Sept. 23, 2003

ABILENE, Texas - About The Cowboys Hardin-Simmons is 1-1, after winning its 11th straight conference-opening game last week at Texas Lutheran...HSU has never lost to Louisiana College, winning the three games by an average score of 50.6-16.7...The Cowboys have won their last seven home openers...Today's game with Louisiana College, marks the latest scheduled home opener since 1997, when the Cowboys played Chapman, Calif. on Sept. 27 (HSU lost a scheduled game with Austin College due to the events of 9-11 in 2001 and did not play at home until Sept. 29) ...The latest home opener in school history was Nov. 6, 1948 against Wichita State.

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About Louisiana College The Wildcats have their first class of seniors this season, since starting their program in 2000...Marty Secord is a former defensive coordinator at McMurry...Wayne Davis has twice been named an All-ASC running back

Last Time Out Hardin-Simmons overcame a rain soaked day, that saw Texas Lutheran and the Cowboys combine for nine turnovers, to win 29-12 in Seguin...Louisiana College pulled off a come-from-behind, 18-17 home victory over Sul Ross State. Wesley Cooper's 1-yard run with 3:38 to go in the game capped the comeback.

Up Next The Cowboys will travel to Clinton, Miss., for a game with Mississippi College...The game will mark 3,889 miles of travel for the Cowboys in its first four outings...Louisiana College will play host to No. 4 Mary Hardin Baylor.

ON The Air Hardin-Simmons' games can be heard on KAGT 90.5 in the Big Country, with John Wilson and Al Pickett on the call. Wilson is in his first season as the Cowboys' play-by-play announcer, after two seasons in the color chair. Al Pickett, a longtime Abilene journalist, is the new color commentator. The games can be heard on the Internet by going to www.hsuathletics.com and clicking on the radio broadcast link on the football web page.

In the Polls The Cowboys come into the season ranked No. 21 in the D3Football.com poll and are ranked No. 17 in the Don Hansen poll. HSU checks in at No. 22 in the AFCA poll. Mount Union is the No. 1 ranked team in all three polls. ASC foe Mary Hardin-Baylor is also ranked in all three polls.

Hansen Named ASC Defensive Player of the Week Junior All-American cornerback Alex Hansen had two interceptions, forced a fumble and had three tackles in the win over Texas Lutheran to earn ASC defensive player of the week honors for the third time in his career...The other two passes that were thrown his direction were thrown out of bounds or he may have had another interception or two as he great position on the ball...The two interceptions move him into second place with David Rausch on the all-time HSU charts with 11. He needs 12 more to catch Will Wagner's school record of 23...It was the fourth time in his career he has picked off two passes in a game...He set a school single-season record with nine interceptions.

Moore Almost Hits Century Mark Junior running back had a career-high 99 yards on 16 carries in his first games as the Cowboys' starter...Moore's experiment as a two-way player seems to be over as he did not play a down on defense and moved to the top of the depth chart at running back...Moore started his 14th career game against TLU and is second on the offense in career starts, behind Joe Lemberg's 34...HSU has not had a 100-yard day by a running back since Jared Wood had 131 against Sul Ross State (10-20-01)...For his career he has 296 yards on 40 carries...His 7.3 yard per carry average is second all-time, behind Jared Wood's 7.7.

Neal Shows Consistency Jordan Neal came into the season with career numbers of 37-of-46 for 408 yards and four touchdowns with one interception...this year he has put up almost the identical numbers in two games...He has hit nine different receivers in two games...Neal ranks second in the conference in passing and leads the conference in completion percentage.

Last Week With two touchdowns moved Joe Lemberg into fourth place on the career touchdown reception list with 23...Lance Moore had 99 yards on the ground, the most on the ground by a Cowboy running back since Jared Wood went over 100 against Sul Ross State in 2001...The Cowboys forced a fumble, picked off a pass and stopped two drives on fourth down in a shutout second-half...HSU stopped TLU on all 14 third-down attempts...Mason Grimes has put eight punts inside the 20-yard line and is averaging 37.6 net yards per punt...The Cowboys five turnovers were the most since a 1999 game at Howard Payne, when they had seven, all interceptions by Brad Boyd...Patrick Shelby and Lance Moore each moved into the starting lineup against TLU, the only lineup changes from week one to week two...The Cowboys played without leading receiver Shay Ratliff (head) and All-American tight end Matt Moskosky (ankle)...HSU has won 11 straight conference openers...HSU is 5-0 in games after a regular-season loss since 1998.

Defense Continues Improvement Defensively, the Cowboys continue to improve as they limited the Bulldogs to 119 yards in the second half of the game. After halftime the Bulldogs picked off a pass, forced a fumble and stopped two drives on fourth down...A week after allowing 10-of-18 conversions on third-down, the Cowboys were perfect in the game limiting the Bulldogs to 0-of-14...The Cowboys forced four turnovers against TLU...The Cowboys allowed a score after only one of five turnovers. The defense forced two turnovers on the possession immediately following a turnover...For the year, the Cowboys have allowed only two touchdowns, following the offense's seven turnovers...The Cowboys did not allow a red zone touchdown in three opportunities by TLU...HSU has not allowed a first-quarter point this season.

OFFENSE The Cowboys offense has been able to move the ball through the first two games, but has shot themselves in the foot with six turnovers on offense and one on a punt return...Triandos Sherrard has proven to be a ironman on offense as he is second on the team in rushing, receptions, punt returns and leads the team in kickoff returns...The Cowboys have not had a 1,000-yard back since Mark Pawelek in 1995, the leader since that time was Patrick Baca with 845 yards in 1999...To show how dominate the Cowboy offense has been over the last several years, only three times in the regular season since 1998 have the Cowboys failed to score more than a combined 50 points in back-to-back games.

In The ASC Stats Lance Moore is fifth in the league in rushing with 73 yards per game...Jordan Neal ranks second in passing, passing efficiency and is third in total offense...Shay Ratliff continues to lead in receptions per game and receiving yards...Joe Lemberg is third in receptions and fourth in yards...T. Sherrard is seventh in yards and ninth in receptions...Alex Hansen is second in interceptions...Mason Grimes is fourth in punting...Anthony Renfro, Jason Rupert and Toby Nash are all in the top 25 in tackles.

Preseason Accolades Junior cornerback Alex Hansen earned three first-team All-American nods in preseason publications, including D3Football.com, Lindy's and Don Hansen Weekly Gazette. He was also named the preseason ASC Defensive Player of the Year. Senior tight end Matt Moskosky was named first-team All-American by Street and Smith's and nabbed second-team honors by D3Football.com and Lindy's. Moskosky was also named a player to watch by USA Today. Offensive guard Adam Hernandez earned second-team honors by Lindy's and third-team honors by Don Hansen.

Scoring Streak The Cowboys have scored at least one offensive touchdown in 101 straight games, only once in that span have they been held under 10 points. During the streak, the Cowboys have averaged 38.6 points per game.