The Fort Hays State Tigers opened Saturday's game against the Lincoln Blue Tigers with a field goal.
That may have been the easiest part of the afternoon for the Blue Tigers.
Fort Hays State followed with nine consecutive touchdowns, routing Lincoln for a 66-6 win in Mid-America Intercollegiate Athletics Association play at Dwight T. Reed Stadium.
"We don't have the horses right now to line up with those guys," Lincoln interim head coach Malik Hoskins said. "I'm more disappointed in our effort, and the fact that we made it easy for them.
"We didn't fight. We had no fight today. I think we were defeated before we even stepped on the field, and that's my fault."
Fort Hays State started the game with a long kickoff return to the Lincoln 28-yard line. The Tigers moved the ball inside the 20, but they had to settle for a 27-yard field goal from Dante Brown less than two minutes into the contest.
It was only a momentary setback, as Fort Hays State scored touchdowns on six of its remaining seven possessions in the first half.
"We're singing the same song every week," Hoskins said. "We come out and we're able to get a stop on the defensive side of the ball, but we don't do anything on the offensive side of the ball."
Fort Hays State quarterback Chance Fuller threw five touchdown passes in the first half. His first, a 9-yard strike to Layne Bieberle, capped an eight-play, 78-yard drive for the Tigers.
The Tigers' next possession lasted 12 plays, and this time Harley Hazlett, a wide receiver, took a snap in the Wildcat formation and ran it in from 2 yards out. Brown added the extra point to make the score 17-0 with 2:23 to go in the opening quarter.
Fuller then completed touchdown passes of 8, 24 and 23 yards all to Manny Ramsey, making the score 38-0 with 1:58 left in the second quarter.
On Fort Hays State's last possession of the half, Brennen DeMarco snagged what would have been just Fuller's fifth interception of the season. However, the Blue Tigers were flagged for roughing the passer, which kept the ball with the Tigers.
Hoskins wasn't pleased with the call.
"Our kids, at that time, needed something good to happen," Hoskins said. "To take that away from us, yeah, that one hurt."
Two plays later, Fuller threw a 30-yard touchdown pass to Dandre Reed with :09 remaining to put Fort Hays State ahead 45-0 going into halftime.
Lincoln posted just 62 yards of offense in the first half and totaled only two first downs. Hoskins said the Blue Tigers were playing without left tackle Javon Burruss, which limited the team's play on the offensive line.
"I think that had a lot to do with our run game," Hoskins said. "As far as the pass game, we had the guys to get separation, finally, at the wide receiver position. We just can't consistently get them the football."
Fort Hays State followed with three rushing touchdowns in the second half from three different ball carriers. Te'Corey Tutson had a 6-yard run on the Tigers' first possession of the half, then Charles Tigner followed with an 18-yard score.
When Voshon Waiters finished an 11-play, 68-yard drive with a 2-yard touchdown run, it extended Fort Hays State's lead to 66-0 with 6:24 to play.
"There's a reason why they're the two-time defending MIAA champions," Hoskins said. "They have players. They have athletes all over the field."
Lincoln lost a fumble at the Fort Hays State 32-yard line with 11:15 to play in the game. When the Blue Tigers got the ball back, they made sure they wouldn't suffer a second straight shutout.
Hosea Franklin ran the ball around the end on the left and surged through the Fort Hays State defense for an 82-yard touchdown run. Javier Moreno missed the extra-point attempt, but Lincoln put six points on the scoreboard with 5:24 to play.
"Any coach would rather see six instead of zero," Hoskins said.
Franklin posted his sixth 100-yard rushing performance of the season, finishing with 19 carries for 131 yards. He now has 1,179 yards rushing for the season and has two games left to break Morris Henderson's Lincoln single-season record of 1,266 yards.
"For Hosea, a kid who's had a lot of success this year, he never complains. He hasn't gotten anything the past two weeks," Hoskins said. "For him to break that long run, it's a testament to him and his work ethic."
Fuller finished 24-of-32 passing for 296 yards to lead Fort Hays State (7-2) to its seventh straight win. Reed caught 10 passes for 169 yards.
Lincoln's Chancellor Johnson was 7-of-18 passing for 60 yards. Defensively, Cody Alexander led the Blue Tigers with 14 total tackles, including 11 solo stops.
Lincoln (1-8) goes on the road Saturday to play at No. 11 Central Missouri (9-0), which pulled off an unlikely fourth-quarter comeback to beat Nebraska-Kearney 47-40 on Saturday.
Kickoff is at 1 p.m. in Warrensburg.
"It doesn't get any easier," Hoskins said.