The Missouri Southern Lions (1-0, 0-0 MIAA), coming off a 45-31 home win over Harding (Ark.) last week, will play NAIA independent Haskell Indian Nations (Kan.) at 6 p.m. tonight Hughes Stadium.

The Lions posted a 51-0 road win over the Indians in Lawrence. Haskell lost its 2008 season opener at South Dakota M&T, 62-7.

The Lions are playing Haskell for just the second time in school history.

Junior WR Mark Henderson, a transfer from Southern (La.), caught nine passes in his MSSU debut for 228 yards and three touchdowns and added a 22-yard run as well.

Senior QB Adam Hinspeter’s five TDs vs. Harding tied the school record set in 1993 by Matt Cook vs. Truman, and he needs 12 more to pass Cook’s career mark of 64.

Hinspeter’s record-setting effort against Harding (Ark.) last Saturday allowed him to leap from sixth to third on the MIAA’s career passing yardage list.

Hinspeter’s school-record 422 passing yards vs. the Bisons give him 7,595 for his career -- leaving the Lions’ signal-caller 1,503 yards from moving into second place on the list.

Hinspeter needs just 24 yards of total offense to crack the MIAA’s career top 10 in that category.

Another week and another matchup for one of the MIAA’s nationally-ranked squads against a fellow non-conference foe in the AFCA Division II Top 25.

No. 14 Pittsburg State (1-0, 0-0 MIAA), heads north to face eighth-ranked Chadron (Neb.) State of the Rocky Mountain Athletic Conference Saturday (Sept. 6) for its second road non-conference matchup in as many weeks.

The Gorillas survived turning the ball over five times to win at Central Oklahoma, 16-12, last weekend. The Eagles, who reached the national quarterfinals in NCAA Division II last season, opened with a 37-17 win over Mary (N.D.).

 The Gorillas and Eagles will meet on the football field for the first time.

Pitt State is 20-10 against teams currently members of the Rocky Mountain Athletic Conference — 18 of those wins are split equally between Colorado State-Pueblo and Nebraska-Kearney.

PSU held Central Oklahoma to 1-of-13 on third-down conversions last week.

Senior TB Caleb Farabi, the MIAA’s top returning scorer (11.5 ppg), didn’t hit paydirt vs. UCO.

Last week, then-No. 3 Northwest Missouri State (0-1, 0-0 MIAA) fell at home to then No. 8 Abilene Christian (Texas), 44-27. The 12th-ranked Bearcats will be looking to even the table when Southwest Baptist comes to Maryville Saturday.

This will now be a non-conference battle with SBU opting to play an independent schedule starting this season. Part of the agreement allowing this was to have the school play MIAA squads during the first two weeks of each season.

Southwest Baptist is playing just one MIAA team this season, but will play two in each season following. The purple Bearcats put a scare into Southeast Missouri State last week before falling to the Redhawks in overtime, 35-28.

No. 7 Nebraska-Omaha (10-1, 8-0 NCC in ‘07) makes its debut as an MIAA team when the Mavericks host cross-state rival Nebraska-Kearney from the RMAC in the Victory Bell game Saturday at Al F. Caniglia Field.

It marks the 27th consecutive meeting between the two schools, and fifth year the bell trophy has been at stake. The Mavericks have not lost to the Lopers since the trophy was instituted.

UNK is coming off a 28-12 loss to another instate foe, Wayne (Neb.) State. The game will be available statewide on NET1 (Cable channel 12 in Omaha).

Washburn (1-0, 0-0 MIAA) debuted in the AFCA poll this week at No. 22, and the Ichabods will be getting a major test as they travel to Division I-Football Championship Subdivision Missouri State Thursday (Sept. 4).

This will be WU’s first game against a Division I school since a 47-16 loss at Illinois State to open the 1994 season. The Ichabods are coming off a 27-3, lightning-shortened win over Colorado Mines last week. The game was halted with 8:38 remaining in the fourth quarter, and called after an 80-minute wait.

Missouri Western (1-0, 0-0 MIAA) plays its home opener Saturday at Spratt Memorial Stadium against 17th-ranked Minnesota-Duluth of the Northern Sun Intercollegiate Conference.

The Griffons used a 21-point third quarter to pull away from NSIC-member Northern (S.D.) State in their opener, and claim a 38-27 road win. The UMD Bulldogs marked their return to the NSIC after a short stay in the North Central Conference with a 40-0 shutout of conference foe
Concordia-St. Paul (Minn.) last week.

The Griffons are one of five teams to receive votes in the AFCA poll this week, in addition to the four which were in the Top 25.

The Mules of Central Missouri (1-0, 0-0 MIAA) will host Gulf South Conference member Arkansas Tech Thursday. The Wonder Boys were supposed to open last season at Northwest, but lightning stopped the proceedings in the first quarter.

UCM avenged last season’s loss at Minnesota State-Mankato with a 29-9 win over the Mavericks in Warrensburg, after waiting out a two-hour delay due to lightning. ATU opened with a home win over Northeastern (Okla.) State, 22-3.

The Emporia State Hornets (1-0, 0-0 MIAA) are looking for their second sweep of non-conference foes in as many seasons when the NSIC’s Augustana (S.D.) Vikings come to Jones Field at Welch Stadium Saturday.

ESU hung a season-opening shutout for the first time since 1989 when the Hornets blanked Western (Colo.) State, 42-0. Augustana earned a hard-fought 13-10 overtime win against St. Cloud (Minn.) State in its opener.

Fort Hays State (1-0, 0-0 MIAA) also posted a shutout in its home opener, blanking New Mexico Highlands, 44-0. This week, the Tigers hit the road to take on the Colorado Mines Orediggers.

It was the first season-opening whitewash for FHSU since a 21-0 shutout of Lincoln (Mo.) in 1984, a game the Tigers later forfeited due to use of an ineligible player.

Truman, which had its game with Missouri S&T postponed due to lightning last week (date of reschedule to be announced), will once again try to open the season when they take on Southern Arkansas from the GSC Saturday.

The game is scheduled to be played at Stokes Stadium, as work continues on the new synthetic
turf surface. The SAU Muleriders fell at No. 3 North Alabama, 57-14, last week.