Season will feature 11 games — six home, five road
PORTALES — There’s plenty of toughness and turning back the clock in Eastern New Mexico University’s 2018 football schedule.
The 11-game slate, announced Tuesday by second-year Greyhound coach Kelley Lee, features a tough slate just within Lone Star Conference play, and a few games against teams the Greyhounds haven’t seen in decades.
The 11 opponents — six home, five road — finished 2018 at 68-58.
“I think it’s probably going to be one of the strongest schedules in the country,” Lee said. “Our first three home games are against teams that went 33-5 last year, so people who come out to Greyhound Stadium should see some good football.”
The Greyhounds finished last season, its first under Lee, at 8-2. Its only losses came to LSC champion Midwestern State and the national champion, fellow LSC member Texas A&M-Commerce. The team was third in the LSC but did not receive a playoff berth or postseason bowl invite. Both the Lions and Mustangs are on the eight-game LSC schedule that runs Sept. 15 to Nov. 3.
The team had troubles just lining up a 10-game slate last season, which Lee felt might have hurt the team come playoff and bowl selection time.
“Making the playoffs is all predicated on Division II wins,” Lee said. “The more Division II games you play, the better chance you have of making the playoffs. It’s been a struggle to get people to come out to Portales to play. We can’t be too picky, so we get Division-II teams that have the same available dates and try to work things out with them.”
The season will begin on a Thursday, Aug. 30 at Missouri University of Science and Technology. The Miners, who haven’t played the Greyhounds since 1971, went 7-4 last season with a 5-2 mark in the Great Lakes Conference.
The home opener will be Sept. 8 against Colorado Mesa, which went 9-2 last year and tied CSU-Pueblo for the Rocky Mountain Athletic Conference title. The Greyhounds haven’t played the Mavericks since 1983.
In LSC play, the Greyhounds host Texas A&M-Commerce Sept. 15, Western New Mexico Oct. 13 (homecoming), Midwestern State Sept. 29 (Hall of honors game) and UT Permian Basin Oct. 27. Road LSC games include Texas A&M-Kingsville Sept. 22, Tarleton State Oct. 6, West Texas A&M Oct. 20 (Wagon Wheel Game) and Angelo State Nov. 3.
The Greyhounds will close out the regular season at home Nov. 10 against Western Oregon, which went 7-4 last season.
All home games are scheduled for 7 p.m. kickoffs, with the exception of the Western Oregon game, which has a 1 p.m. kickoff. Some of the road game kickoff times are being worked out, Lee said.