GAME NOTES

AUDIO (Lonestar 98.7)

CANYON, Texas – The Buffaloes of West Texas A&M head to the Land of Enchantment in search for their first Lone Star Conference win of the season when they take on Western New Mexico on Saturday, Sept. 22, at 1 p.m. CT. It will be WT's first time back to Silver City since 2016 when they coming back from a 14-point deficit in the final minute to win the game.
 
FIVE KEY STORYLINES
West Texas A&M will look to get things going on the offensive side of the ball after being held to 123 yards against Tarleton. The Buffs have seven drives this season of 50+ yards with four of those ending in touchdowns. The longest drive came in the season opener against Azusa Pacific going 81-yards in nine plays capped off by a touchdown run by Mitch Hood.
 
Staying on offensive side of the ball, Duke Carter IV carried the ball a season-high 22 times for 32 yards on Saturday. That is the most carries for the junior since Oct. 15, 2016 when he had 24 carries for 104 yards and a touchdown as a freshman at Louisiana Monroe in their 40-34 win over Texas State. The Grand Prairie, Texas native will be relied on to take most of the carries after Logan Vallo went down with a season-ending injury against Oklahoma Panhandle State.
 
The Buffs offense has produced six plays of 20-plus yards this season. Two of those have come on rushes with the other four coming through the air including a season long 61-yard touchdown pass from Mitch Hood to Payton Gonzales against Oklahoma Panhandle State.
 
Christopher Thomas and James Clark have recorded a team-high 29 tackles through three games. Thomas, a true freshman linebacker from Humble, Texas, has recorded 25 tackles over the past two games including a season-high 14 in WT's win over Oklahoma Panhandle State. Clark is a graduate transfer from Humboldt State and has made an immediate impact at the safety position. He had 13 tackles including a tackle for loss and bass breakup against Tarleton.
 
The return game continues to be a strong point for the Buffs as Tobias Harris ranks 10th in the nation and first in the Lone Star Conference in punt returns. The freshman has the top three returns for the Buffs for the season including a 72-yard punt return against Oklahoma Panhandle State. He also leads the Buffs in all-purpose yards with 297.
 
SCOUTING WESTERN NEW MEXICO
Western New Mexico will play a Division II team for the first time this season after opening at San Diego and Idaho during the first two weeks of the season
 
Blayne Armstrong is the starting quarterback for the Mustangs having thrown for 389 yards completing 39 of 64 passes for touchdowns and an interception. He completed an 84-yard touchdown to Kourde Roberts against San Diego. Roberts has been Armstrong's favorite target this season with 13 receptions for 144 yards and a touchdown. Evan Beebe also has nine receptions for 108 yards. DeAndre Williams has carried the ball a team-high 19 times for 101 yards.
 
Frank Tristan is in his first season as the head coach after a successful three-year career at Southwestern Assemblies of God University. Before SAGU, he spent time at Kickapoo High School and Hillcrest High School.
 
A LOOK AT THE SERIES
Saturday's game will be the ninth meeting between West Texas A&M and Western New Mexico, with the Buffs leading the all-time series 5-3. WT is 2-1 all-time in games played in Sliver City outscoring the Mustangs 72-44 in the past two games.
 
After dropping the first two games of the series, the Buffs had won five straight until last season's 21-17 loss in Canyon.
 
LAST YEAR VS. THE MUSTANGS
The Buffs dropped the 2017 season finale, 21-17, to Western New Mexico on Nov. 11 at Kimbrough Memorial Stadium. Ben Arbuckle threw for a season-high 237 yards completing 17 of 31 passes and two touchdowns. Warren Witherspoon finished his career on a high-note with 75 yards on 21 attempts.
 
An Alex Schrag 19-yard field goal at 8:06 in the first quarter gave the Buffs an early 3-0 lead. Following a Mustang touchdown, WT responded with a touchdown of their own in the second quarter with a 9-play, 66-yard drive that ended with Arbuckle connecting with Jordan Johnson.
 
Western New Mexico would score 14 unanswered points to take a 21-10 lead with less than 11 minutes left in the game. Arbuckle would throw his second TD of the game three minutes later on a 36-yard pass to Avery Lewis to bring the Buffs within four points.
 
A LOOK BACK AT TARLETON
Duke Carter IV scored the lone touchdown of the game for the Buffs on a 5-yard run with less than a minute to go in the second quarter. The junior rushed the ball 22 times for 32 yards. Brandon Blair also had 13 yards on two carries.
 
Justin Houghtaling and Mitch Hood both saw time at quarterback for the Buffs. Hougthaling finished 7 of 10 for 71 yards and an interception while Hood was 4 of 14 for 21 yards.
 
James Clark and Christopher Thomas combined for 24 tackles and a tackle for loss. Clark had a game-high 13 while Thomas added 11 of his own. John Cummings had a solid game punting the ball nine times for 377 yards with a long of 51. He also put three punts inside the Tarleton 20-yard line.
 
STATISTICALLY SPEAKING
Christopher Thomas and James Clark rank in the Top 50 nationally in total tackles coming in at 49th. Only four other players in the Lone Star Conference have recorded more tackles.
 
Tobias Harris ranks second in the nation in interceptions per game with 1.0. Only Tarleton's Prince Robinson averages more.
 
John Cummings ranks 48th in the nation in punting. His 40.8 yards per punt is also the third-best in the Lone Star Conference.
 
The Buffs have only attempted two field goals this season after attempting two or more field goals in eight games in 2017. They also did not attempt a field goal against Tarleton ending a streak of eight straight games with an attempt.
 
WT is 3-5 after a loss under head coach Hunter Hughes and 1-0 this season. He is also 2-1 in day games with wins coming against UT Permian Basin and Adams State.
 
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. He went 3-8 in his first season in 2017 including win over nationally ranked Colorado-State Pueblo.
 
LIVE COVERAGE
The Western New Mexico 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.
 
AFCA DIVISION II POLL
The Lone Star Conference has three teams ranked or receiving votes in the latest AFCA Division II Poll. Texas A&M-Commerce sits at No. 1 for the fifth-straight week while MSU Texas stayed at 7th after defeating UT Permian Basin. Tarleton sits just outside the Top 25 after improving to 2-0.
 
2018 LSC PRESEASON POLL
Texas A&M-Commerce were picked to finish first receiving 13 of the possible 24 votes for a total of 201 points. MSU Texas was picked second with 10 first place votes for a total of 200 points. Eastern New Mexico ranked third with 142 points followed by Angelo State (136), Tarleton State (130), Texas A&M-Kingsville (104), West Texas A&M (73), UT Permian Basin (one first place, 57) and Western New Mexico (37).
 
MSU Texas' Layton Rabb was tabbed as the LSC's Preseason Offensive Player of the Year while Angelo State's Markus Jones was named the preseason Defensive Player of the Year