By RICK PETERSON
TopSports.news
Washburn University will be looking to bounce back from a season-opening loss to No. 4-ranked Pittsburg State when the Ichabods host Missouri Southern in their 6 p.m. home-opener Thursday night at Yager Stadium.
Washburn senior running back Taylon Peters needs 73 rushing yards Thursday night to reach 2,000 yards for his college career. [File photo/TSN]
Junior quarterback Kellen Simoncic's 32 career touchdown passes is tied for No. 10 all-time at Washburn. [File photo/TSN]
"I think the biggest thing we need to do is being more physical,'' Washburn senior offensive tackle Andrew Funk said. "We didn't play up to our potential last week and that's something we need to take full ownership of, play with a chip on our shoulder and just play harder this week.''
The Ichabods are coming off a 34-7 loss to Pittsburg State last Thursday while Missouri Southern dropped a 31-24 decision to No. 5-ranked Northwest Missouri.
Funk said returning to Yager Stadium should be a big motivator for the Ichabods.
"All week for practices we've had good energy and we've had that mentality of, 'Hey, we need to back in the swing of things and we need to get the momentum rolling,' '' Funk said. "No better way to do that than at home with all your fans cheering for you.''
Washburn leads the all-time series with the Lions 28-21-1 and has won the last seven games in the series, including a 37-20 win over Southern in their 2022 season finale.
WU senior Taylon Peters needs 73 rushing yards to go over the 2,000-yard mark in his career and would be the ninth Ichabod to top the 2,000-yard mark. Peters' 422 rushing attempts ranks 11th all-time at Washburn.
Ichabod junior quarterback Kellen Simoncic's 32 passing touchdowns is tied for 10th all-time at Washburn.
The Ichabods trailed by only a 6-0 margin at the half against Pittsburg State and 13-7 at the start of the fourth quarter before the Gorillas scored the final 21 points.
Washburn was outgained 365 yards to 217 in the game, including 220-55 on the ground.
Shawnee Heights product Tyce Brown had six catches for 66 yards and DJ Bell finished with six catches for 20 yards and a score in his first collegiate action.
Peters had 20 rushing attempts for 56 yards and Simoncic finished 23 of 40 passing for 162 yards and a score.
Defensively, Jordan Finnesy led the Ichabods with nine tackles, including six solo stops. while Phoenix Smith had both of the Ichabod sacks for 16 yards.
Washburn coach Craig Schurig said the Ichabods learned a lot from the Pitt State game and saw both positives and negatives in the game.
"In some respects when you play a really good team in the opener you see mistakes exposed, so you go through it and say, 'Hey, when you play good people this is what's going to happen if you don't use the proper techniqure or get the assignment right then it costs us because you don't get the play back,' '' Schurig said.
"We hope that we have a big-time improvement from that game.''
Washburn will be back on the road Sept. 16 with a trip to Lincoln. The game will be a non-conference game for the Ichabods as the Blue Tigers are leaving the MIAA.
Washburn will return to Yager Stadium on Sept. 23, hosting Central Missouri for Family Day.
