By NICK McQUEEN

nmcqueen@dailynews.net

Without having much information on its season-opening opponent, New Mexico Highlands University, the Fort Hays State University football team wasn't able to get a good feel for what the Cowboys were going to offer up in Week 1.

A "cat and mouse" style pregame warm-up did nothing but lead to that confusion, and it led to a somewhat dormant Tiger team on both sides of the ball in the first half of Thursday's 44-0 victory.

"Look at the outcome, and if I frown a little bit, people might think I'm crazy,"¬ fourth-year Tiger coach Kevin Verdugo said Monday.

The coach was displeased with how his team started out in the season opener, but given the amount of preparation the Tigers had for their opponent, plus getting better as the game progressed, Verdugo was pleased with the result.

That preparation is something that should change as the Tigers get set for Week 2, a road game at Colorado School of Mines on Saturday. Kickoff is 1 p.m. Central time in Golden, Colo.

Still, it's tough to criticize a Tiger team that held Highlands' spread attack to just 172 total yards and just three rushing yards on the night. Fort Hays (1-0) was one of the better Week 1 defenses in the Mid-America Intercollegiate Athletics Association.

"It wasn't too bad," Verdugo said of the defense in Thursday's opener. "There were some spots where we could have done a little better. It's kind of hard to argue with 172 total yards given up, though."

By the final score alone, the 1-0 start was enough to put the Tigers in the lead, for the time being, in the MIAA. Emporia State University, preseason No. 10 in the conference, put up a similar performance, shutting out Western State (Colo.) College 42-0 in its opener.

"Right now, we're just a much faster football team than we've been in the past,"¬ Verdugo said.¬ "Up front, we've gotten better. We showed that in the second half.

"In the first half, we didn't feel that way," he added.

Offensively, after the slow start, the Tigers posted 349 total yards with 201 coming in the ground game from a combination of backs. The offensive line was one issue Verdugo talked about Monday. It was a facet of the game that improved the most as the game progressed.

"We would have liked the first half to be more crisp, but when you look at everything and take it all into consideration, the lack of information leading up to the game, it probably wasn't that bad," Verdugo said.

Highlands' defensive schemes cause some confusion on the line early on and led to a few sacks on Tiger junior quarterback Mike Garrison.

"Coach got on (them) a little bit and lit a fire under them," Garrison said following the win, speaking of his offensive line. "They came out in the second half and started to do a little work, and we took off from there."

The offensive play got better in the second half, and led to some of that explosiveness the Tigers have been looking for.

"Given a full week of preparation and the guys understanding what they're going to see will help a great deal,"¬ Verdugo said.

The running back combination of juniors Jacobb Irvin and Anthony Dickson was somewhat limited for one half in the opener, but combined for 103 yards. They should provide a solid 1-2 punch as the season progresses. Both backs should see time this week against Mines, a 27-3 victim to MIAA-member Washburn in their opener.

"It keeps those guys fresh,"¬ Verdugo said. "There is no drop off in talent whatsoever if one of those guys leaves the game. The next guy could be just as dangerous, if not more, than the first one."

The Tigers' special teams was the MVP of Week 1. Senior Bryan Haynes' kickoff return of 97 yards for a score to open the second half boosted the Tigers. On Monday, Haynes was honored with the MIAA Special Teams Player of the Week award for the second time in his career. Dickson also set the Tigers up with good field position, averaging 16.5 yards on four punt returns, including a 44-yarder that set up a score.

"I still think there is a lot of room for improvement and we should be able to make some this week," Verdugo said.

Now, the Tigers turn their attention to starting 2-0 for the second straight season, but they'll have to do it on the road. The Tigers haven't won a road contest in 13 tries. The last road win was over Highlands in 2005, a 21-14 win in Verdugo's first season.

"We probably are putting more importance on being 2-0 than we are of the fact it's a road game and winning on the road," Verdugo said. "Anytime you get off to a 2-0 start, that gives you some momentum, then you're coming home for that third one.

"That's a nice situation to be in,"¬ Verdugo added.