SWOSU to Host East Central in Conference Tilt

October 4, 2005

Weatherford, OK - Southwestern Oklahoma State University hopes for one of its sharpest football performances of the year to build momentum for a season-ending charge when it continues Lone Star Conference play Saturday against rival East Central University at Milam Stadium. Kickoff is set for 6 p.m.

SWOSU will give all spectators entering the game an Organ Donor Awareness Card courtesy of the Southwest Transplant Alliance. The donor awareness card is part of a conference-wide program designed to provide a link between those who need an organ to survive, and those who have the potential to save lives by becoming donors.

Coach Ryan Held and his staff have shaken the starting lineup in hopes of finding a spark to spur a more productive outcome. Quarterback Beau Dodson, a starter in eight games last year, is among those starting for the first time against ECU. Dodson won the top spot back after throwing for 189 yards and leading the Bulldogs to a pair of scores in last week’s 37-20 loss at Central Oklahoma.

“Bo gives us a different look at quarterback,” Held said. “He played well against UCO and can make plays running the ball and throwing. Our intentions are to give him a chance and see what he can do.”

Dodson’s ability to run, along with the healthy return of running back Terry Sampson, will certainly give support to the ground game that has been out-of-tune since the opener. SWOSU has averaged just 52 yards in the last five games and had no runs longer than 17 yards.

Like SWOSU, ECU has switched its signal callers now going with Akeem Leviston after beginning the year with veteran Wilson Pirtle. Leviston has started each of the last two games and has completed 22-of-35 (63%) passes for 296 yards and two touchdowns.

Whoever, ECU settles on at quarterback their main job will be handing the ball off to all-conference running back King Bennett — one of the league’s leading rushers averaging 84.2 yards a game. Bennett rushed for 973 yards last season and 15 TDs. He played only one down in ECU’s 31-14 win over SWOSU last year, scoring on a one-yard run.

If precedent holds, SWOSU should also be helped if it keeps carefully protecting the football and ECU’s troubles of bobbles and wobbles continue. The Bulldogs have turned the ball over 10 times through six games, the lowest in the LSC. Meanwhile, ECU has twice that many turnovers (20) in the same amount of games.

Defensively, SWOSU would like to get its swagger it had a few weeks ago when the Bulldogs held Tarleton State and West Texas A&M to one touchdown in a span of six quarters.

Defensive back Tommy Musa has emerged as one of the brightest lights this year since joining the lineup in Week 4. He has led the team in tackles each of the last two games and has returned a fumble 50 yards for a touchdown and an intercepted a pass as well.