
 
About HPU 
HPU comes in with a record of 2-2 on the year and has lost two straight nailbiters. They lost last week 31-24 on a fumble that was returned by McMurry 78 yards with :09 to play. They lost 21-18 to Wayland Baptist and won 21-13 against Pacific and won 28-18 against Southwestern. HPU has played three different quarterbacks this season. Running back Blessing Ngene has rushed for 356 yards and six TDs. Cade Rochinski leads the team with 28 tackles. HPU is scoring 22.8 points per game and allows just 20.8 per game. They average 334 yards of offense and allow just 272.3 yards per game.
 
Conference Play Is Upon Us
The Cowboys have won two straight American Southwest Conference titles and will start the quest for a third straight this weekend against Howard Payne. Jesse Burleson is 11-3 in ASC openers and 11-3 in the ASC home openers. This will be the third straight year the Cowboys open ASC play against Howard Payne. Under Burleson, this will be the eighth time the Cowboys have gone into ASC play undefeated.
 
Last Time Out
The Cowboys defeated Louisiana Christian 52-17. LCU took an early 3-0 lead, but then HSU answered with a safety and scored on the next drive to take control of the lead, which they never relinquished.
 
Sink Has Big Day
Transfer linebacker Kade Sink had a career day against LC recording 15 tackles, three tackles for loss and one-and-a-half sacks and forced a fumble. He was named the ASC defensive player of the Week.
 
Picking Up The Slack
Injured preseason All-American linebacker Kaiden Roden missed the game against LC and the linebackers had a big day stepping up. Sink had his 15 tackles and the other two starters Brandt Patek and Matt Pascuzzi both set career highs with 10 tackles. 
 
Steady As They Come
Senior quarterback Kyle Brown continues to just steadily lead the offense. He hit four different receivers for touchdowns in the win over LC. He finished with 259 yards passing in the contest. 
 
On and Off The Field
Senior safety Harrison Foster had 13 tackles in the win over LC and he was also named a semifinalist for the Campbell Trophy given to the top scholar-athlete in all levels of college football. He was one of just 177 players in all divisions to make the list and one of just 33 Division III players.
 
QRF Has Best Day of the Year
The Quick Reaction Forces had a special day with captain Aden Kincaid making a tackle on a fumbled punt by the Wildcats that set up the offense inside the 10-yard line. Punter Kaden Turner earned ASC player of the week for his performance. Turner had seven punts and averaged 46.4 yards per punt. Five of the seven were downed in the 20-yard line and had a long of 65 yards. He also threw for a two-point conversion, where he found Cade Smillie in the end zone. Turner ranks 17th in the nation in punting at 42.3 yards per kick.
 
Not Just A Running Back
Noah Garcia, who is usually known for his running game, got in on the receiving action against LCU. Garcia had a career-high seven receptions and 100 yards receiving. Garcia had two touchdowns, one on the ground and one receiving. He finished the day with 211 all-purpose yards. He ranks 10th nationally in all-purpose yards with 189 per game.
 
The Steer Show
The Graham to Hardin-Simmons pipeline has been a good one so far. Ty Thompson, the freshman quarterback, has played in every game and has scored a rushing touchdown in all three games. Thompson added his first career passing touchdown for 24 yards when he found Harison Brockway. Brockway is also a freshman from Graham, and the two are roommates. Brycen Rogers and Bruin Wright, both are freshmen from Graham and each had three tackles against LC. 
 
Douglas Does It Again
Wes Douglas has a receiving touchdown in all three games and he leads the Cowboys in receiving with 15 catches for 275 yards and three touchdowns. He also blocked a punt in the game against LC. The Cowboys are ninth nationally with three blocked kicks.
 
Inches Away
Sophomore defensive end Larry Smith-Bell was inches away from a two-sack day against LC. He was in on the quarterback and film showed he actually got the quarterback down before he threw a pass away but it wasn't called that way. Later in the game he was close to getting a sack coming from behind but the quarterback got the ball back to the line of scrimmage. He also had a pass break up and recovered a fumble in the contest.
    
 
 
 
 

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