The Game: CMSU at Quincy University.

The Time: Aug. 28, 1 p.m.

The Place: Quincy Stadium (2,500 - natural grass), Quincy, Ill.

The Facts: Opening game of the season for both teams.

The Mules (8-3-0 in 1998): Their eight wins made them only the fourth team in school history to win eight games in a season. Their three losses were to Pittsburg State University, Emporia State University and Northwest Missouri State University, which were a combined 31-5-0 last season, with Northwest Missouri claiming an undefeated national championship. Thirteen of last year’s starters return, eight on offense and five on defense.  Senior quarterback Ryan Koob started all but one game last season and passed for 1,127 yards and nine touchdowns. Senior tailback Dexter Ford rushed for 875 yards and scored 11 touchdowns last year. He averaged 5.6 yards per carry and had four 100-yard games. Sophomore wide receiver Kevin Nickerson led the Mules in all-purpose yardage last season (119.2 yards per game) and had three kick returns for touchdowns. He caught 25 passes for 285 yards. Senior Greg Schmidt caught 15 for 299 yards and a team-high five touchdowns. Newcomer Orlando Dunn, a junior college transfer, caught 50 passes for 636 yards and six touchdowns at Northwest Mississippi Community College last year. Three starters -- seniors Brian Kietzmann and Jason Hennigh and sophomore John Young -- return in the offensive line. They’ll be joined by returning squad members Andy Minford, a red-shirt freshman, and Dan McGuire, a junior. Freshman Ryan Ashcraft is the heir-apparent to graduated career scoring leader Shane Meyer as the Mules’ placekicker, while senior Lee DuBois returns as the Mules’ punter after averaging 37.4 yards per punt last year. Defensively, the Mules return three starters among their front seven - sophomore tackle Tim Urich and linebackers RheQuan Robinson, a senior, and Herman Lyons, a junior. Two transfers, Brandon Stoker from Indiana State and Colston Weatherington from Northwest Mississippi are expected to strengthen the defensive line. Three returning veterans – senior Lamont Truitt and juniors Clint Steiner and Antoine Williams - lead the secondary and will be joined by Duane Brisbon, a transfer from East Central Mississippi Community College.

The Hawks (4-6-0 in 1998): They improved to 4-6-0 last season after going 0-10-0 in 1997. Quincy returns 17 starters from last year, seven on offense and 10 on defense. Offensively, the Hawks are led by sophomore quarterback Chris Dewitt, who passed for 1,378 yards and 10 touchdowns last year. Two of his top four receivers from a year ago also return -- senior wide receiver Matt Zipprich, who caught 18 for 240 yards and two touchdowns, and junior wide receiver Gerald Brown, who caught 14 for 118 yards. Sophomore fullback Dan Lang was Quincy’s second-leading rusher last year with 518 yards and six touchdowns in 129 carries. Defensively, three of the Hawks’ top four tacklers from a year ago are back. Senior linebacker Cliff Fruge led the team with 74 tackles, while junior linebacker Will Murphy had 65 and senior safety Demetrius Dixon had 62.

The Coaches: Willie Fritz is in his third season at CMSU with a record of 13-9-0. The Mules were 8-3-0 last season after going 5-6-0 in 1997. Fritz came to Central Missouri after four years as head coach at Blinn College (Texas), where he compiled a 39-5-1 record. His last two teams at Blinn each went 12-0-0 and won the junior college national championship each year (1995 & 1996). Brian Cox is in his third season at Quincy with a 4-16-0 career record.

The Series: Quincy leads the series 1-0. The only previous football meeting between the two schools came in the final game of the 1948 season, when Quincy won 12-0.

Mules in season openers: The Mules are 1-1 in season openers under Willie Fritz. They lost 41-12 in 1997 at the University of Nebraska-Omaha, then beat Nebraska-Omaha 42-26 last year in Warrensburg. They have lost the last five times they have opened the season on the road. The last time the Mules won their season opener on the road was in 1986, when they won 23-17 at Missouri Western State College. The Mules went on to win the MIAA championship that year.

Fritz on the Mules: "We feel like we’re in pretty good shape going into this first game. I feel like we have a lot more depth than we’ve had in the past, so if we should lose somebody to an injury it won’t hurt us as bad as it has in the past. I feel like we have two starting quarterbacks in Ryan Koob and John Holmes and we’d like for one of them to take the lead, but we have confidence in both of them."

Fritz on the Hawks: "The first game of the season always gets you a little nervous because you’re not sure what the other team is going to do. We’re basing everything on what they did last year and then see what adjustments we need to make as the game goes along. I’m sure they’d like to knock off a team from the MIAA to start their season."

Mules' Injuries: The Mules do not have any serious injuries entering the Quincy game.

Mules on Radio: KLRQ-FM (96.1) in Clinton will broadcast the game live with Bob Jackson and Chris Shaeffer calling the game. Air time will be 12:45 p.m. KLRQ also will have the broadcast available on its Web site at http://www.klrq.com. The broadcast also will be available on the TEAMLINE telephone service by calling (800) 846-4700, then entering 3946 and following the instructions for credit card billing.