STEPHENVILLE, Texas - No. 13 Tarleton State converted a pair of long fourth-quarter drives to come away with a 44-32 win over No. 16 Midwestern State Saturday night at Memorial Stadium.

Travis Evans capped a 10-play, 80-yard drive with a 7-yard run at the start of the fourth quarter, then scored from 3 yards out at the end of 13-play, 99-yard drive after the Mustangs had taken a 32-30 lead late in the third quarter.

Tarleton State improved on its best start since 1990 as the Texans moved to 7-0, while the Mustangs dropped their second-straight game to a ranked opponent to fall to 5-2.

Midwestern State overcame shaky special teams play to surge ahead on Marcus Mathis' 7-yard touchdown run in the fourth quarter as the Texans started in MSU territory after five of six kickoffs and Tarleton's Nathan Robinson recorded an 87-yard TD on a punt return late in the first half.

MSU, which churned out 479 yards of total offense, took a 23-13 lead after Jose Martinez connected on a 30-yard field goal with 6:25 to go in the first half, but the Texans would strike twice before the intermission.

Texans' quarterback Scott Grantham hit Shamarr Prentice for a 30-yard TD strike before Robinson returned a punt 87 yards for another score as the Texans took a 27-23 lead into the locker room.

MSU junior running back Joe Chatman, who finished with a game-high 128 yards on 13 carries, accounted for scoring runs of 27 and 2 yards in the first half.

Daniel Polk became the first MSU rusher to top the 3,000-yard mark by running for 101 yards on 19 carries. The senior signal caller now has 3,062 career rushing yards.

It was his 10th career 100-yard rushing game.

Polk also completed 21-of-29 passes for 239 yards to finish with 340 yards of total offense.

Grantham finished with 225 yards on 21-of-32 passing including a pair of touchdowns.

Sophomore running back Michael Sampson added 83 yards on 13 carries as the Texans finished with 413 yards of total offense.

The Mustangs return home for Homecoming matchup next Saturday at Memorial Stadium. Kickoff is set for 8 p.m.