Ada — An East Central University football team hasn’t been in front on the scoreboard at the end of any game since Week 8 of the 2008 season. But even though their losing streak is at 14 after last week’s season-opening 45-23 loss at Fort Hays State, the Tigers are definitely ahead of the game heading into Saturday’s (6 p.m.) home opener against fifth-ranked Texas A&M-Kingsville.

For the first time since beating NAIA rival Bacone back in 2005, ECU was competitive in a season opener. Head coach Tim McCarty, seeking to correct many of the shortcomings of last year’s 0-11 squad in one impressive recruiting class, rebuilt his offense this fall, and changes for the better were apparent across the board.

The Tigers — who were outscored, 202-33, by their previous four Week 1 opponents — trailed just 31-21 late in the third quarter last week, and their offense already appears to be light years ahead of where it was at any time in 2009.

While ECU’s 357 yards in total offense against Fort Hays were more than the Tigers amassed in any game last year, the numbers within the numbers were encouraging as well.

The 23 points were just eight fewer than ECU scored in its first SIX games combined last fall, and, although the Tigers gained just 81 yards on the ground against Fort Hays, that total was a step forward when compared to the 82 they registered in their first two games combined last fall. In fact, ECU’s ground game — which averaged an anemic 63 yards per outing a year ago — didn’t account for more than 76 yards in a game until Week 8 of the 2009 season.

Quarterback Tyler Vanderzee, a 6-6 junior college transfer, had one of the most impressive debuts for any signal-caller in school history, completing 20 of 31 passes for 276 yards, two touchdowns and no interceptions, and junior wideout Zack Patteson — the team’s only returning first-team All-LSC North selection — had a huge game with eight receptions for 132 yards and a touchdown.

But for all the pluses, ECU lost for the 44th time in the program’s last 54 games, and, in the end, McCarty said that is the only statistic that really matters.

“I was happy because, No. 1, we went out there and competed against a really good football team that is probably going to win seven or nine games,” he said. “We just couldn’t get over the hump.

“I was pleased to see some big plays offensively — I hadn’t seen a big play in a year,” McCarty added. “I was happy to see our quarterback complete 20 of 31 passes for 271 yards and two touchdowns, and I was happy that we didn’t have a turnover. But We’re not happy with the performance we had the first week because we didn’t get a win, and we’re facing another quality team this week.”

Kingsville is coming off the first big upset of the 2010 Division II football season, last Thursday’s 16-7 win over defending national champion (and preseason No. 1) Northwest Missouri State. The Javelinas — one of five Lone Star Conference South Division teams ranked in the top 11 in the latest D2 poll — gave up just 194 yards in that win, and junior quarterback Nate Poppell (who, like Vanderzee, was making his first start at the Division II level) completed 26 of 38 passes for 258 yards and a touchdown.

“I didn’t see any weak links on the film I saw,” McCarty said when asked to size up Saturday’s opponent. “They’re a well-coached team, they’re fast, and they’re physical. They smothered Northwest Missouri. They’re dynamic on defense.

“They’re going to throw it and have a balanced attack,” he added. “I wouldn’t say they’re similar to us offensively, but they’re similar to us in that they want to be balanced.”

McCarty said that in addition to getting a glimpse of his team’s big-play potential on offense, he was encouraged by the overall performance of Vanderzee in his ECU debut.

“He wasn’t perfect by any means — he missed several reads and several opportunities — but I was very happy with his demeanor and his production during the game,” McCarty said. “I was happy with no picks and two touchdowns. I would consider that a step forward for us.”

Defensively, though, the rebuilt Tiger secondary was repeatedly victimized by Fort Hays quarterback Mike Garrison, who totaled 358 passing yards on just 16 completions and directed an offense that finished with 513 total yards.

“(The secondary) is definitely one of the areas we’re looking a” McCarty noted. “On one touchdown, we had a busted coverage; on two others (cornerback) Dontae Smith was in perfect coverage and their quarterback made a perfect throw.

“Anything that showed up Saturday is fixable, and that’s the good news,” he said. “We just have to continue to stay focused and move the program forward. We weren’t ‘out-athleted’. Fort Hays had some big-time receivers, and if the quarterback is putting the ball in a perfect spot, it just looks worse than it was.”

ECU has won just three of 16 previous meetings with TAMUK, and the Tigers will be a decided underdog again Saturday. McCarty said, however, that the showdown with the Javelinas is simply another chance for his young squad to show that it has truly awakened from its nightmare 2009 season.

“The way our organization is approaching it is that it’s simply another opportunity,” he explained. “We have a chance to play another ball game — a game against an opponent we have great respect for — and with that we have a chance to get better.

“We’re looking at ourselves non-stop saying ‘how do we take the next step as a program?’,” McCarty said. “Last year we were just looking for a positive play; last week we found ourselves in a dogfight to win a tough game. If we can correct the errors we made last week and solidify the things we’ve done well, we’ll take another step forward.”