SILVER CITY, N.M. -- Midwestern State hits the road to take on Western New Mexico Saturday night at Ben Altamirano Field. Kickoff is set for 7 p.m. (Central Time).

MIDWESTERN STATE (3-1, 2-0 LSC) at WESTERN NEW MEXICO (2-2, 1-1 LSC)

Saturday, Oct. 1 | 7 p.m. (Central Time)
Ben Altamirano Field | Silver City, N.M.

SERIES HISTORY | Midwestern State and Western New Mexico meet for the ninth time on the gridiron Saturday night in Silver City. MSU leads the overall series 6-2 and have won the last six meetings. Midwestern has won its last three trips to Silver City with WNMU's lone win coming in 1995.

WINNING BIG | Midwestern State set a program record for margin of victory in last week's 77-0 win over Simon Fraser. MSU set the previous mark by taking an 82-6 win at Western New Mexico in 2001. It was the Mustangs' first shutout since beating Missouri S&T 41-0 in the 2011 season opener in Rolla, Mo.

THE DEAN OF THE LSC | Bill Maskill became the first six-time Lone Star Conference Coach of the Year while leading the Mustangs to their fifth league title. Maskill's 166 career coaching victories are the fourth most by active NCAA Division II head coach and ninth most amongst all active NCAA football coaches. His 153 wins as a head coach at a Lone Star Conference institution are the second most in league history. Ron Harms won 172 games at Texas A&M-Kingsville in 21 seasons from 1979-99.

MAROON SEPTEMBER | Midwestern State owns a 64-11 mark in games played in September since the start of the Bill Maskill era in 2002. The Mustangs are 28-2 in September games since the start of the 2014 season with losses coming at Angelo State in 2019 and in the 2022 season opener against Colorado State-Pueblo. MSU is 54-28 (.659) during month of October during Maskill's tenure.

BREAKING THE CENTURY MARK | Two Midwestern State running backs rushed for more than 100 yards for the first time since the 2017 season opener in last week's 77-0 win over Simon Fraser. Redshirt-freshman Braxton Ash run for 150 yards on 19 carries with two touchdowns in his collegiate debut, while fellow redshirt-frosh Devin Cross broke the century mark for the second time this season going for 111 yards on 18 rushes with two touchdowns. Adrian Seales (243 yards) and Vincent Johnson (136 yards) were the last two backs to go over 100 yards in the same game for the Mustangs in a 53-6 win over Quincy in the 2017 season opener.

HIGH OCTANE MUSTANGS | Midwestern State ranks second in the Lone Star Conference and 14th in NCAA Division II averaging 462 yards of total offense per game. The Mustangs lead the LSC ranking 17th nationally with 229.8 rushing yards per game.

HOLDING THE LINE | Midwestern State's offensive line has permitted a single sack this season and that came on a flea flicker last week against Simon Fraser. The Mustangs also lead the LSC and rank fourth in NCAA Division II allowing a mere 2.25 tackles for loss per game.

OPPORTUNISTIC DEFENSE | Midwestern State is one of three Lone Star Conference programs to score three defensive touchdowns this season joining Angelo State and UT Permian Basin. The Mustangs produced pick sixes in each of the first three games with Justin Guillory going 63 yards against Colorado State-Pueblo, Dylon Davis going 43 yards at Eastern New Mexico, and Melik Owens went 52 yards versus Michigan Tech.

MUSTANGS TRACKS | Senior wide receiver Kylan Harrison became the 10th player in program history to amass 100 career receptions last week against Simon Fraser and is tied for eighth with Demetrius Galban (1992, 95-96) with 103 career receptions... Harrison, who is MSU's all-time leader with 21 career TD receptions, ranks fourth in all-time receiving yards at 1,807... Harrison needs 65 receiving yards to move past former teammate Xavier Land (1,871 yards from 2016-19) to move into third place... Senior quarterback Dillon Sterling-Cole moved into 10th place on MSU's all-time passing yards list on Sept. 17 against Michigan Tech and now has 2,536... Sterling-Cole is ninth with 23 touchdown passes and is in range of Rahsaan Bell (26 TDs/6th), Jake Glover (25 TDs/7th), and Brandon Kelsey (24 TDs/8th)... Senior defensive end Melik Owens is MSU's all-time leader with 40.0 tackles for loss and yards from tackles for loss (187)... Owens is second all-time with 16.5 quarterback sacks and trails Russ Grissom, who had 32.0 sacks from 1989-91... Sophomore Ritse Vaes has converted all 20 of his point-after attempts this season and accounted for two successful field goals of 31 and 34 yards against swirling wins at Eastern New Mexico... Vaes converted a school single-game record of 11 point-after attempts last week against Simon Fraser to extend his run to 34 straight... Vaes has been successful on 50-of-51 PAT attempts in his career with his lone miss being blocked last season against Texas A&M-Kingsville... 

UP NEXT | Midwestern State faces rival West Texas A&M Saturday night at Memorial Stadium. Kickoff is set for 7 p.m.