MSU Football
 
THURSDAY... No. 13 Midwestern State (3-1, 3-1) is on the road for a Top 20 non-conference matchup with No. 18 West Alabama (4-1, 2-0 Gulf South Conference).  Kickoff is set for 6:30 p.m. at Tiger Stadium in Livingston, Ala.

WHERE TO FIND THE GAME…
 
100.9 BOB-FM: The broadcast features the play-by-play voice of two-time Lone Star Conference Broadcaster of the Year Bill Powers. He is joined by KAUZ TV-6 anchorman Chris Horgen, who serves as color analyst.

ON THE WEB: BOB-FM's audio broadcast is simulcasted on BOBradio.fm. LINK 

ON TELEVISION: The game is being televised live by the Gulf South Conference's GSC-TV Live! Package on CSS and will be shown in Wichita Falls on KJBO-TV (Digital 3.2, TWC Cable 7, Dish and DirecTV 35).  Don Russell handles the play-by-play, with former Division II national champion coach Rick Rhoades providing analysis and A.A. Moore on the sidelines.

VIDEO WEBCAST: The telecast is also available on ESPN3.com.  LINK

LIVE STATS: Live stats are available courtesy of the West Alabama Sports Information Office.  LINK 

 
SCOUTING THE TIGERS…
 
West Georgia is 4-1 on the season and ranked 18th in the AFCA Division II Football Poll.  They are also ranked eighth in the D2Football.com poll.  The Tigers are 2-0 and lead the Gulf South Conference.  UWA is coming off a 24-20 win at home over West Georgia.

The Tigers suffered a key loss in the UWG win as All-America running back Matt Willis, who leads the Tigers with 107.0 yards a game and had just become the Tigers all-time leading rusher with 2,141 yards, suffered a first half knee injury.

Quarterback Gary Johnston leads the squad in rushing after Willis, averaging 52.2 yards a game.  His quarterback teammate Kyle Caldwell is the passer, averaging 139.0 yards a game.  Both have played all five games.

Defensively, the Tigers are led by linebacker Ben Brooks with 31 tackles, while cornerback Malcolm Butler and strong safety Otha Foster each have four interceptions.

UWA is averaging 402.8 yards of total offense a game to go with 30.8 points an outing, while allowing 254.6 yards defensively and 17.0 points an outing. 

All-Time Series: This is the first meeting between MSU and UWA.
 
 
NOTEWORTHY

• The Mustangs moved up to No. 13 in the latest AFCA Division II Coaches Poll.  They were No. 14 last week after opening the season No. 4.
• MSU has been ranked in the last 15 polls (including seven in the Top 10), in 37 of the last 42 polls and has received a vote in 76 of the last 77 AFCA coaches polls.
• The Mustangs are also ranked No. 14 in the D2Football.com Poll.
• The Mustangs are 10-3 against regular season non-conference competition and 10-1 against regular season Division II non-conference competition in the Bill Maskill era.
• Junior runningback Keidrick Jackson chalked up his ninth career 100-yard game with 173 yards on 24 carries against Incarnate Word.  With the 156 he collected against Texas A&M-Kingsville, Jackson had the first back-to-back 150-yard rushing games by an MSU player since Ulysses Odoms did the trick against Eastern New Mexico (203) and Abilene Christian (155) in 2006.
• Jackson raced past Derrick Waggoner (1,781 yards from 1991-92) and Jerrold Fuqua (1,822 yards from 2002-03) into sixth place on MSU's all-time rushing list. He now has 1,894 yards and needs 64 yards to eclipse Henry Anders (1,957 yards from 1991-92) to move into fifth and with two rushing touchdowns Saturday, Jackson has 204 points to became just the third player in program history to amass 200 career points joining kicker Jose Martinez (291 points/2007-10) and quarterback Daniel Polk (266 points/2004-07).
• Junior kicker/punter Greg Saladino is the Lone Star Conference Special Teams Player of the Week for the second straight week.  He equaled the longest field goal by at Midwestern State kicker at Memorial Stadium in Wichita Falls when he split the uprights from 47-yards, the longest in the Lone Star Conference this season. It was part of his 10 points in the No. 14 Mustangs 34-7 win over Incarnate Word. Saladino also connected on a field goal from 30 yards out and was 4-of-4 in PATs for the game. Saladino improved to 7-of-7 in field goals and 16-of-16 in PATs this season. Saladino leads the LSC in kick scoring with 9.2 points a game, which is second in overall scoring in the conference. He also punted three times with a 34.3 average, with two punts inside the 20 and none returned. 
• Junior Neiko Conway swiped his second interception of the season with the pick against Incarnate Word.  He now has eight career interceptions, tied for second in MSU history.  He also holds the record for career interception returns now with 206 yards. 
• The winningest coach in MSU history, Bill Maskill won his 80th game at Midwestern with the win over A&M-Commerce.  Maskill is 82-33 in his 11th season at MSU, 95-41 in his 13th season as a head coach.
• Midwestern has been golden in the months of August and September under coach Bill Maskill.  MSU is 40-8 (.833) in games played before Oct. 1 in the Maskill era.  In fact, since 2006, the Mustangs are 29-2 before Oct. 1.
• The Mustangs return five All-Americans from 2011.  Quarterback Brandon Kelsey was fourth in the Harlan Hill voting and was third team on the Don Hansen squad and honorable mention by the Beyond Sports College Network. Guard Ken Van Heule was second team on the Hansen and third team on the BSCN team.  Running back Keidrick Jackson was an honorable mention on both the D2Football.com and Hansen teams.