MSU football opened up with a pre-season scrimmage against Southeastern Oklahoma State University at Memorial Stadium, Saturday, Feb. 27 at 2 p.m. finishing the game 28-14.

The Mustangs blew away the Bolts with a total of 291 yards, 61 plays, and 18 first downs.

“We are a little rusty. We did some good things and some bad things. The good thing is that the team played really hard and took adjustments well. We had the opportunity to just come out and play, and they did a really great job for having such a long layoff and now we just get to continue and build off of that,” Nate Brown, assistant football coach of defensive backs, said.

Brown said that they have a few more games after this but they need to just take everything day by day and see how things turn out.

“With the COVID-19 protocol, we test weekly. We expect the team to be ready and be prepared to play because we never know when that last game is going to occur. We just want to make sure we execute each day and benefit from it. So as of today, we have to see how tomorrow will be and the day after and the day after next. I think more than anything we could see the excitement and pure joy of the team to just be able to enjoy and have the chance to do what they love. It created enough adrenalin to come out super strong like we did in the first half, and I think that is something that will continue to build on.”

MSU football came into the third quarter with the score 21-0. Ja’Marzeyea Arvie, (No. 3), wide receiver and criminal justice junior, had 43 receiving yards with a longest reception of 19 yards.

“I could’ve been better; we should’ve got more touchdowns than what we did today. It was an okay game. I was just glad to be able to be on the field again, it’s been three years since I’ve played, so when I was out on the field, I tuned out everything else and focused on what I had to do. I loved it. I loved every bit of it,” Arvie said.

Arvie said for the reminder of the games this season, the team is expecting to take zero losses.

Jo Parkinson (No. 20), corner and sports administration senior, said the team needed this game to get their feet wet again.

“It was the best thing ever. At first, some of us were nervous, but to get back out there and go against somebody else but it was needed. We’ve been tackling and banging on each other for some time now so to be able to tackle and bang on other people was a great feeling. We just need to hit the ground running and do better. We know what to do now; we are going to watch the film and fix what needs to be fixed and that’s just what we have to do,” Parkinson said.

The next time to watch the Mustangs play will be March 6 on Saturday at 1 p.m. at Memorial Stadium against Texas A&M Kingsville.