CANYON, Texas – The Buffaloes hit the road for Lone Star Conference action on Saturday night as they head to Portales, New Mexico for the 33rd Wagon Wheel Game against the rival Eastern New Mexico Greyhounds with kickoff set for 7:00 p.m. CT.
 
- West Texas A&M is playing their 109th season of football as they hold an overall record of 527-523-2 (.502) dating back to the 1910 campaign.
 
- The Buffs are coming off of a 31-15 Homecoming victory over Angelo State last Saturday night in front of over 9,000 fans in Canyon. WT took a 17-3 lead into the locker room at halftime and made some big defensive stops in the second half to move to 3-3 overall and 2-1 in LSC action.
 
- The Buffs and Greyhounds are tied at 17-17 in the all-time series dating back to 1945. WT is 7-7 in games played in Portales, it will be their first trip to Greyhound Stadium as the previous 14 were played at Blackwater Draw.
 
- ENMU enters the weekend with an overall record of 3-3 with a 1-2 mark in LSC action following a 50-47 win at Western New Mexico in the Green Chile Bowl. The Hounds trailed by as many as 17 points but a pair of scores with under a minute left gave ENMU the road win.
 
- Week seven features three Lone Star Conference matchups as the Buffs head to Portales while Western New Mexico visits Texas A&M-Commerce and UT Permian Basin travels to San Angelo. Texas A&M-Kingsville will host Lincoln (Calif.) in non-conference action while Midwestern State is idle this week.
 
A LOOK AT THE HOUNDS
ENMU enters the weekend with an overall record of 3-3 with a 1-2 mark in LSC action following a 50-47 win at Western New Mexico in the Green Chile Bowl. The Hounds trailed by as many as 17 points but a pair of scores with under a minute left gave ENMU the road win.
 
ENMU finished the game with 487 yards of total offense as Nathan Valencia went 24-of-34 thru the air with 329 yards and five touchdowns with Justin Manyweather catching 16 of those passes for 234 yards and two scores. 
 
ENMU HEAD COACH TYE HIATT
Tye Hiatt was named the 17th head coach in Eastern New Mexico history in April of 2021. Hiatt came to Portales following three seasons as the Offensive Coordinator at Shepherd, helping the Rams to the second round of the Division II Playoffs in 2019.
 
Hiatt was an NAIA All-American wide receiver at Southern Virginia where he still sits toward the top of the SVU record books in receiving yards, receptions and  receiving touchdowns.
 
THE SERIES
The Buffs and Greyhounds are tied at 17-17 in the all-time series dating back to 1945. WT is 7-7 in games played in Portales, it will be their first trip to Greyhound Stadium as the previous 14 were played at Blackwater Draw.
 
HEAD COACH HUNTER HUGHES
Hunter Hughes is now in his fifth season at the helm of the Buffaloes as the Nashville, Tennessee native holds an overall record of 23-22 during his time in Canyon. A 1991 graduate of Middle Tennessee State, Hughes has coached 21 All-Lone Star Conference selections during his time in Maroon & White. 
 
Hughes came to Canyon in December of 2016 following a decade as the Defensive Coordinator at Colorado State-Pueblo where the ThunderWolves made five NCAA Playoff appearances including a run to the 2014 NCAA Division II National Championship.
 
THIS IS LSC FOOTBALL
The LSC has eight teams set to compete in 2021. Each team will play seven conference games to determine the LSC Champion. The 2020 season was postponed due to the COVID-19 pandemic and the LSC did not sponsor a spring football season.

WEEK SIX RECAP
The Buffaloes sent a rowdy crowd of 9,326 fans home happy as they handed rival Angelo State a 31-15 defeat to wrap-up Homecoming Weekend at Buffalo Stadium.
 
Nick Gerber finished the night going 8-of-18 thru the air with 104 yards and a touchdown while the Buffs rushed for 137 yards as a team highlighted by 66 from Khalil Harris. Noah Bogardus led the receiving core with nine catches for 64 yards and a touchdown while also returning a blocked punt for a score.
 
WT allowed 384 yards of total offense by the Rams with 244 of those coming thru the air. JT Cavender continued to lead the way defensively with 13 total tackles followed by Christopher Thomas who returned to the field with 11 tackles (1.5 for loss) to go along with a hurry.
 
BUFFALO STADIUM
West Texas A&M is home to one of the premiere college football facilities in the country as Buffalo Stadium opened on September 7, 2019 to a capacity crowd of 10,145 fans. The state of the art facility included Hellas Matrix FusionH XP2 artificial turf along with seven ground-level suites and the Fairly Group Club.
 
LIVE COVERAGE
Saturday's game will be broadcasted on the Lone Star Conference Digital Network. For more information, visit the Football Schedule page at GoBuffsGo.com.
 
HOME OF CHAMPIONS
West Texas A&M is home to one of the most successful athletic programs in all of NCAA Division II. 
 
The 2020-21 season saw WT claim seven LSC Regular Season Championships, three LSC Tournament Titles, three Regional Championships, four Top-three track & field finishes, a men's basketball national title game appearance and the 2021 NCAA Division II Softball National Championship.
 
WAGON WHEEL GAME
Saturday marks the 33rd Wagon Wheel Game with the series tied at 16-16. The annual battle for the Wagon Wheel began in 1986 when the teams resumed play 41 years after their first matchup in 1945.
 
Since 1986, the traveling wheel trophy has been on the line every year except two when West Texas State did not sponsor football (1991) and when WT/ENMU were in different divisions of the LSC (2010).
 
ON THIS DAY
The Buffs are 3-7 all-time on October 16th as WT has dropped their last seven games on this day. 
 
1948 - at Midwestern State (W, 28-7)
1954 - New Mexico State (W, 41-7)
1965 - Colorado State (W, 15-12)
1971 - Northern Illinois (L, 22-19)
1976 - North Texas (L, 10-7)
1982 - at Florida (L, 77-14)
1993 - at S.E. Oklahoma State (L, 44-14)
1999 - at Texas A&M-Commerce (L, 9-3)
2004 - Abilene Christian (L, 27-24)
2010 - at Texas A&M-Kingsville (L, 28-24)