GAME NOTES (PDF) | ROSTER | SCHEDULE PAGE (LIVE STATS, LIVE VIDEO, AUDIO) | TICKETS | TAILGATE INFORMATION
MOREHEAD, Ky. -- The 2026 Morehead State football season is ready to kick off as the Eagles open the year hosting first-time foe Ohio Dominican Thursday night at 6 p.m. ET at Phil Simms Stadium.
Special attractions for the home opener include the freshman run and a post-game fireworks show.
The game can be heard on the Eagle Sports Radio Network with WIVY-96.3 FM serving as flagship station. Chuck Mraz,
Jason Blanton and Tom Lewis provide the radio call. Fans can also hear it on MSUEagles.com, WGOH-100.9 FM/1370 AM, WMST-106.9 FM/1150 AM, WPKE 98.1 FM and WPRT 104.5 FM. The game will stream live on ESPN+ with Jared Stacy and Mark Ledford teaming up as the voices.
Morehead State begins year three of the
Jason Woodman era in week zero. Along with the Maine at Towson and West Florida at Southern Illinois games, Thursday's MSU-ODU matchup is one of the first three games to kick off the FCS schedule for 2026. Several other games kick off at 7 p.m. ET. According to records, the Eagle program has only ever played one other week zero contest, in 2022, at Mercer.
THE SERIES
Record vs. ODU: 0-0
First Meeting: 8/27/26
Last Meeting: N/A
Eagles' Record in Morehead: 0-0
Eagles' Record in Columbus, Ohio: 0-0
Neutral Record: 0-0
Streak: N/A
GAME NOTES
• This will mark the first-ever meeting with the Panthers from Ohio Dominican. ODU does have two connections to the Eagle program, with former offensive line coach Travis Everhart serving as ODU's offensive coordinator. Former MSU tight end coach Tom Keane is now ODU's QB coach.
• Ohio Dominican is a Division II member, competing in the Great Midwest Athletic Conference. The Panthers concluded the 2025 campaign with a 5-5 record.
• Morehead State finished the 2025 season at 6-6, the first back-to-back .500 or better seasons since the 2007 and 2008 campaigns.
• MSU has a nine-game winning streak in home openers. Dating back to the season opener in 2013, MSU has won 14 straight games against non Division I opponents.
• Head coach
Jason Woodman's 13 wins are the most by any MSU head coach in his first two seasons coaching the program.
• Defensive lineman
KJ Hardesty was named to the official preseason All-Pioneer League team. Hardesty paced the defense with 7.5 tackles for loss and six QB hurries last fall.
• Nine Eagles were selected preseason All-PFL by Phil Steele's publication. The first-team pick is defensive lineman
KJ Hardesty. Second-teamers are defensive lineman
Jake Rhodes, linebacker
Chris Johnson, kick returner
Sidney Webb and long snapper
Colton Carmichael. Third-team choices are running back
Craig Cunningham, linebacker
Luke Popovich, defensive back
Luciano Corpora-Ellis and kicker
Jordan Price.
• Following the departure of QB
Carter Cravens, who became the 9th signal caller in program history to achieve 5,000+ career passing yards, this year's squad will be under the direction of a new quarterback. Redshirt senior
Bryce Patterson and junior
David Parsons are the frontrunners for the starting nod.
• Between linebacker
Chris Johnson and defensive lineman
KJ Hardesty, the Eagles return two of their top four tacklers from 2025.
• Returning wideouts
Anthony Ice and
Cannon Dinger combined for 557 yards and four touchdowns last season.
• Morehead State finished ranked 13th in the nation in team kickoff returns, thanks a majority in part to
Sidney Webb's 27.1 yards per return. Webb finished the season ranked 15th in the FCS in kickoff returns and had one touchdown return as well.
• Sophomore kicker
Jordan Price carries a perfect PAT sheet into his second year. He was a perfect 30-of-30 on PAT kicks in his first college season. The last Eagle kicker to be perfect on PAT attempts all season was Nathan Hazlett (24-of-24) in 2022. The 30 made was the most since Andrew Foster nailed 40 in 2021.
• Morehead State boasted a program record eight student-athletes who earned Academic All-District from the College Sports Communicators last season.
