The Game: The East Central University football team will play its second Thursday game of the season, when they battle with Henderson State, Thursday, Sept. 10 at 7 p.m. at Carpenter-Haygood Stadium in Arkadelphia, Ark.

Game Notes

The Broadcast: ECU's radio home for Tiger football is Ada's KXFC, 105.5, FM 'The X-Factor'. Mike Manos returns to broadcast the games for his 19th consecutive season. Manos has worked 191 Tiger games since taking over the play-by-play duties in 1997.

The Coverage: Fans who can't be at the game can find links to live stats, live video and the KXFC radio broadcast on ECUTigers.com.  Go to the football schedule page.  You can also download the KXFC radio app for your smartphone by searching '105.5 the X Factor.'

Scouting Henderson State: The Reddies started the 2015 season off with a 23-26 win over Southeastern Oklahoma State on the road in Great American Conference action.

HSU won the game despite having a clear disadvantage in total yards (272-407).  The key to the win was taking advantage of their trips to the red zone.  The Reddies went 4-for-4, while they held the Savage Storm to a 2-of-4 mark.

Dallas Hardison led the HSU offense, as the replacement for longtime standout Kevin Rodgers.  Hardison went 19-of-28, with two interceptions, for 160 yards.  JaVante Mack was the top receiver for the Reddies with seven catches, 48 yards and a TD.  Jaquan Cole is the clear go-to running back, with 17 attempts, 84 yards (109 total rushing yards for the team) and a touchdown.

Lawson Schulz was the leader on the defensive side of the ball, with 13 (8-5) total tackles and 1.5 tackles-for-loss for four yards.

The Series: The meeting with the Reddies is the 27th in the all-time series, with HSU holding a 10-15-1 lead.  HSU is currently on a five-game win streak, but the Tigers have not won a game since Oct. 4, 1986, with a tie score coming Sept. 14, 1991 (17-17) and four more HSU wins in the span.  The teams did not play each other between 1993 and 2010 when the GAC was started.

Air Raid: The opening game of the season was a tight battle all the way to the end, but it was a good night for the quarterback and receivers from ECU.  Senior quarterback Rocky Moore recorded 405 yards passing, going 23-of-40.  Senior Nathan Pickett and junior David Moore were the recipients of a good chuck of those yards, with each garnering over 100 yards.  Pickett caught two passes for 129 yards, with a long catch of 82 yards that set up a touchdown.  David Moore caught four passes for 100 yards and scored two TD's.  The Tigers had a total of 10 receivers catch at least one pass, with four of those earning over 50 yards.

Chasing the Record:  Senior Jameel Whitney finished the 2014 season with the record for the most tackles in a single season (111) and is now working on taking over the career tackle record from Norris Wrenn (2009-12).  Wrenn recorded 278 career tackles and Whitney has garnered 216 so far in his career, just 63 off the record mark.  Whitney recorded nine total tackles in the opening game of the season and if he continues at that pace he could break the record late in the 2015 season.

Key Changes: After a season that brought the Tigers back to the postseason for the first time since 1993, the 2015 season is one of changes. ECU has several new coaches, including a new secondary coach (Jihad' Wright) and a new defensive coordinator (Chad Roark).  The 2014 starting quarterback  (Spencer Bond) has moved to the defensive back position.  There is not a standout sack producer on the defensive side of the ball as in the past few years.  And a new team (Oklahoma Baptist) has been added to the Great American Conference.

Preseason Attention: Senior Travis Hening has started right where he left off in 2014, earning 2015 preseason recognition.  The offensive lineman has already been named to the D2Football.com Preseason All-America First Team and to the College Football America Yearbook Starting Lineup.  The Yukon, Okla., native is one of two on the D2Football.com preseason team from the GAC and the lone member from the conference on the College Football American Yearbook list.

Up Next: ECU will be back at Norris Field, Saturday, Sept. 19 for the annual Chickasaw Appreciation Day.  The Tigers will face Southern Nazarene at 6 p.m.  Any member or employee of the Chickasaw Nation will be admitted free to the game with their ID.