WICHITA FALLS, Texas – The defending Lone Star Conference Champion Midwestern State Mustangs will take on a 10-game schedule in 2012 that includes four home games along with an appearance on national television and a return to Cowboys Stadium.
 
The 10-1 Mustangs, who posted their first undefeated regular season last year on the way to the outright LSC title, meet Texas A&M-Commerce on Thursday night, Sept. 13 at Cowboys Stadium in a 7 p.m. game to be televised on the CBS Sports Network.  The game is part of the NCAA Division II national television package.
 
The game opens the three-day, six-game Lone Star Football Festival presented by Firestone and is one of eight LSC contests on the slate.
 
The Mustangs also face two Gulf South Conference opponents as part of the LSC-GSC First-and-Ten Challenge.  MSU travels to Livingston, Ala., on Thursday, Oct. 4 to play West Alabama and hosts West Georgia in the regular season finale on Nov. 10.
 
The Mustangs have four games on Joe Golding Field at Memorial Stadium.
 
MSU meets Incarnate Word on Sept. 29 for Family Day in the fourth meeting between the schools on the gridiron.
 
Other games at Memorial include Angelo State on Oct. 13 for Homecoming and Eastern New Mexico on Oct. 27.  The Nov. 10 game against West Georgia is the annual Military Appreciation Day.
 
Kickoff time for MSU home games is set for 7 p.m. for all but the game on Nov. 10 that will feature at 1 p.m. start.
 
MSU, ranked in the top five nationally in a pair of preseason polls, opens the season on Saturday, Sept. 8 in Stephenville against Tarleton State.
 
Following their game at Cowboys Stadium, the Mustangs visit Texas A&M-Kingsville on Sept. 22.
 
MSU makes it’s second-ever appearance east of the Mississippi when the Mustangs face West Alabama on Oct. 4.  The game joins a 1956 contest at Youngstown State (Ohio) as Midwestern games played east of Ol’ Man River.
 
The Mustangs travel to Abilene Christian on Oct. 20 for an afternoon game and close LSC action on the evening of Nov. 3 at West Texas A&M.

The NCAA Division II playoffs begin on Saturday, Nov. 17 and continues until Dec. 15 at the NCAA Division II Championship game at Braly Stadium in Florence, Ala.
 
Midwestern has the only scholarship program in Texas to post winning seasons in each of the last 12 years and joins NCAA III’s Hardin Simmons (21) and Mary Hardin Baylor (12) to do so.