Game Notes in PDF FormatCANYON, Texas – The West Texas A&M football team returns to the road Saturday evening at 7 p.m. at Texas A&M-Kingsville. WT is looking to snap a three-game losing skid and enters with a 2-4 record overall and a 1-3 mark in Lone Star Conference play. TAMUK is 1-6 overall and 0-4 in league play.
INSIDE THE LSC STANDINGS - Midwestern State and Texas A&M-Commerce are tied atop the LSC standings heading into the fourth Saturday of October as TAMUC has a 5-0 record and MSU stands at 4-0 in conference play. The two teams play Saturday for the outright lead in the standings. Angelo State and Eastern New Mexico are tied for third with 2-2 record, followed by the Buffs at 1-3, Tarleton State at 1-4 and TAMUK at 0-4. There are (at most) two conference games left before the LSC playoff. The top four teams in the playoff will play each other with the higher seed hosting Nov. 7. The winners will play Nov. 14 for the LSC Championship and the losers will play for third. The second half of the bracket will feature the No. 5-seed playing at Oklahoma Panhandle State the first week and No. 6 hosting No. 7. The following week, OPSU will be on the road playing the 6/7 loser and the 6/7 winner will play at No. 5.
THE SERIES - Texas A&M-Kingsville leads the all-time series 16-12-1. WT has won the last four games in the series and eight of the past 10. WT won its last meeting in Kingsville in 2013 with a 69-7 victory. The Buffs are 5-7 all-time in Kingsville and 4-8 at home since 1946, and are 2-0 in neutral site matchups winning two games at the Lone Star Football Festival in 2011 and 2012.
JACK FM - This season marks the second year with radio partner in Townsquare Media and 98.7 KPRF "Jack FM." With the partnership, the Buffs have the opportunity to put more sports on the air along with football and basketball. Select volleyball, baseball and softball games also will be broadcast in 2015-16. Neil Horn and Brice Sheets are still calling the action of every home-and-away football game for the Buffs this season.
COACHES' SHOW RETURNING TO BUFFALO WILD WINGS - The 2015 WT Football Coaches' Show with head coach
Mike Nesbitt and Brice Sheets returns to Buffalo Wild Wings on Coulter in Amarillo this year. The show will be Thursday evenings at 6:30 p.m. throughout the season with live giveaways, prizes and more! The show will be broadcast on 98.7 KPRF Jack FM each week.
HOW TO CATCH THE GAME - Links to live stats, ticket information and streaming are on the football schedule page at www.gobuffsgo.com.
A WIN OVER TEXAS A&M-KINGSVILLE WOULD. . .- Give WT a 3-4 record on the year and a 2-3 mark in the Lone Star Conference
- Be the 498th win in program history (497-495-22)
- Be the second straight win in Kingsville, tying the longest consecutive road winning streak there
- Bet the fifth straight victory over the Javelinas dating back to Sept. 17, 2011
- Give head coach Mike Nesbitt a 3-0 record against TAMUK
- Be the fifth win on Oct. 24 giving WT a 5-6 record on that date
FIVE THINGS TO WATCH ON SATURDAY - There are a lot of interesting story lines in Saturday's game. Here are a few things to watch.
- WT senior running back Geremy Alridge-Mitchell is second in the LSC in rushing at 129.0 yards per game ranking 23rd nationally
- Texas A&M-Kingsville has the third and fourth-ranked receivers in the league as Anthony Autry averages 85.1 yards per game and Jordan Thomas averages 74.7. Both have combined for 57 catches for 1,119 yards and 10 touchdowns as the Javelinas have the third-best pass offense in the league at 259.6 yards per game ranking 46th nationally
- The game features two of the top field goal kickers in the league in WT junior Conner Hollabaugh (7 of 9) and Julio De la Garza of TAMUK at 5 of 7.
- TAMUK leads the league and is 37th nationally in passing defense allowing just 176.3 yards per game
- The game features two De(a)vonte(ae)s who are in the top three in the league in interceptions as WT junior Davontae Merriweather leads the league with three INTs for 45 yards and touchdown for an 0.5 average per game, while TAMUK's Devonte Williams also has three picks on the year. Merriweather ranks 35th nationally while Williams is 42nd at 0.43 per game.
PLAY THE BEST TO BE THE BEST - WT has had arguably the toughest schedule in all of NCAA Division II this season as the Buffs have played five ranked opponents in the first six games of the season. Last week was no exception as the Buffs played #14 Texas A&M-Commerce. This season, WT has faced #19 Azusa Pacific, #2 Colorado State-Pueblo, #6 Angelo State and #12 Midwestern State and the #14 Lions last week.
THE COACHES - West Texas A&M head coach Mike Nesbitt begins his third season at the helm of the program as he took over Aug. 21, 2013. Nesbitt was the interim head coach all of 2013 and was elevated to head coach in December following that season. He is 19-12 in his career as a head coach.
Texas A&M-Kingsville head coach Daren Wilkinson is in his first season at the helm of the Javelinas. Wilkinson comes to Kingsville from Colorado State-Pueblo where he helped lead the Thunderwolves to a national championship last season as the offensive coordinator. Wilkinson also has had stints at South Dakota State, Fayetteville (N.C.), Eastern Arizona and served as a graduate assistant at Colorado State.
ON THIS DAY - WT is 4-6 all-time on Oct. 24 since 1946. The Buffs won their last matchup on Oct. 24 with a 43-15 victory over Angelo State in 2009 in Canyon. WT is 1-4 on the road on this date and 3-2 at home. In the past six meetings, WT is 3-3 on Oct. 24. The Buffs and Javelinas have played once on this date with TAMUK winning 43-21 in Kingsville in 1998.
PAYE DAY - Junior running back
Devon Paye had a strong game against #14 Texas A&M-Commerce Saturday as he led the team in rushing with 46 yards on 14 carries and scored his first touchdown as a Buff. It was his first game running the ball as he played special teams in his first three games played this season.
RHONE RETURNING - Senior
Jarrian Rhone had 62 kickoff return yards Saturday versus #14 Texas A&M-Commerce, including a long of 35 which was the longest of the season. Rhone has seven kick returns for 152 yards this season and leads the team averaging 21.7 yards per return.
GEREMY CARRIES - Senior running back
Geremy Alridge-Mitchell had a career-high 40 carries for 189 yards and a touchdown Oct. 10 at Midwestern State. The 40 carries is the most in school history surpassing 38 set by Eugene Morris versus Western Michigan on Nov. 9, 1968. Alridge-Mitchell's previous career-best was 32 set last season versus Midwestern State.
HOLLABAUGH TIMES TWO - For the first time this season, junior kicker
Conner Hollabaugh had two made field goals in one game. Last season, he had seven games with multiple made field goals. Hollabaugh is 7 of 9 in field goals this season and is a perfect 20 of 20 in extra-points. Last season Hollabaugh was 17 of 19 in field goals and 48 of 50 in extra-points. He finished last season as a Fred Mitchell Award Finalist and, for his career, is 24-28 in field goals and 68 of 70 in extra points for 140 career points. Hollabaugh needs 52 points to move into the top 10 all-time in scoring in school history.
CAREER GEREMY - Senior
Geremy Alridge-Mitchell has had an outstanding senior season for the Buffs. He rushed for a career-best 236 yards rushing against Tarleton State this season (Sept. 19) and set a school-record for carries in a game with 40 at then-No. 12 Midwestern State (Oct. 10). This season, he leads the team in rushing yards at 774 ranking second in the LSC at 129.0 yards per game and 12th nationally. For his career, Alridge-Mitchell ranks fifth all-time in school history with 2,859 rushing yards on 525 attempts. He is fifth all-time in scoring with 266 career points on 44 touchdowns and one two-point conversion. He needs just one touchdown to move into fourth all-time surpassing Charly Martin (2004-2008) who has 270 points. Alridge-Mitchell needs 529 yards on the ground to tie Eugene Morris (1966-68) for fourth all-time in rushing at 3,388 yards.
STRONG FOOTED PARRA - Junior punter
Felipe Parra has gotten off to a great start this season as he has 41 punts for 1747 yards for a 42.6 average. He has hit a long of 62 and has two touchbacks, nine fair catches, 13 punts inside the 20 and nine over 50 yards. As a team, the Buffs are sixth nationally in net punting at 38.86 per punt which is first in the LSC. Parra is 11th in the nation with a 42.6 average. Parra had a career-best 48.4 average with seven punts for 339 yards against #14 Texas A&M-Commerce Saturday.
ACCURATE BRINKLEY - Sophomore quarterback
Ethan Brinkley is seventh nationally in completion percentage at 66.9. He is 19th in completions per game at 22.60. Brinkley is 113 of 169 with six interceptions and six touchdowns on the year, while throwing for 1,116 yards..
NATIONALLY SPEAKING - The Buffs are second nationally on 4th down conversion defense at 0.111 which leads the conference. They are 14th nationally in completion percentage at 0.6444, sixth in net punting at 38.86, 37th in passes intercepted with nine, 20th in punt return defense (3.75), 41st in punt returns (12.50) and 20th in team tackles for loss (8.3). Individually, senior
Geremy Alridge-Mitchell is seventh in all-purpose yards at 180.50, 24th in rushing touchdowns (9), 23rd in rushing yards (774), 12th in rushing yards per game (129.0) and 25th in scoring at 10.0 per game. Junior kicker
Conner Hollabaugh is 27th in field goals made per game (1.17) and 28th in field goal percentage at a .778 clip.
STRONG DEFENSIVELY - WT sophomore
Trevor Myklebust is 30th nationally in total tackles at 10.3 which leads the LSC. Sophomore
Hunter Streuling is 36th nationally and second in the LSC at 10.2, while junior
Davontae Merriweather is third in the LSC at 8.7 ranking 82nd nationally.
ABOUT TEXAS A&M-KINGSVILLE - The Javelinas are playing better football as the season as progressed under first year head coach Daren Wilkinson. TAMUK had a great shot at a signature win for Wilkinson last weekend as then-No. 25 Angelo State scored a touchdown with 11 seconds left to win 39-34 after trailing 34-33 with just over a minute remaining. Despite the loss, the Javelinas have dropped their last two games by a combined nine points. TAMUK is led this season on the ground by Shawn Vasquez who has 354 yards rushing on 82 carries with three scores. Greg Pitre is second with 221 yards on the ground on 50 carries. Behind Center, Myle Carr leads the way playing in all seven games as he is 114 of 200 with 13 touchdowns and nine interceptions averaging 236.9 yards per game. Trey Mitchell has played in six games, while Stevie Joe Dorman has seen action in three games. Anthony Autry leads the team averaging 85.1 yards per game with 596 yards on 30 catches and a team-high six touchdowns. Jordan Thomas is second on the team at 74.7 yards per game as he has 27 catches for 523 yards and four scores. Defensively, the Javelinas are led by Zemarcus Green who has 47 total tackles with 1.5 tackles for loss and one sack. Brandon Jones leads the team with 6.5 tackles for loss and Alex Kyuinu and Jones each have a team-high two sacks on the year. Devonte Williams has a team-best three interceptions. The Javelinas are averaging 27.4 points per game, allowing 34.1, while averaging 388 yards of total offense and allowing 397.4 per game.
BUFFS FIFTH IN PRESEASON LSC POLL - The Buffs were picked fifth in the 2015 preseason LSC poll which was released at Media Day on July 28. Angelo State was picked first, followed by Texas A&M-Commerce, Midwestern State, Tarleton State, the Buffs, Eastern New Mexico and Texas A&M-Kingsville.
