By RANDY GONZALES

rgonzales@dailynews.net

The Fort Hays State University football team ventures off into the unknown again this week.

The Tigers beat Western State (Colo.) College 45-20 in both teams' season opener last week. This week, Fort Hays faces East Central (Okla.) University -- another school in its opener.

"It scares me to death," Fort Hays coach Kevin Verdugo said of playing East Central, which didn't win a game last year, going 0-11.

"They're going to be a good football team," Verdugo said. "I know they had some struggles last year, but go look at their two-deep -- there aren't too many who were there last year.

"Those guys probably don't care about last year, don't know," Verdugo added. "They're good football players. Some of them had opportunities to play at big-time places."

Junior newcomer Tyler Vanderzee, all 6-foot-6, and 230 pounds of him, is listed on the first string at quarterback on East Central's depth chart, replacing senior Josh Phillips. Phillips threw for 1,273 yards last year, completing 49 percent of his passes, with 11 touchdowns and 11 interceptions. Vanderzee played the last two seasons in junior college in California. In the 2008 California championship game, Vanderzee threw for 274 yards and three TDs.

On the offensive line, ECU coach Tim McCarty brought in a pair of transfers who are listed as starters -- 315-pound left tackle Carlos Savala and 300-pound junior right tackle Rodney Picou.

ECU also returns all-conference junior wide receiver Zack Patteson, who had a team-high 36 catches for 436 yards and six TDs last season.

Expected to help the running game is junior Charles Opeseyitan, a transfer from University of Tulsa who ran for 355 yards in 2008 for the Golden Hurricane.

"They were multiple offense" in 2009, Verdugo said. "They'll be under center a fair amount. They'll get in the gun a little bit to throw the football. They're not in the gun like we are all the time."

Fort Hays rolled up 543 yards of total offense against Western State, the most since the 2004 season.

Of that, 295 yards were on the ground, led by a 100-yard performance from senior QB Mike Garrison. Garrison also threw for 248 yards and two TDs.

The Tiger defense allowed 250 yards in total offense, including 33 yards rushing on 28 attempts.

For ECU in its 3-4 defense, another junior college transfer -- junior cornerback Dontae Smith -- was a two-time All-American at Reedley College in California.

McCarty begins his second year in his second stint as the head coach at ECU. He coached there in 2004 and 2005 before becoming offensive line coach at Kansas State University.