The Murray State Racers opened their 53^rd season at Roy Stewart Stadium Saturday and fell 45-24 to the Southeastern Louisiana Lions in Murray, Kentucky.
 
The Racers (0-2) opened their 53^rd season at Stewart Stadium with the program's ninth game of 15,000 or more attendance, with the announced crowd of 15,023 on a lovely Saturday evening on Murray State University's popular annual Family Weekend.
 
The Racers hit the road next Saturday (Sept. 13) for a game against the Georgia State Panthers in a 6 p.m. Central Time game at enter Parc Stadium in Atlanta.
 
After falling behind 7-0, the Racers got their second interception in as many games by Bryan Pulley to give the ball to the Racers at the MSU 20. The Racers drove 80 yards in 10 plays and scored on Jordan Washington's 21-yard run, his first scoring run as a Racer with 3:31 left in the first quarter.
 
The Racers added the second field goal of the season from Jack Tannehill with 10:26 before half from 30-yards to cut the SELA lead to 14-10.
 
With 14:16 left in the game, the Racers scored their second touchdown of the game on a Jim Ogle to Cam Bullock 37-yard pass and they tacked on Jewaun Northington's first TD run of the season of 1-yard with 8:49 remaining.
 
Game Notes

• Captains for the Racers were (0) Kobe Roberts (DL, Sr.), (6) Shadon Shannon (CB, Sr., Chicago, Ill.), (12) Lucas Desjardins (WR, Sr., Houston, Texas).
• Murray State won the coin toss and deferred possession to the start of the second half.
• After getting 18 tackles last week against ETSU, Dylan Rowsey had 10 at halftime today and ended the game with 17.
• Rowsey's total through two games is 35 which leads the Missouri Valley Football Conference with an average of 17.5 per game.
• Conlee Crossno had eight tackles for the Racers with one tackle for loss and sack.
• After Bryan Pulley made his first Racer interception in the first quarter, the Racers now have a pair of picks in the first two games of the season.
• At ETSU in the season opener last week, Brooks Esplin made MSU's first interception of the 2025 season.
• The Racers had 30 yards rushing after the first quarter, just four yards shy of their game last week at ETSU.
• MSU ended the day with a respectable 121 yards on the ground on 29 carries.
• Jewaun Northington led the Racers with 59 yards on 19 carries
• Darius Cannon had nine catches for 73 yards, while Cam Bulluck made four catches with one touchdown.
• MSU QB Jim Ogle hit on 25-of-39 passes for 254 yards with one touchdown pass and a pair of interceptions.
• The Racers and Lions met for the third time in their histories and Southeastern has now won all three games.
• MSU's attendance of 15,023 marks the ninth time Racer Nation has shown up with more than 15K in the stands and the first since 2023 when the Racers and Southern Illinois played in front of 15,868.
• The 15,023 is the third-largest crowd in Stewart Stadium's 53 seasons that wasn't on homecoming.
• The other two non-homecoming games came in 1995 when MSU and Eastern Kentucky played in front of 15,711 and in 1974, MSU hosted Western Kentucky with 15,200 in the stands.
• MSU now gets ready for three-straight road games with their open date in the middle before they come home to face Illinois State on Oct. 11.
• Before today's game, MSU Football legends, Rick Fisher and Jack Wolf, were honored with the retirement of their jerseys, No. 31 and No. 81.
• Teammates at Murray State in the late 1960s and early 1970s, Fisher was inducted into the MSU Hall of Fame in 1981 and Wolf was included in 2024.
• MSU's game in Atlanta next weekend against Georgia State marks just the second meeting between the Racers and Panthers.
• MSU won the first meeting at the Georgia Dome in 2011 by a score of 48-24.

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