ENMU expects tough Mustang squad

Midwestern State offers two-pronged motivation for the Eastern New Mexico football team, posing both an immediate challenge and conjuring up bitter memories of recent history.

First, the history part. Eastern hosted Midwestern last November with a chance to win the Lone Star Conference and advance to the NCAA Division II playoffs. Midwestern, though, was the team to emerge with both prizes, and that has been lodged firmly in the Greyhounds’ craw for over 10 months.

Then there’s the immediate part. Midwestern is Eastern’s Week 5 opponent tonight at Greyhound Stadium (7 p.m.). The Hounds, though on a one-game winning streak after beating Texas A&M-Kingsville last week, left themselves little room for error after an 0-3 start. And Midwestern probably won’t allow much room; the Mustangs head into tonight’s game 4-0 and ranked fifth in the AFCA Division II Top 25, on the move from seventh last week.

Reason aplenty for Eastern to get fired up.

“It’s been pretty easy to motivate the kids,” ENMU head coach Kelley Lee said. “We’ve got a good team coming to town, a team that knocked us out of the playoffs last year. And we’d like to even the score if we could.”

Tonight’s Mustangs will look a lot like the ones that beat Eastern 56-43 last year, most notably under center. Midwestern quarterback Layton Rabb, who threw for 383 yards and six touchdowns in that Nov. 12 game, might be even better this season. He’s been the Lone Star Conference’s Offensive Player of the Week every time except Week 3, and even then it went to Rabb’s teammate, running back Vincent Johnson.

Rabb earned his LSC honor and then some last week, breaking his own single-game passing yardage record with 467, to go along with five touchdowns while torching Angelo State 57-36. He has thrown for 1,365 yards, 16 touchdowns and no interceptions so far this season.

How does a defense go about stopping that?

“I don’t know. If you’ve got any ideas, let me know,” Lee said, laughing. “I think that you’ve got to tackle because he does a great job of taking what the defense gives him. He doesn’t force throws down the field; he’ll take the 2- and 4-yard throws. So you’ve got to tackle, keep it a 4-yard gain, or that 4-yard gain becomes a 20-yard gain and there you go.”

Focusing too much on the pass, though, could also be trouble because of Johnson, who has already rushed for 503 yards this season. His Player of the Week honor came as a result of rushing for 195 yards on 19 carries (10.3 per carry) against UT-Permian Basin.

Good thing Eastern is coming off a solid defensive performance, led by sophomore defensive back Dante Urrea, named the LSC’s Defensive Player of the Week after a 12-tackle performance in last week’s 31-14 victory at A&M-Kingsville.

Eastern’s offense will look a little different in this year’s matchup, with running back Kamal Cass — who broke the school’s career rushing record in last year’s game against Midwestern — having graduated. But the Hounds still have a deep rushing attack that includes Paul Terry and all-purpose standout Johnny Smith.

Junior redshirt Wyatt Strand, the Greyhounds’ quarterback in last year’s Midwestern game, will be so again tonight as he makes his 26th consecutive start. So the Mustangs will have to contend with a multi-faceted Eastern attack.

“It’s always kind of a chess match with them,” said Lee, who spent five years as ENMU’s offensive coordinator before becoming head coach last year. “They do a good job of defending us. ... A big key will be the onfield adjustments. If we get them with something, they’re going to adjust fast. So we’ve got to adjust back.”

ENMU will have the benefit of taking on Midwestern with a healthy team.

“We’re good,” Lee said. “We’ve had a few guys who had to miss practice, but everyone should be ready for the game.”