Andre Maupin’s eyes lowered, his head shaking back and forth slowly.
Turned out the simple question — What’s wrong with the Emporia State offense? — didn’t have an easy answer.
“I don’t know. I really don’t,” the ESU wide receiver said. “We’ve got the plays and we’ve got playmakers. It’s just — I don’t know — maybe our timing’s off or something.”
In truth, the Hornets’ timing on offense couldn’t have been much worse in Saturday’s 38-7 loss to Central Missouri at Welch Stadium.
ESU failed to take advantage of two early scoring chances when the game was still scoreless, coming away with no points on two possessions with good field position.
The Mules grabbed the momentum shortly after, scoring 17 points on their next four drives to begin the blowout.
“We’re a better football team than we showed today. That’s what I’m disappointed in,” ESU coach Garin Higgins said. “Central Missouri’s a good football team. Give them credit. They’re better than us across the board, but I still feel like we had opportunities we let slip out there on the field.”
The first came after ESU’s defense forced a turnover on the Mules’ first possession.
With UCM driving into Hornets territory, ESU safety Aaron Stubblefield intercepted a pass by Eric Czerniewski, returning it 19 yards to the ESU 45.
“That was my opportunity,” Stubblefield said, “so I had to make the play.”
Andre Sloan El found Paul Nichols for a 43-yard pass on the next play, taking the ESU offense all the way to the UCM 12.
The Hornets couldn’t capitalize.
The problems started on third-and-9, when Sloan El took a sack for a 6-yard loss.
Wayne Gleason came out to kick a field goal that would have given ESU the lead, but his 35-yard attempt into a strong wind came up short.
The Hornets have made just 2 of 5 field-goal attempts this year after their projected starting kicker Grady Fowler transferred a week before the season.
“Our kicking game right now has been an adventure, to say the least,” Higgins said. “But it is what it is...
“That’s what we got, so we’ve got to show a little confidence in (Wayne). Hopefully, they’ll start coming around.”
The ESU defense came through again on the second possession to give the Hornets a short field.
UCM running back Glenn Milner fumbled after catching a screen pass, and Casey Finlayson recovered the ball at the Mules’ 29.
The Hornets went three yards in their next three plays, then turned it back over after Sloan El’s option run came up short on fourth down.
“It pretty much boiled down to we killed ourselves again,” Stubblefield said. “We’ve gotta make plays when we have the opportunity to make them.”
The Mules offense wouldn’t be as generous the rest of the way.
UCM drove 58 yards on its next drive for a field goal, then put together consecutive TD drives in the second quarter to take a 17-0 lead.
ESU’s only offense came midway through the second quarter, with Maupin providing the big play. The redshirt freshman caught a screen pass and shifted to the other side of the field, going 34 yards for the touchdown.
“I made the first guy miss, then I just saw that everybody was kind of overpursuing,” Maupin said. “I just cut it across, and it worked out for me.”
Though ESU only trailed 17-7 at the break, UCM put it away early in the second half.
On UCM’s first possession of the third quarter, Milner broke free on a screen play for a 63-yard TD to help push the lead to 24-7.
The Mules added two fourth-quarter scores after that.
Defensively, the Hornets had to be pleased with how they performed early in the game.
ESU — which focused all week on getting off to a good start — forced the two first-quarter turnovers and held UCM to three points in the first quarter.
“We came out on fire,” Stubblefield said. “The last couple games, we came out kind of slow. We turned it up today and tried to come out fast.”
Milner finished with 21 carries for 109 yards, which was still under his average of 117 yards per game.
UCM (4-2, 3-1 MIAA) racked up 426 yards of offense.
Meanwhile, ESU’s offense scored on just one of its 14 possessions, turning it over three times. The Hornets had only two drives that amassed more than 40 yards.
“I thought maybe we took a little bit of a step backwards offensively today,” Higgins said.
Sloan El finished 16-of-28 for 153 yards with an interception. Seville Ko added 16 carries for 56 yards.
The Hornets (3-3, 1-3 MIAA) have lost three straight heading into next week’s home game against Washburn.
“It hurts. Everybody’s hurting,” Maupin said. “But we’ve got to not get too down on it.”
“I know this,” Higgins said. “We’re going to get better.”
Central Missouri 38, ESU 7
Saturday at Welch Stadium
Central Missouri 3 14 7 14 — 38
Emporia State 0 7 0 0 — 7
First Quarter
UCM — Marcelo Velazquez 37 field goal, 2:23
Second Quarter
UCM — Glenn Milner 18 run (Marcelo Velazquez kick), 10:06
UCM — Damond Berry 10 pass from Eric Czerniewski (Marcelo Velazquez kick), 8:25
ESU — Andre Maupin 34 pass from Andre Sloan El (Wayne Gleason kick), 5:43
Third Quarter
UCM — Glenn Milner 63 pass from Eric Czerniewski (Marcelo Velazquez kick), 13:54
Fourth Quarter
UCM — Jeremy Braden 9 run (Marcelo Velazquez kick), 5:56
UCM — Justin Gore 7 run (Marcelo Velazquez kick), 1:55
GAME STATISTICS
UCM ESU
First downs 20 15
Rushes-yards 39-163 32-94
Comp-Att-Int 18-32-1 19-36-2
Passing yards 263 194
Total plays-yards 71-426 68-288
Fumbles-lost 2-1 1-1
Penalties-yards 4-30 3-34
Punts-average 5-32.4 7-33.9
INDIVIDUAL STATISTICS
Rushing — UCM: Glenn Milner 21-109, Jeremy Braden 7-51, Justin Gore 3-12, Seth Mason 1-1, Eric Czerniewski 4-(-6); ESU: Seville Ko 16-56, Justin Wieser 3-25, Andre Sloan El 9-13, Jake Lynch 2-8, Sean Partridge 2-(-9).
Passing — UCM: Eric Czerniewski 17-30-1 203, Stinson Dean 1-2-0 60; ESU: Andre Sloan El 16-28-1 153, Ben Purkeypile 3-8-1 41.
Receiving — UCM: Glenn Milner 4-72, Jeremy Braden 4-37, Jason McCartney 3-32, Damond Berry 2-24, Edgar Givens 2-16, Tim Richmond 1-60, Sean Thornton 1-16, Adam Parks 1-6; ESU: Sean Partridge 5-56, Andre Maupin 4-50, Seville Ko 4-3, Paul Nichols 2-60, Eric Runge 2-23, Jarad Biggs 1-4, Joel Griffiths 1-(-2).
Punting — UCM: Matt Frankel 5-32.4; ESU: Johnny Torres 7-33.9.
Records — UCM (4-2, 3-1 MIAA); ESU (3-3, 1-3).