College football: Hounds hope to end 2018 on high note

Eastern New Mexico’s football team is looking to go out with a crackle as the regular season ends at home Saturday against Western Oregon.

The Greyhounds are 4-6 after last weekend’s 34-17 loss at Angelo State. They faced a brutal early schedule and rebounded late, tearing off a three-game winning streak prior to last Saturday’s loss.

They’ll try to end with a victory in this Saturday’s 1 p.m. game at Greyhound Stadium, and they’ll try to get that victory on Senior Day. So, still a lot to play for.

“Yeah, we’re excited for those seniors,” Eastern head coach Kelley Lee said. “We’ve got 11 of them. Hopefully we play well and send them out on a good note.”

That won’t be easy. The playing well part is within Eastern’s control, but injuries aren’t. It’s November, Week 11 for the Hounds, and the bumps, bruises and dings have increased steadily.

“We’re pretty banged up,” Lee acknowledged. “We’ve got a lot of guys missing practice this week. It’s pretty normal when you play a schedule like we play, it probably increases it. But I’m sure Western Oregon is dealing with those same issues.”

Still, injuries are injuries. So it won’t help that ENMU is running headlong into this particular Western Oregon team.

“They’re a very good defensive football team,” Lee said. “They’re big, strong, physical. So it’s going to be a challenge for us.”

To that point, Lee says he’s expecting a low-scoring game. Though the Cougars have given up a bundle of points in a loss here or there, they have as Lee says played sound defense for the most part, and allowed just seven total points over their last two games — a 7-6 loss at Azusa Pacific on Oct. 27 and a 39-0 win at Simon Fraser University in Burnaby, British Columbia last Saturday.

And if big-play offense is indeed a rarity, the Greyhounds will have to take advantage of what few scoring opportunities they get. Yes, the Hounds do have an effective, multi-pronged ground attack that can keep defenses guessing, with a good running quarterback in Wyatt Strand and a host of running backs who could break one on any given play. But that may not be as effective against Western Oregon.

“I think you’ve got to be smart about how many times you pound it inside,” Lee said, “because that’s their strength.”

Play-action passing, looking to the flat for an opening, looking anywhere for any opening, mixing it up, will be of utmost importance for Eastern.

Defensively, ENMU could have plenty of opportunities. Western Oregon quarterback Ty Currie has thrown 17 touchdown passes this season, but has also been picked off 14 times. The Hounds will look to shut down Currie and leading rusher Omari Land, who has 717 yards on the ground.

Western Oregon began the season 0-3, but has battled back to smooth out its record at 5-5. Eastern’s own 0-3 start had a lot to do with playing ranked team after ranked team early on. The Greyhounds did have that three-game winning streak in mid-to-late October, and even with the Angelo State loss, have won three of their last four after a 1-5 start.

They’re hoping to make it four out of five to end the season, while playing their first home day game of 2018.

“This time of year it’s nice to play during the day,” Lee said, “but normally we prefer playing at night because we get a better crowd.”