The setup
- The Hornets finished 5-6 in the MIAA in 2025 - a season that produced a 50-14 statement win at Missouri Western and a 22-56 mugging at Central Oklahoma inside the same three weeks.
- The finale was the punch to the gut: a 7-13 rock-fight loss at Welch Stadium to Fort Hays State that ended the year one win short of .500.
- Year two of the current build opens Thursday, August 27 on the road at Minot State - the same team Emporia State beat 27-7 to start the 2025 slate.
Last season
Five and six. That is the number, and if you want the ten-second version of the 2025 Emporia State season, that is it. The Hornets started 1-0, stumbled to 1-3, climbed back to 4-4, and closed on a 1-2 run that felt exactly like it looked. A middle-of-the-MIAA year, in the middle of a rebuild, with enough good tape on it to be interesting.
The best day of the year came October 4 in St. Joseph. Emporia State hung 50 on Missouri Western and won by 36, 50-14. That is not a quiet win - that is the kind of road result a program uses in recruiting videos. The next weekend the Hornets came home to Welch Stadium and beat Missouri Southern 31-24 to get to 3-3, and for about a week the vibe in Emporia was as good as it had been all year.
Then October 18 happened. Central Oklahoma 56, Emporia State 22. Not a hidden-margin loss, not a one-play loss - the Broncos took the Hornets behind the woodshed in Edmond. That is the game that stuck with the offense for a while.
To their credit, the Hornets got back up. A 31-27 road win at Central Missouri the next weekend, and they were back to 4-4 with three games to play. Then Northwest Missouri (14-41 at home) and Fort Hays (7-13 at home) sandwiched a very good 45-17 road win at Washburn - and that is how you finish 5-6 instead of 7-4 or 3-8.
| Date | Opponent | Result |
|---|---|---|
| Aug 28 | Minot State | W 27-7 |
| Sep 7 | at Angelo State | L 20-41 |
| Sep 20 | at Nebraska-Kearney | L 20-34 |
| Sep 27 | Pittsburg State | L 29-42 |
| Oct 4 | at Missouri Western | W 50-14 |
| Oct 11 | Missouri Southern | W 31-24 |
| Oct 18 | at Central Oklahoma | L 22-56 |
| Oct 25 | at Central Missouri | W 31-27 |
| Nov 1 | Northwest Missouri | L 14-41 |
| Nov 8 | at Washburn | W 45-17 |
| Nov 15 | Fort Hays State | L 7-13 |
If you want the full ugly on the finale, we already wrote it up here. The short version: the offense scored one touchdown, in November, at home, in a rivalry game. That is the film you open camp with.
This season
The 2026 slate is eleven games and it has a very specific shape: three of the toughest tests on the sheet are the exact three teams that beat the Hornets by three touchdowns or more a year ago.
It opens Thursday, August 27 on the road at Minot State - a rematch of the game Emporia State won 27-7 to open 2025. Then it is straight into rivalry week on September 5 at Pittsburg State, the Fall Classic. The Hornets lost that one 29-42 at home last year. Winning it in Pittsburg would flip the narrative for the program in a way a September win normally does not.
Michigan Tech visits Welch Stadium September 12 as the lone non-conference opponent after that. From there it is nothing but MIAA:
- Sep 19 - Nebraska-Kearney at home (lost 20-34 on the road last year)
- Oct 3 - Missouri Western at home (won 50-14 on the road last year; now the Griffons get their shot in Emporia)
- Oct 10 - at Missouri Southern
- Oct 17 - Central Oklahoma at home. The 22-56. In Welch. Circle it.
- Oct 24 - Central Missouri at home
- Oct 31 - at Northwest Missouri, the toughest trip on the sheet every single year
- Nov 7 - Washburn at home, the Turnpike Tussle
- Nov 14 - at Fort Hays State to close the year
Our read: this team should be favored to open 2-0 (Minot State is a get-right opener, and the Pittsburg game was a home loss the Hornets can absolutely un-do in Pittsburg). The three-week stretch from October 17 through October 31 - Central Oklahoma, then Central Missouri, then at Northwest Missouri - is where the season is decided. Split those and 8-3 is real. Go 1-2 and it is another 5-6-ish year.
The best measure of this season will not be the record. It will be whether the offense can string together four full quarters in November, because the last two Emporia State seasons have ended with the same problem: the Hornets get to Fort Hays week and cannot score.
One more thing worth flagging on the roster side: our Tyler Hagler-to-Emporia piece is the kind of quiet Texas-to-Kansas D-II pipeline story that moves the roster year over year. Not a "he will start Week 1" take - a "this is what a healthy MIAA rebuild actually looks like" take.
Our take
Bold call, offense: The Hornets hit 30+ points in five games this year, one more than 2025. Last year's four 30-point games (50, 45, 31, 31) were enough to win each of them - it was the four blowout losses that sank the record. If the ceiling stays and the floor comes up a level, that is a winning year.
Bold call, schedule: Emporia State flips the Fort Hays finale on the road. The 7-13 last November needed a receipt, and a road win in Hays in Week 12 is the kind of game a program cites for the next three years.
Bold call, record: 7-4. That means a split of the Central Oklahoma / Central Missouri / at Northwest Missouri gauntlet, holding serve at Welch Stadium, and stealing exactly one game the Hornets were not "supposed to" get. Doable, not easy.
The season opens August 27 in Minot. Get your picks in.