Racers Open Stewart Era With Win Over KWC

Thursday, September 3

Stewart Stadium

6 p.m.

Murray State

1-0

Kentucky Wesleyan (Senior Night)

0-1

Team	1st	2nd	3rd	4th	Final F
Ky. Wesleyan	0	0	6	6	12
Murray St.	14	17	14	7	52

Photo by: Curt Hart

9/3/2015 11:27:00 PM | Football

Box Score

Just The Facts
The Murray State football team opened the Mitch Stewart era with a convincing 52-12 win over Kentucky Wesleyan, Thursday night at Stewart Stadium in Murray. Junior KD Humphries powered the Racers by going 25-for-34 for 385 yards and five touchdowns. Jeremy Harness had a big night on the receiving end, catching seven passes for 156 yards and a career-high three touchdowns.

The Turning Point
Murray State needed just 23 seconds to score its first touchdown, a 10-yard strike from Humphries to Paul Rice, and never looked back from there. The opening drive stretched 58 yards and consisted of two plays; the touchdown and a 48-yard pass, also to Rice.

Mr. 300
Thursday marked the sixth 300-plus yard performance of Humphries' career and fifth in a row, dating back to last season. The five touchdowns he threw also ties his career-high, which he set last season against UT Martin.

DE-FENSE
The Murray State starting defense limited the Panthers to just 115 yards in the first half and zero points. Compare that to last year's game, with both teams returning a majority of starters from 2014, when the starting defense allowed 270 yards, four touchdowns and a field goal.

What A Rush!
The 191 rushing yards by the Racers Thursday were the most since Nov. 17, 2012 against Southeast Missouri, when MSU ran for 219 yards. Roman Clay had 96 yards on 17 carries with a touchdown, while Nick Taylor had 72 yards on 14 carries and a score. The touchdown was the first of Clay's career and his 96 yards was a career high.

Grand Opening
With the win, MSU moves to 49-38-4 all-time in season openers and 62-25-4 in home openers. In addition, the Racers are now 33-12 when kicking-off the season in Murray.

A Smashing Debut
Thursday night's win makes Mitch Stewart with 10^th head coach in MSU history to win his first game at the helm of the Racers and first since Joe Pannunzio in 2000.

The Dean's List
Senior Zach Dean led all Murray State defensive players Thursday with nine total tackles including five solo. He also had 2.0 sacks for a loss of 11 yards, 4.5 tackles-for-loss totaling 27 yards and two quarterback hurries. The tackles, sacks and tackles-for-loss he tallied in the opener are all new career highs.

Switching It Up
Senior Jalen Harrington made the move from offense to defense Thursday and it proved to be a successful one. Harrington tied DeQuinten Spraggins with second most tackles on the team at eight and tallied a sack for a loss of seven yards and a 1.5 tackles-for-loss for a total of nine yards.

Return To Sender
Senior Shawn Samuels-Connell led the MSU returners Thursday with 59 total yards on three punt returns. He nearly returned one for a touchdown in the first quarter, going 64 yards before being brought down at the two-yard line.

Up Next
Murray State will hit the road for two straight games against BCS opponents. Next Saturday, the Racers travel to DeKalb, Illinois to face off with Northern Illinois at 2:30 p.m.