No. 5 Angelo State travels to unfamiliar opponent in West Alabama to start season
With the college football season underway for many colleges across the nation, the No. 5 Angelo State Rams travel to West Alabama for their first game of the season on Thursday, Aug. 31.
ANGELO STATE AT WEST ALABAMA
When: Thursday, 6 p.m.
Where: Tiger Stadium, Livingston, Alabama.
2022 Records: Angelo State 12-1; West Alabama 5-6
Last year's results: Angelo State finished first in the Lone Star Conference last year and beat No. 4 Bemidji State at home in its first playoff game. Angelo State lost the next week in the quarterfinals to the Colorado School of Mines 42-24. A team the Rams beat 30-27 in overtime earlier in the season.
The West Alabama Tigers lost to No. 12 Delta State 17-7 in the opening round of the playoffs on the road in Cleveland, Mississippi.
More: Angelo State football favored to repeat as champions and LSC media day highlights
Series: This is the first matchup between Angelo State and West Alabama.
Broadcast: Audio — Listen on the radio at 101.9 KWFR-FM or on the KWFR app starting at 5:30 p.m.; Streaming — flofootball.com
What to know — The Rams are coming off their most successful season in years under coach Girsch. They finished last season with the No. 3 overall defense in Division II. They come into this season as the No. 5-ranked team in Division II and recently announced graduate student Gerald Gardner as the starting quarterback ahead of Thursday's matchup. Gardner replaces Zach Bronkhorst who was under center for the Rams for the past three seasons. Gardner has some Division II experience and was an All-American player at Lake Erie where he threw for more than 3,000 yards and 22 touchdowns last season.
The Rams expect their defense to be just as good if not better this season with many of their star players returning such as Eric Roscoe who led the team with 69 total tackles while also tallying two sacks and two interceptions.
"What I look forward to the most is just seeing what we're about and seeing what kind of team we're going to be this year," Roscoe said. "I have a pretty good idea, but you never know until you put it on film."
For Girsch, last season was a stepping stone in the right direction toward building a consistent contender for a national championship.
"It's about being laser-focused on what you're trying to accomplish," Girsch said. "That's something that we want to keep in our system and our culture. We talk about winning the day all the time here and pulling the rope ... which means being a good teammate, you know, being there for each other and making sure everybody's pulling the rope in the same direction."
More: Angelo State baseball defeats Rollins, wins first NCAA Division II National Championship
This article originally appeared on San Angelo Standard-Times: College Football: Angelo State Travels to West Alabama for opener
