MURRAY, Ky. – For the first time in 10 seasons, Campbellsville University took on an NCAA Division I opponent Saturday evening. The memory is one the Fighting Tigers hope to put far behind them by the time the season resumes in two weeks after Murray State University rewrote its scoring record book in an 83-14 win over the Tigers on Senior Day at Roy Stewart Stadium.

BOX SCORE

"It was a difficult night. We knew we would have our back against the wall. We knew it was going to be a tough battle, and the hope was you come in and compete and stay healthy. There's nothing we could have done to make it better other than maybe make a few more first downs early to keep the score down," said Perry Thomas, CU head coach.

An interception on the first play from scrimmage set the tone and the Racers quickly jumped out to a 7-0 lead. An hour later, Murray State had run the score up to 41-0 in the first quarter, the most points ever allowed by CU in an opening quarter.

Though the game was out of reach, Campbellsville battled to find the end zone twice before halftime.

Down 62-0, Campbellsville quickly worked its way down field in 43 seconds on three plays. Senior quarterback Bryan Parnes found Trevon Chatman on an 80-yard pass to set up the first score. Chatman was forced out of bounds at the one, and then Jarrod Harrington caught the short touchdown pass for his first score on offense this season. Will Ward's kick, cut the deficit to 62-7 with 6:18 to play in the half.

Parnes' set up pass to Chatman tied for the third-longest pass in Fighting Tiger history, as Chatman joined Shane Riley and teammate Demytreus Gipson as the only CU players with an 80-plus yard reception in their career.

"At that point we could have easily been folding our tent," Thomas said. "Our guys didn't quit. They kept shooting. Our coaches kept coaching and taking the chances on the deep balls and the stunts. I thought that was the key and hitting that kind of pass showed we continued to fight."

Continue to fight they did, as Parnes marched CU down field again on the ensuing drive after the Tiger defense forced Murray State's second punt of the day. This time, the four-play drive lasted a minute and 20 seconds, as Parnes was 5-for-7 passing for 64 yards. He capped the drive with 6-yard run and dive into the end zone with 2:35 left in the half.

At halftime, Murray led Campbellsville, 62-14 – the most single-half points scored in Racer history and most allowed in a half by the Tigers.

Murray scored on its second and third possessions of the third quarter to take an 83-16 lead, breaking the Racer's record for most points in a game and CU's record for most points allowed. Both teams agreed to a shortened, six-minute fourth quarter to close out the game.

The Racers saw three quarterbacks, eight rushers and 13 receivers in the game led by starting QB Maikhail Miller, who threw for 232 yards and three touchdowns on 17-of-21 passing. Marcus Holliday led the ground game with 131 yards rushing and two TDs on 18 carries, while Jeremy Harness had 53 yards and a TD on two catches and Walter Powell caught three passes for 50 yards and two touchdowns.

Parnes started under center for CU and played most of the game at QB, completing 17-of-33 passes with a touchdown and two first-quarter interceptions. He had 204 yards passing and -12 yards rushing. Chatman led CU's offense with 149 yards receiving on six catches. The Tigers also got their first look at redshirt freshman Tajh Milliken at quarterback, who was 3-of-10 passing for 36 yards and had 30 yards rushing.

Steven Delgado led the CU defense with 11 tackles, followed by eight each from Beau Biller and Dekwain Tarrance, who also had a forced fumble.

Sophomore punter Erik Krivitsky may be the Tiger who had the most touches on the night, punting 12 times for 419 yards, both career highs. His 12 punts ties Chris Kidwell for the most in by a CU punter in a single game, set in 1992 at the University of Findlay.

Campbellsville (0-2) will have an off week Sept. 14 before opening Mid-South Conference West Division play Sept. 21 at Bethel University.

"We're excited to get started in conference play," Thomas said. "We're going to back to work and this is going to be a great year for us."

Kickoff at Bethel's Wildcat Stadium in McKenzie, Tenn., is scheduled for 7 p.m. EDT.