ROLLA, Mo. -- Missouri S&T opens its 2019 home schedule and will play a team from the state of California for the first time ever as it hosts Azusa Pacific at Allgood-Bailey Stadium Saturday in a 7 p.m. contest.

Both teams played in the post-season a year ago, as the Miners played in and won the Mineral Water Bowl as part of a season that saw them go 10-2, while Azusa Pacific earned a berth to the NCAA Division II playoffs -- losing in the opening round to eventual national semifinalist Tarleton State -- as the Cougars finished with a mark of 8-3.

However, both teams come into tonight's contest coming off a loss in their season openers, as the Miners dropped a 35-28 decision at Eastern New Mexico and the Cougars -- playing just up the road at West Texas A&M -- lost 35-16 after carrying a lead into the fourth quarter.

In addition to the game Saturday, Missouri S&T's design teams will have projects on display on the perimeter of the parking lot outside the stadium; several of those projects will be brought inside the stadium prior to kickoff.  In addition, new Missouri S&T Chancellor Mo Dehghani will be introduced at halftime and a fireworks display will also take place prior to the start of the second half.

ABOUT THE MINERS:  Missouri S&T racked up 411 yards of total offense -- nearly split right down the middle between its running and passing games -- in the 2019 curtain raiser, but surrendered 472 yards on the ground to Eastern New Mexico's highly-rated rushing attack and wound up on the short end of the 35-28 score.

Brennan Simms (Punta Gorda, FL/Charlotte), making his first collegiate start at quarterback, had a solid performance behind center as he completed 12-of-20 passes for 202 yards and two touchdowns while also running for a score.  Simms had scoring passes of 61 yards to Josh Brown (Gainesville, FL/North Marion HS) and 27 yards to newcomer Cameron Clemons (St. Louis, MO/Lutheran North), as well as a 43-yard completion to Breon Michel (Colorado Springs, CO/Vista Ridge) -- another newcomer to the roster -- to set up a record-tying score.

The record was tied by Deshawn Jones (Olympia Fields, IL/Rich Central), as he finished that drive with a touchdown run that was the 29th of his S&T career to match the mark held by Terry Ryan.  Jones also rushed for 96 yards in the contest and Aaron Moya (Canutillo, TX/Canutillo) finished with 93 as S&T ended the contest with 202 yards on the ground.

Brown and Payton McAlister (Decatur, TX/Decatur) had three catches apiece to lead S&T in that category.

Defensively, the Miners had a tough time slowing down Eastern New Mexico's running attack, as the Greyhounds had all but 31 of their 503 total yards on the ground.  The Miners did force one turnover in the contest, as sophomore linebacker Stefan Camplin (Raytown, MO/Raytown) picked off a pass a play after the Miners had a turnover to stop that drive in its tracks.

Safety Justin Onwugbufor (Maize, KS/Northwest) led the Miners with 16 tackles in the game, while Ryan Kirkendall (Silsbee, TX/Silsbee) recorded 12 stops and Tershawn Wharton (University City, MO/University City) posted nine.  The Miners, who have been among the top teams nationally in tackles for a loss in recent years, had four in the season opener.

ABOUT AZUSA PACIFIC:  The Cougars, who were picked to win the Great Northwest Athletic Conference title this year after capturing the championship last year, carried a lead into the fourth quarter of its season opener last week at West Texas A&M, but were outscored 21-0 in the final 15 minutes in the 35-16 loss.

APU reached the end zone just once in the game, which came on a 23-yard touchdown pass from Tyrone Williams Jr., to Brandon Jackson.  The other Cougar points in the game came on three field goals off the foot of Ramzee Jaridly.

Williams completed 25-of-38 passes for 253 yards, with six of those completions going to Jackson for 63 yards.  Bryce Grandison led APU with seven receptions out of the backfield, but the Cougars struggled to get anything going with its running game last week as it had just 24 net yards on 31 carries.

The Cougar defense allowed 392 yards in the opener with 200 of them coming on the ground.  Much of that damage came after the Jackson touchdown that gave Azusa Pacific a 16-7 lead, as the Buffaloes racked up 233 yards on four straight touchdown drives immediately following that score.

Ben Sukut led the Cougars with 10 tackles in the contest and recorded APU's lone quarterback sack, while linebacker Micah Roth finished with six stops.