Published: June 02, 2008 11:26 am      

East Central announces rugged 2008 football slate

Ada — Although East Central University football coach Kurt Nichols wouldn’t put a number on his third season as the Tigers’ head football coach, he did make a couple of promises when asked about his team’s prospects this fall.

“I expect the whole (Lone Star Conference) North Division to be tougher -- so will we, though,” Nichols said while discussing ECU’s 11-game fall slate. “I don’t know how many games we’ll win this year, but we’re going to beat some teams people don’t expect us to beat.”

The list of teams ECU isn’t expected to beat in 2008 will start with Game 1 opponent Sam Houston State, a strong Division 1-AA club with a Division I quarterback in former University of Oklahoma signal-caller Rhett Bomar. Nichols said he wouldn’t have chosen the Bearkats for his opener but added that the game -- to be played Thursday, Aug. 28, in Huntsville, Texas -- is more or less a financial necessity for his program and is the kind of non-conference outing that has become the rule rather than the exception in the LSC.

“All of our conference teams are doing it,” Nichols said of the practice of stepping out of NCAA Division II for a guaranteed payday on the road against an opponent from a division farther up the ladder. “I have no desire to play them, but it’s a budget thing.

“They’re going to be a tough team,” he added. “It’s hard to start off like that, but it’s something we need to do financially.”

After traveling to Huntsville, the Tigers return home for back-to-back Saturday evening contests with LSC South division rivals Texas A&M-Kingsville and Tarleton State on Sept. 6 and 13, respectively. Then, in an odd turn, ECU will play six of its final eight games on the road.

“It doesn’t bother me,” Nichols said when asked about the travel-heavy final portion of his schedule. “I don’t know that we don’t play as well on the road as we do at home.

“Two of (the road games) are in Texas, and a lot of my players are from Texas,” he added. “We play (A&M) Commerce at the Cotton Bowl (on Oct. 18). The trips should be very positive.”

ECU’s second road contest of the season will be on Sept. 20 at Angelo State, a week before the Tigers open North Division play at home against Northeastern. A trip to Abilene to face South Division favorite Abilene Christian (which reached the second round of the Division II playoffs last season) on Oct. 4 will kick off a string of three straight road games that will also include a trip to Bethany to face NAIA Southern Nazarene on Oct. 11 and the Cotton Bowl showdown with A&M-Commerce on Oct. 18. ACU -- expected to open the season ranked in the Top 10 in Division II -- is led by Harlon Hill Trophy finalist Bernard Scott, who ran for 2,165 yards and scored 35 touchdowns last fall.

After playing their final home game of the season Oct. 25 against Southwestern, the Tigers will finish the year with a pair of 2 p.m. Saturday contests in Edmond against UCO on Nov. 1 and in Durant versus old rival Southeastern on Nov. 8.

“It’s a tough schedule,” Nichols said. “Abilene Christian is going to be a national powerhouse. Tarleton (which routed ECU in the opener to a 2-9 season last fall) lost a lot of people, but they were very tough last year, and I expect Angelo and a lot of these teams to be better. There are no weak sisters in our conference.”





ECU TIGERS

Head Coach: Kurt Nichols

AUGUST

28 at Sam Houston State, 6 p.m.

SEPTEMBER

6 TEXAS A&M-KINGSVILLE, 6 p.m.

13 TARLETON STATE, 6 p.m.

20 at Angelo State, 6 p.m.

27 NORTHEASTERN STATE, 2 p.m.

OCTOBER

4 at Abilene Christian, 6 p.m.

11 at Southern Nazarene, 2 p.m.

18 t Texas A&M-Commerce, 2 p.m.

25 SOUTHWESTERN OKLAHOMA, 6 p.m.

NOVEMBER

1 at Central Oklahoma, 2 p.m.

8 at Southeastern Oklahoma , 2 p.m.