CANYON, Texas – The Buffaloes remain inside the friendly confines of Buffalo Stadium this Saturday night as they host the #5 Orediggers of Colorado School of Mines with kickoff scheduled for 7 p.m. in Canyon.
- West Texas A&M is playing their 109th season of football as they hold an overall record of 526-520-2 (.502) dating back to the 1910 campaign.
- The Buffs handed Western New Mexico a 42-14 defeat last Saturday night in Lone Star Conference action to move to 2-1 on the season. WT finished the game with 479 yards of total offense on 54 plays to average 8.9 per snap.
- Saturday marks the first ever meeting on the gridiron between West Texas A&M and Colorado School of Mines. It marks the sixth time that a Top-25 opponent has come to Canyon during the
Hunter Hughes era, the Orediggers are the highest ranked opponent playing in Canyon since WT knocked off then #4 Midwestern State (35-27) on October 22, 2016 as Devon Payne ran for 177 yards and three touchdowns.
- Fifth-ranked Colorado School of Mines enters Saturday with a perfect 3-0 mark on the season as they have outscored their opponents 149-24 (Western Oregon, New Mexico Highlands, Fort Lewis). Gregg Brandon holds an overall record of 50-13 (.794) during his time in Golden with three Rocky Mountain Athletic Conference Titles (2016, 2018, 2019) and two RMAC Coach of the Year honors (2018, 2019).
- The Buffs step outside of Lone Star Conference action this weekend but the conference slate features three contests on Saturday. Eastern New Mexico heads to Wichita Falls to take on unbeaten Midwestern State, Texas A&M-Commerce takes on Texas A&M-Kingsville on the road and UT Permian Basin heads to Silver City to take on Western New Mexico.
A LOOK AT THE OREDIGGERS
CSM enters the weekend with an overall mark of 3-0 as they have picked up wins over Western Oregon, New Mexico Highlands and Fort Lewis by a combined score of 149-24.
The Orediggers registered 587 yards of total offense while allowing just 24 total yards on the road at Fort Lewis in a 76-0 rout. John Matocha went 11-of-15 thru the air with 182 yards and three TD's while Tristan Smith caught five passes for 111 yards and a pair of scores.
CSM HEAD COACH GREGG BRANDON
Two-time RMAC Coach of the Year Gregg Brandon enters his sixth football season and seventh overall season in Golden. He holds an overall record of 50-13 during his time at Mines with three RMAC Championships and three appearances in the NCAA Postseason.
Brandon was the head coach at Bowling Green from 2003-2008 and he has Division I assistant stops at Weber State, Wyoming, Utah State, Northwestern, Colorado, Virginia and New Mexico State.
THE SERIES
Saturday night marks the first ever meeting on the gridiron between West Texas A&M and Colorado School of Mines.
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 22-20 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 Lone Star Conference 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 season in the sport of football.
WEEK THREE RECAP
West Texas A&M responded from a defeat in a big way on Saturday night as they handed the Western New Mexico Mustangs a 42-14 Lone Star Conference defeat at Buffalo Stadium.
Nick Gerber finished the night going 14-of-23 thru the air with 355 yards and three touchdowns to become the first Buff to surpass the 300-yard mark since October of 2016.
Tyrie Tipton and
Noah Bogardus combined for six catches and 183 yards receiving while
Brandon Blair scored a pair of touchdowns in the win. WT finished the game with 479 yards of total offense on 54 plays to average 8.9 per play.
Defensively, the Buffs were led by
JT Cavender with 12 total tackles (10 solo) followed by
Eric Collins with 10 tackles (eight solo) to go along with one sack and 2.5 tackles for loss. The Mustangs finished with 422 yards of total offense with 369 of those coming thru the air.
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. Fans can purchase a football season pass for just $75 or a single-day pass for $10. 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.
ON THIS DAY
The Buffs are 4-5 all-time on September 25th with five of those contests taking place on the road incuding the last two.
1948 - Abilene Christian (W, 41-19)
1954 - at Texas Tech (L, 33-7)
1965 - Bowling Green (W, 34-0)
1976 - at Southern Illinois (L, 21-17)
1982 - McNeese State (W, 25-17)
1993 - at S.W. Oklahoma State (L, 47-24)
1999 - Southeastern Oklahoma St. (L, 31-24)
2004 - at Texas A&M-Kingsville (L, 69-21)
2010 - at Angelo State (W, 37-27)
