Game Notes in PDF Format

CANYON, Texas – The West Texas A&M football team returns home to host rival Eastern New Mexico Saturday evening at 6 p.m. at Kimbrough Memorial Stadium in the 30^th edition of the Wagon Wheel Game. 
 
Fans can access live stats, audio/video streaming links and ticket information for the game at www.goubuffsgo.com on the football schedule page.  The game also will be broadcast on 98.7 Lonestar FM throughout the Texas Panhandle with Lucas Kinsey, Brice Sheets and Kent Johnson having the call of the game. 
 
OPENING DRIVE NOTES
 

• The West Texas A&M football team returns home to host Eastern New Mexico in the 30th Wagon Wheel Game Saturday at 6 p.m. at Kimbrough Memorial Stadium.
• The Buffs are 2-2 and 1-1 in Lone Star Conference play after a disappointing 30-20 loss at Tarleton State last Saturday.  WT trailed 27-0 in the third quarter before outscoring the Texans 20-3 the rest of the way as the Buffs set a number of season-highs in passing yards (272), total yards (407), rushing touchdowns (3), first downs (22) and total plays (71).
• Eastern New Mexico enters with a 3-1 record and a 2-1 mark in LSC play.  The Greyhounds are coming off a 31-21 win over Angelo State last weekend in a game that saw ENMU build a 21-0 lead in the second quarter to see the Rams outscore ENMU 21-10 the rest of the way.
• This is the 30th Wagon Wheel matchup with WT holding a 15-14 lead and a 16-15 lead in the overall series.  The Wagon Wheel began in 1986 with a 50-3 win by the Buffs in Canyon.  ENMU has won three of the last four in the Wagon Wheel and four of the last five overall, including a win in the LSC Football Playoff in 2014.
• ENMU won last season in Portales, 39-30 as the Greyhounds battled back from a 28-14 halftime deficit, outscoring WT 25-2 in the second half and 32-2 since the closing moments of the second quarter.
• Prior to a 39-38 loss in Canyon in 2013, WT had won seven-straight in the series dating back to a 52-51 overtime thriller in 2005 in Canyon. 
• The Buffs and Greyhounds have accounted for the top two highest Division II regular season games in terms of attendance in history coming in 2005 and 2007 with the latter being 23,276, which still is a record today.
• WT has outscored ENMU 996-877 in the 31 meetings all-time.
• The Buffs last win in the series came on Halloween, 2015 with a 52-42 win in Canyon.
• WT senior offensive lineman Dillon Vaughan was named one of 22 college football student-athletes from all divisions to the prestigious AFCA Allstate Good Works Team announced last week. Vaughan is in graduate school and graduated with a 4.0 GPA in finance.  He also is a semifinalist for the National Football Foundation Scholar-Athlete Award.  His brother, Dustin, earned the NFF Scholar-Athlete Award in 2013. 

 
INSIDE THE SERIES
 

• WT leads the all-time series 16-15 and 15-14 in the Wagon Wheel, while Eastern New Mexico has won four of the past five overall and three of the past four in the Wagon Wheel.
• Prior to that, WT had won seven-straight and eight of nine. 
• The Greyhounds won last season in Portales, N.M., while WT won in Canyon in 2015, with a 52-42 win on Halloween.  It has been the only win for the Buffs in the series since 2012.
• The series began in 1945 with a 57-6 win by WT.  Since, the Buffs are 8-7 in Canyon and ENMU is 8-7 in Portales.

 
MEET THE COACHES
 

• The interesting thing about this matchup is both coaches are playing in their first Wagon Wheel Game as a head coach.
• WT head coach Hunter Hughes is in 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).
• ENMU head coach Kelley Lee is in his first season as head coach, but spent the last five seasons as offensive coordinator for the Greyhounds.

 
A WIN OVER EASTERN NEW MEXICO WOULD . . .
 

• Give WT a 3-2 record matching last season's start through five games
• Give head coach Hunter Hughes a 3-2 record in his first season at the helm of the Buffs
• Give WT a 16-14 lead in the Wagon Wheel and 17-15 lead overall in the series against Eastern New Mexico
• Be the 111th LSC win in program history (110-102)
• Give Hughes' his first win in a trophy game for the Buffs (0-1)
• Be the 507th win in program history for WT (506-502-22)
• Give WT 5-4 record on Sept. 30 since 1946 as the Buffs are 2-2 at home on this date and 2-2 on the road
• Be the second best record in school history in September when playing five games (4-1 in 1995) as this is the seventh time of playing five games in September since 1946 (7-23)

 
LOOKING AT EASTERN NEW MEXICO
 

• The Greyhounds' triple option ground attack is one of a kind as the team is eighth nationally in rushing offense at 274.5 yards per game.
• ENMU is third in the LSC in first downs gained (84) and rank second in the league in third down conversions (.394) and 37th nationally in fourth down conversions (.600), while holding teams to just a .222 clip on fourth down, which is good for 21st nationally.
• The Greyhounds lead the LSC and are sixth nationally in fumbles recovered (7) and rank 23rd nationally and lead the league in turnovers gained (10).  ENMU has converted the 10 turnovers into 30 points.
• ENMU is holding teams to 93.3 yards on the ground, ranking 19th nationally and second in the conference, while ranking second in the league in team passing efficiency at 145.31 for 39th nationally. 
• Fullback Kamal Cass leads the league in rushing yards with 489 and a 122.3 clip ranking him 14th and 19th, respectively, nationally.  He is fourth in the league in total touchdowns with four, while ranking third in the LSC in all-purpose yards at 130.25 per game.  Teammate D'Maujeric Tucker has three rushing touchdowns, while Kass leads the team with four.
• Kicker Bailey Hale is second in the league in field goal percentage at a .857 clip, ranking 15th nationally.  He is 11th in field goals per game at 1.50 tying for the league-lead with WT's Alex Schrag.
• Zach Johnson has forced three fumbles to rank third nationally (0.75), while punter Nicholas Little ranks second in the league in punting at 40.4, ranking him 36th nationally.
• Quarterback Wyatt Strand is 22 of 40 with no interceptions, 284 yards passing and two touchdowns.  The Greyhounds lead the nation as they have not allowed an interception all season.  Strand is second on the team in rushing with 196 yards on 68 carries and two touchdowns.
• Wide receiver Johnny Smith leads the team in receiving yards with 141 and two scores on three receptions.
• ENMU is led defensively by Fe'ao Vunipola who has 25 tackles and 2.5 tackles for loss, along with one fumble recovery for 10 yards.  Johnson has 21  tackles and a team-high 3.5 tackles for loss with one fumble recovery and three forced fumbles. 
• Desmond Blue has one sack for 21 yards and three tackles for loss for 26 yards, along with 16 tackles.  He ranks fifth nationally in blocked kicks with two. 
• As a team, the Greyhounds lead the LSC in blocked kicks with three, ranking ninth nationally, but have had four kicks blocked of their own.
• The Greyhounds have three sacks on the year for 30 yards, but have given up eight sacks for 38 yards.
• ENMU is 1-1 this season on the road with a 37-34 win at Western New Mexico and a 51-22 loss at then-No. 3 Texas A&M-Commerce.
• The Greyhounds are allowing 367.8 yards per game, while averaging 355.3 a game.

 
BUFF NEWS AND NOTES
 

• The Buffs rank fifth nationally and second in the league in penalties with 14, while ranking fourth nationally and first in the league in penalties per game at 3.5.  WT leads the nation in fewest penalty yards (96) and fewest penalty yards per game at 24.00.
• WT is second in the LSC and 29th nationally in first down defense as the opposition has just 64 first downs through four games.
• WT is fifth nationally in kickoff return defense, holding teams to just 13.6 yards per return, ranking second in the league.
• WT is second in the LSC and 35th nationally in passes intercepted with five, which will be an interesting stat going against ENMU who hasn't thrown an interception this season.
• The Buffs are third in the LSC in red zone offense at 0.813, while ranking fourth in the league in rushing defense, holding teams to 116.8 yards per game.
• WT is allowing just 20.3 points per game, ranking third in the league and 38th nationally, while WT and ENMU are the top two teams in the conference in time of possession with ENMU leading the nation at 38:47 and WT 26th nationally at 32:39. 
• Defensively, the Buffs are holding teams to 324.3 yards per game, ranking 44th nationally and third in the league.
• Schrag and Hale are tied for the league-lead in field goals per game at 1.5 ranking each ranking 11th nationally. 
• Redshirt freshman quarterback Justin Houghtaling returned to action and is 38th nationally and second in the LSC in passing yards per completion at 13.9.
• Senior linebacker Daelin Young leads the LSC in sacks per game at 1.25 and ranks 10th nationally, while ranking 24th nationally in tackles for loss at 1.8 per game.
• The Buffs need to get the offense in gear and get off to a faster start as they are being outscored 20-3 in the first quarter and 48-18 in the first half.  Despite that, WT is outscoring the opposition 56-33 in the second half and 39-13 in the fourth quarter.
• WT has a 0.00 turnover margin ranking fifth in the league, but have scored 30 points on seven turnovers forced this season.
• Houghtaling is 30-70 with one interception and has passed for 417 yards.  He is still looking for his first career touchdown pass, though he ran for his first score last weekend at Tarleton State.  He has 56 yards rushing on 22 attempts.
• Sophomore fullback Jordan Johnson leads the team in rushing touchdowns with three as he has 138 yards on 25 carries. 
• Junior tight end Markel Steward had a career day on Saturday as he caught six balls to lead the team for a career-best 132 yards receiving in just his second game in a WT uniform.
• Junior safety Chazz Slatinsky leads the team in tackles with 28, while recording three pass breakups and one fumble recovery.  Young has 25 tackles with a team-high seven tackles for loss for 46 yards and five sacks for 41 yards.  He has a team-best seven hurries and one forced fumble. 
• Sophomore Isaiah Barnett and sophomore Kevon Thomas each have two interceptions on the year.
• The team has 23 tackles for loss for 95 yards and nine sacks for 65 yards.  They have allowed 29 tackles for loss (127) and eight sacks for 72 yards.
• Senior punter John Cummings has a 38.3 average on 20 punts with two touchbacks, four fair catches, three inside the 20 and five over 50 yards.