Game Notes in PDF Format

CANYON, Texas  –  The Buffs head down Highway 287 to face No. 12 Midwestern State in a key Lone Star Conference matchup Saturday evening in Wichita Falls, Texas.  Kickoff is scheduled for 7 p.m. as the Buffs enter with a 2-2 record and a 1-1 mark in conference play, while MSU is 5-0 and 3-0 in league play.  
 
THE SERIES - WT leads the all-time series 16-12 and has won the past two meetings, including a 19-12 victory in Wichita Falls Nov. 16, 2013.  WT is 9-4 all-time on the road against the Mustangs and 7-8 at home.  The Buffs have outscored MSU 722-647 in the 28 meetings.  Prior to the 2013 matchup, MSU had won three of the last four to that point.  WT head coach Mike Nesbitt is 2-0 against MSU and MSU head coach Bill Maskill is 6-7 against the Buffs since he was hire in 2002. 
 
HIGHWAY 287 CHALLENGE - This is the third year of the Highway 287 Challenge at the Buffs won the previous two year-long challenges between the two programs in 2013-14 and 2014-15.  This season, the series is tied 1-1 as WT won in volleyball 3-2 at MSU and the Mustangs won 3-1 also in Wichita Falls in women's soccer so far.  The Highway 287 Challenge is a points-based competition between the two schools in select regular season and postseason competitions.  Football is a critical sport as the winner gains two points for their respective school.  Most sports are one point for the winner except for women's cross country, along with men's and women's golf.
 
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 MIDWESTERN STATE WOULD. . .

• Give WT a 3-2 record on the year and a 2-1 mark in the Lone Star Conference
• Give WT a 17-12 lead all-time in the series against MSU and a 10-4 record in Wichita Falls
• Give WT a 3-1 lead in the Highway 287 Challenge
• Be the third-straight win in Wichita Falls marking the longest road winning streak in the series since winning the first six road meetings from 1948-1998
• Be the 498th win in program history (497-493-22)
• Be the second win over a ranked team for the Buffs this season (1-2)

 
ON THIS DAY - WT is 5-4 all-time in Oct. 10 since 1946.  The Buffs are 2-1 at home on this date and 3-3 on the road.  The last game on Oct. 10 was in 2009 with a 34-24 home victory over Eastern New Mexico.
 
NATIONAL RANKINGS VS MIDWESTERN STATE - The last six games in the series have featured a ranked Midwestern State team against the Buffs.  Last season, the Mustangs were ranked 25th and WT won 34-13 in Canyon, the year before MSU was 24th and WT was 25th in 2013 when the Buffs won 19-12 in Wichita Falls.  In 2012, MSU was 10 and WT was 12th with MSU winning 52-48 in Canyon.  MSU was ranked fifth in 2011 in a 35-21 MSU victory.  In 2010, both teams were ranked with WT winning 42-29. In 2009, MSU was ranked 23rd and won 31-19.  WT was ranked in the '08 meeting as the lone-ranked team winning 42-14. 
 
PLAY THE BEST TO BE THE BEST - Saturday's matchup with No. 12 Midwestern State will be the fourth meeting with a ranked team this season.  The Buffs are 1-2 in games against ranked teams so far and potentially could play five of their first six games against ranked teams with No. 15 Texas A&M-Commerce coming to town next week.
 
INSIDE THE LSC STANDINGS - Heading into this weekend's games, the Mustangs and Texas A&M-Commerce lead the way in the league standings each with a 3-0 record.  Angelo State and the Buffs are 1-1, while Eastern New Mexico is 1-2.  Either Tarleton State or Texas A&M-Kingsville will get its first conference win this week as the two battle in Kingsville, while TAMUC hosts Angelo State.  ENMU is at Bacone this week in a non-conference matchup.  A WT win over MSU would keep the Buffs within striking distance of the regular season championship. 
 
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 19-9 in his career as a head coach.  Midwestern State head coach Bill Maskill is in his 14th season at the helm of the Mustangs.  He has a 106-41 record making him the winningest coach at Midwestern State both in terms of total wins and winning percentage while reaching the NCAA Division II postseason in 2004, 2006, 2009, 2011 and 2012.
 
RECAPPING LAST WEEK - The Buffs ran into a very focused No. 6 Angelo State team two weeks ago on Homecoming as the Rams handed WT a 35-17 setback.  In the game, LSC Preseason Player of the Year Kyle Washington ran for 124 yards and scored two touchdowns, while throwing for 376 yards on 34 of 49.  The loss snapped a nine-game winning streak over ASU by the Buffs and was the first loss on Homecoming for WT since 2004.  Senior Geremy Alridge-Mitchell had 99 yards rushing on 13 carries, while sophomore quarterback Ethan Brinkley passed for 211 yards on 25 of 36 with one interception and one touchdown.  Defensively, the Buffs were led by junior Davontae Merriweather with 18 tackles and 0.5 tackles for loss.  Merriweather had 11 solo stops, while sophomore Trevor Myklebust had 16 total tackles with five solos stops and a team-high two tackles for loss.  Junior Tevin Creeks added 12 tackles.  ASU was the second-straight opponent to run 90+ plays on the Buffs as Tarleton State ran 96 plays the week before and the Rams had 90.  ASU's defense prevented the Buffs from getting much going offensively as WT was 4 of 14 on third down, while ASU was 9 of 19. 
 
RHONE RUNNING - Senior Jarrian Rhone returned a punt 65 yards for a touchdown for the Buffs' first score and an early 7-0 lead against then-No. 6 Angelo State.  It was the first punt return for a touchdown by the Buffs since Jason Jones returned one 66 yards against Central Oklahoma on Sept. 11, 2004.  Rhone has seven punt returns for 100 yards this season for a 14.3 average which ranks him 17th nationally in punt return average.
 
CAREER WATCH WITH GEREMY - Senior Geremy Alridge-Mitchell saw his string of 12 consecutive games of rushing for 100 yards come to an end with 99 yards on 13 carries against Angelo State Sept. 26.  Prior to that, he surpassed Bill Cross (2,474), Keithon Flemming (2,433) and Duane Thomas (2,376) with a career-high 236 yards rushing on 31 carries against Tarleton State on Sept. 19.  Against TSU, Alridge-Mitchell also moved into fifth all-time in scoring as he has 260 career points. Alridge-Mitchell has 13 career games of over 100 yards rushing.
 
NATIONAL GEREMY - Geremy Alridge-Mitchell ranks fourth nationally in all-purpose yards at 199.25, 12th in rushing touchdowns with eight, 10th in rushing yards per game (139.3) and fourth in scoring at 13.5 points per game to lead the LSC.
 
STRONG FOOTED PARRA - Junior punter Felipe Parra has gotten off to a great start this season as he has 28 punts for 1165 yards for a 41.6 average.  He has hit a long of 62 and has two touchbacks, seven fair catches, 11 punts inside the 20 and four over 50 yards.  As a team, the Buffs are 16th nationally in net punting at 38.36 per punt which is third in the LSC.  Parra is 23rd in the nation with a 41.6 average.
 
BRINKLEY COMING ALONG - Sophomore quarterback Ethan Brinkley has made a great transition to starter this season as he ranks 18th nationally in completions per game at 22.67.  He also ranks ninth nationally in completion percentage at 63.7.  Brinkley is 68 of 101 for 674 yards.  He has thrown five touchdowns with three interceptions.
 
STRONG DEFENSIVELY - WT sophomore Trevor Myklebust is ninth nationally in total tackles at 13.8 per game and leads the team with 55 total stops.  Sophomore Hunter Streuling is second on the team in tackles with 43 and junior Davontae Merriweather is third with 41.  All three are the top three in the Lone Star Conference in tackles. Merriweather leads the team with three interceptions ranking 11th nationally.  Streuling is 49th in interceptions with two on the year.
 
NATIONALLY SPEAKING - The Buffs 43rd nationally in passing efficiency defense holding teams to a 110.78 average, while ranking 16th in net punting (38.36), 26th in punt returns (14.29), 15th in turnover margin (1.5), 18th in tackles for loss (8.8) and 18th in completion percentage (63.6).    
 
GETTIN' THE TURNOVER - WT is 15th in turnover margin this season at 1.50.  The Buffs have forced 12 turnovers and turned it over just six times in four games.  WT has outscored the opposition 35-17 on points off turnovers thus far.
 
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. 
 
ABOUT MIDWESTERN STATE - The Mustangs come in ranked 12th nationally after a thrilling 29-20 upset win at Angelo State last weekend.  MSU improved to 5-0 for the sixth time in program history after the win and first since 2011.  Backup quarterback Quade Howard passed for 125 yard and one touchdown, while Statron Jones had seven catches for 62 yards and a score.  The MSU defense held the high-powered ASU offense to 482 yards of offense after the Rams had 607 at WT the week before.  Calvin Stewart and Marqui Christian each had double-digit tackles in the game for MSU, while Cory Faiva had one sack which was just the second sack ASU had allowed all season.  WT tallied the first sack of the Rams the week before in Canyon.   Coward has played in all five games under center and took over for an injured Hagen Hutchinson against ASU.  He is 36 of 74 for 436 yards and two scores, along with two INTs.  Vincent Jackson leads the team in rushing at 55.4 yards per game as he has carried it 47 times for 277 yards and three scores.  Arsenio Phillips leads the team with 221 yards and three scores receiving.  Jones has two scores and 189 yards receiving on 17 catches.  Christian leads the team defensively with 48 total tackles (27,21) with one sack and 1.5 TFLs.  Dan Laudermilk has 33 tackles and a team-high five tackles for loss.  Andy Alkhazshvilly leads the league in field goals at 7 of 8 on the year.  The Mustangs lead the conference in red zone defense, holding teams to a 62.5 average.