Fort Hays State football coach Chris Brown spent nine years in Topeka as Washburn’s defensive coordinator and saw first hand the Ichabods transformation from a lower tier team into an annual contender in the MIAA. Brown is hoping to follow that same blueprint used by Ichabod coach Craig Schurig in turning the Tiger gridiron fortunes around.
“It took some time to get there. It wasn’t until our fifth of sixth year where we won the conference” Brown said. “It’s recruiting the right kids, getting the kids in your system that are competitive and want to be there and want to work hard and pay the price to win.”
Now in his third season as the Tigers head coach, Brown feels he’s starting to get those players “We’ve got those kids now and they’re starting to do the things we want them to do. They’re very competitive kids and they want to win and you can see that in their eyes when they’re on the practice field and during the games.”
Fort Hays State will get a first hand look at the 2013 version of the Ichabods this Saturday when the two meet at Yager Stadium in Topeka at 6pm. Washburn is coming off a 58-20 rout of Nebraska-Kearney in their opener last Thursday, taking advantage of seven Loper turnovers in the win.
Fort Hays State lost 43-13 at home to Emporia State in their opener. The Tigers gave up four big plays in that game which led to Hornet scores and transfer defensive back Nathan Lindsey says it’s an area they hope to improve on this week “We’ve got to be more sound fundamentally” Lindsey said. “Mental errors, that was really the big thing. We’ve been working really hard this week to make sure we don’t have the mental errors against Washburn.”
Washburn returns their starting quarterback in junior Mitch Buhler who completed 16 of 29 passes for 273 yards and a touchdown in the win over UNK. Last year Buhler threw four first half touchdown passes in the Ichabods win in Hays. He also has one of the best receivers in the MIAA to throw to. DeJuan Beard returns after missing all of last season due to injury. Beard, who had five catches last week, was a second-team All-MIAA and honorable mention All-American pick as a sophomore in 2011.
The Ichabods have won the last four in the series and nine of the last 11 and have beaten the Tigers by an identical 45-20 score each of the last two seasons.
Saturday’s game kicks off at 6pm. You can hear it live on Tiger Radio Mix-103 and online at http://socialstreamingplayer.crystalmedianetworks.com/radio/kjls beginning at 5pm with the Auto World Pregame Show.