Game Notes in PDF Format

The Game Plan with Hunter Hughes

CANYON, Texas – The West Texas A&M football team opens the 2017 season Saturday evening at Kimbrough Memorial Stadium against No. 13 Azusa Pacific in head coach Hunter Hughes' first game at the helm of the Buffs. 
 
A new era begins for WT football as Hughes was hired as the 28^th coach in program history on Dec. 13, 2016.  Fans can access live stat links and audio/video streaming of the game at www.gobuffsgo.com on the football schedule page. The game also will be broadcast throughout the Texas Panhandle on 98.7 Lonestar FM with Lucas Kinsey and Brice Sheets having the call and Kent Johnson on the sideline.
 
OPENING DRIVE NOTES

• WT is 46-59 all-time in season-openers and the Buffs are 31-20 in home season openers with some locations missing.WT has dropped its last three season openers at home with the last win coming against South Dakota on Aug. 30, 2007.
• The Buffs have dropped their three season-openers and seven of eight with the lone win coming at Western State on Sept. 7, 2013. This will be the third-straight year WT has opened the season playing Azusa Pacific.
• WT opens the season with three-straight home games and have seven regular season home games for the most since 1989.
• This will be just the third time since 2004 WT has opened the season on a Saturday with the others being 2013 and 2009.
• WT is 198-154-4 (.582) at home since 1946 and 165-129-3 (.560) at Kimbrough Memorial Stadium since it was built in 1959.
• Azusa Pacific enters ranked 13th in the preseason AFCA Coaches Poll after a 9-3 record and a berth in the NCAA playoffs last season. The Cougars were picked to defend the Great Northwest Athletic Conference championship in 2017.
• West Texas A&M finished a 6-5 in 2016 for its 12th consecutive winning season after going 5-4 in Lone Star Conference play finishing tied for fifth in the league standings.
• The Buffs were picked seventh in the preseason Lone Star Conference Poll as voted on by coaches, sports information directors and select media representatives throughout the league.
• WT senior offensive lineman Dillon Vaughan has been nominated for the Allstate Good Works Team and for the National Football Foundation National Scholar-Athlete Award.
• Senior linebacker Daelin Young was named a D2 Football Preseason All-America candidate this year as he led the team in tackles last season with 78, along with 15.5 tackles for loss and 6.5 sacks.Young played defensive line last season before switching back to linebacker this year.

 
INSIDE THE SERIES

• APU leads the all-time series, 2-1, after a 28-10 win in Glendora, Calif., last season in the season-opener for both teams (9/1/16)
• Missed opportunities proved costly for WT with two INT's and a lost fumble for the Cougars in the last meeting in 2016
• ASU battled back from a 21-0 deficit in the second quarter, outscoring WT 27-3 in over the final 40 minutes of the game in 2015 in the season-opener in Canyon
• WT won the first game in the series 75-13 in 2008 also at Kimbrough as it was APU head coach Victor Santa Cruz third season at APU
• The Buffs lead the series, outscoring APU 109-68 in the three meetings.
• WT is 3-3 all-time against current teams in the Great Northwest Athletic Conference (GNAC).

 
MEET THE COACHES

• WT head coach Hunter Hughes begins his first season at the helm of the Buffs as he was hired from Colorado State-Pueblo on Dec. 13, 2016 as the 28th head coach in WT history.
• Hughes spent 10 years as Defensive Coordinator at CSUP where he guided the ThunderWolves to the program's first national championship in 2014 with a 13-0 shutout of Minnesota State.Hughes had a tremendous track record at CSUP as one of the top defensive units in the nation.
• He was named Footballscoop.com Division II Coordinator of the Year finalist in 2014 and his "D" led all of Division II in scoring defense (12.8 ppg) INT's (29), defensive touchdowns (7) and turnovers gained (43).
• Azusa Pacific head coach Victor Santa Cruz begins his 12th season at APU with a 68-52 record.
• He led APU to back-to-back 10-win seasons in 2013 and 2014 and was the head coach of the Cougars in each of the previous three meetings in the series against WT.
• Santa Cruz played collegiately at Hawaii and served at APU as an assistant for five years before getting the head job in 2006.

 
LOOKING AT AZUSA PACIFIC

• Azusa Pacific enters the season as the unanimous favorite in the Great Northwest Athletic Conference and has nine-straight wins against GNAC teams.
• APU provided potent offense leading the GNAC with 435 points and outscoring its opposition by an average of 20 points per game, APU won on defense as it led the GNAC with 192 points allowed and 334.1 yard allowed per game, while ranking among the national leaders in interceptions (23), red zone defense (.559), scoring defense (16.0) and sacks (4.17 per game).
• The Cougars return 58 players from last season, including 15 starters.Senior quarterback Andrew Elffers, the reigning GNAC Offensive Player of the Year, threw for 2,120 yards and 21 touchdowns, while rushing for seven scores.He was intercepted just three times and his 1.1 interception percentage set a GNAC single season record.
• Junior running back Kurt Scoby returns after a first team all-conference selection in 2016 as he rushed for 56.5 yards per game and scored five times, while sophomore wide-out Weston Carr, the GANC Freshman of the Year, caught 48 balls for 75.4 yards per game and nine scores.First team offensive lineman Joe Kupcikvicious and junior center Sakalaia Hungalu anchor a line which allowed just 22 sacks last season.
• Defensively, the Cougars are stout with senior Taliuaki Sulifu who was a first team all-conference selection at safety after finishing the team with 61 tackles, 9.5 tackles for loss and 5.5 sacks.Defensive end Jason Schwartz also earned first team honors on 47 tackles, nine sacks and a forced fumble.Also returning are second team honorees Conrado Simpson (20 tackles, 8.5 TFL, 5 sacks), and Aaron Berry (107 tackles, 6.0 TFL.