CANYON, Texas – West Texas A&M (6-4, 4-3 LSC) looks for its second road victory over a ranked opponent this season when it takes on MSU Texas (7-2, 5-2 LSC) on Saturday in Wichita Falls, Texas. Kickoff is set for 1 p.m. at Memorial Stadium.

FIVE KEY STORYLINES
WT freshman cornerback Tobias Harris broke the program record for punt returns in a season in Saturday's win over Texas A&M-Kingsville. His 28 returns are one more than John Holt had back in 1978. He needs just 49 more yards to break the program record for punt return yards in a season.

WT ran a season-low 43 plays on Saturday but averaged a season-high 8.4 yards per play. The Buffs averaged 9.2 yards per rush as both Brandon Blair and Marshawn Brown both had rushes for over 50 yards. Justin Houghtaling also connected with Semaj Mitchell for 78 yards, which is the longest pass this season.

The Buffs had four plays of 50 yards or more in their come-from-behind win over Texas A&M-Kingsville, one more than they had the previous nine games combined. The big plays were the difference maker including Brandon Blair's 78-yard game-winner with under two minutes remaining in the game.

With an interception and fumble recovery on Saturday, WT improved to 5-2 on the season when forcing at least one turnover. It was their sixth game of the season with two or more turnovers and most since forcing two in a win over Angelo State on Oct. 13.

With 106 yards against Texas A&M-Kingsville, Justin Houghtlaing surpassed 1,000 passing yards for the second consecutive season. This season, the sophomore signal caller has completed 93-of-151 passes for 1,023 yards and five touchdowns.

SCOUTING MSU TEXAS
Bill Maskill is in his 17th season as head coach at MSU Texas where he has been named the Lone Star Conference Coach of the Year five times. With a record of 7-2 in 2018, He has this team on the cusp of making the NCAA Playoffs for third consecutive season as they are ranked No. 7 in the latest regional rankings.

Preseason Offensive Player of the Year Layton Rabb leads one of the top offensive units in the nation. Entering the final regular season game of the season, the Mustangs rank 4th in passing yards per game, 6th in total offense and 7th in scoring offense. Rabb has been a large part of that success having thrown for 2,847 yards for 28 touchdowns while completing 194 of 334 passes. He has thrown for over 300 yards in six games this season.

Rabb's favorite target has been sophomore Juwan Johnson who ranks fourth in the nation in receiving yards (1,118)to go along with his nine receiving touchdowns. He had his arguably his best game of the season against Texas A&M-Kingsville with 202 receiving yards and four touchdowns. Vincent Johnson ranks third in the LSC in total rushing yards with 899 yards. The senior averages 7.2 yards per carry and has rushed for over 100 yards five times including a season-high 195 against UT Permian Basin.

On the defensive side of that ball, it has been a total team effort as no player has more than 60 tackles. Defensive back Paul Manus has recorded a team-high eight tackles for loss and three sacks to go along three interceptions. Jaylon Abdul-Karim has been equally disruptive with three sacks of his own.

A LOOK AT THE SERIES
Saturday's contest will be the 31st meeting between the two programs with WT holding a 16-14 advantage. The Buffs are 9-6 in Wichita Falls with the last win coming on Nov. 16, 2013.

LAST TIME VS. MSU TEXAS
Alex Schrag connected on a 53-yard field goal for WT's only points in a 45-3 setback to MSU Texas on Oct. 21, 2017 at Memorial Stadium.

Justin Houghtaling completed 9 of 20 passes for 154 yards and two interceptions. Warren Witherspoon rushed for 33 yard to go along with two receptions for 53 yards. Jordan Johnson also had two receptions for 38.

Trevor Myklebust had a game-high 11 tackles while Eric Collins and Kevon Thomas recording 0.5 tackle for loss each.

A LOOK BACK AT TEXAS A&M-KINGSVILLE
Brandon Blair scored his third touchdown of the game with less than two minutes remaining on a 78-yard run as West Texas overcame a 10-point second half deficit to defeat Texas A&M-Kingsville, 35-31, in the Buffs final game at Kimbrough Memorial Stadium.

The duo of Blair and Marshawn Brown gashed the Javelina defense for 257 yards on 28 carries and four touchdowns. Blair had 182 of those yards, including two runs of 50-plus yards, while Brown had a career-high 73 yards on five carries.

Semaj Mitchell recorded his first career touchdown on a 78-yard pass from Justin Houghtaling in the third quarter. The Buffs would force and recover a fumble on the next offensive possession for the Javelinas before taking the lead on a 7-yard rush from Blair.

Christopher Thomas had a game-high 11 tackles as the freshman recorded 10 or more tackles for the fourth time this season. Gerred Johnson had his best game of the season with six tackles and 4.0 tackles for loss.

STATISTICALLY SPEAKING
Brandon Blair became just the third running back since 2015 and second this season to rush for three touchdowns in a single game. Entering Saturday's home finale, the Spring, Texas native had rushed for two touchdowns in his career. Both of those coming last year during his freshman season where he rushed a total of 139 yards on 38 carries.

Tobias Harris could break his second punt return record in as many weeks against MSU Texas on Saturday. The freshman phenom needs 49 more punt return yards to break Curley Watters' record for more punt return yards in a season set back in 1966. He also needs two more interceptions to tie the freshman record set by Chris Lacy in 1994.

Entering his final game as a Buff, John Cummings ranks ninth in the nation in punting. The Plano, Texas native's 43.6 yards per punt are also the most in the Lone Star Conference and fifth-most in the region. He has led the conference in punting in past two years and could make it three straight with another strong performance against MSU Texas.

SAYING GOODBYE TO KIMBROUGH
Saturday's 35-31 thrilling victory over Texas A&M-Kingsville was WT's final game at Kimbrough Memorial Stadium. Since the stadium opened in 1959, the Buffs 170-139-3 in the 'Buffalo Bowl' as they will move to the on-campus Buffalo Stadium next fall.

AFCA DIVISION II POLL
Three teams from the LSC were represented in the latest American Football Coaches Association (AFCA) Top-25 released on Monday afternoon. Tarleton moved up one spot to No. 7 while Texas A&M-Commerce enters the week 14th followed by MSU Texas in 16th.

WT HEAD COACH HUNTER HUGHES
WT head coach Hunter Hughes, the 2011 FootballScoop.com Division II Coordinator of the Year, is now in his second season at the helm of the Buffs After going 3-8 in his first season in 2017, Hughes has led the Buffs to a 6-4 record with one game remaining clinching their first winning season since 2016. The Buffs have defeated a nationally-ranked team during each season of Hughes tenure. 

LIVE COVERAGE
The MSU Texas Athletic Media Relations Department will provide live stats for the game. Buff Nation can listen to all of the Buffalo Football games on Lonestar 98.7 with Lucas Kinsey and Brice Sheets on the call with Kent Johnson joining them as the sideline reporter.  For more information, visit the Football Schedule Page at GoBuffsGo.com.