The Eastern New Mexico football team will be looking for their third straight win in as many weeks this weekend against UT-Permian Basin inside Greyhound Stadium at 7 p.m.

The game will serve as the finale for the inaugural “Family Weekend” for Eastern New Mexico while the Hounds will be looking to stay undefeated against UTPB in the all-time series.

ITS A FAMILY EVENT
• Week nine for the Hounds will serve as the finale of the first ever “U.S. Bank Family Weekend” on the campus of Eastern New Mexico and will showcase a Hound football team that is coming off two dominant performances over Western New Mexico and West Texas A&M.
• Family Weekend features events all accross campus in coordination with the multiple athletic events throughout the weekend as well as college open houses, a family fair, and the official family weekend tailgate party.

TAKE THAT WHEEL AND RUN
• Eastern New Mexico proved a point last Saturday against West Texas A&M that the second half of the 2018 season will produce diferent results than the first half. The Hounds dominated from start to finish in a 28-0 shutout victory over the Buffs, the first shutout win for Eastern in the series since 1992.
• The Hounds limited the Buffs to just 134 total yards for the game and kept their bitter rivals off the scoreboard for the entirety of the contest despite the fact that West Texas began drives on the Eastern side of the field three seperate times.
• Eastern dominated accross the board in all major statistical categories and rolled up 440 total yards rushing while maintaining possession of the ball for 38:34 minutes throughout the game.
• Junior Paul Terry had his second 100-yard game of the season on the ground with 134 yards on 21 carries while quarterback Wyatt Strand added 79 total yards on the ground and a touchdown.

THE 400 CLUB
• Eastern has now rushed for 400 or more yards in consecutive games for the first time since rushing for 400 yards or more in three consecutive games to finish out the 2017 regular season in games against Texas A&M-Kingsville, West Liberty, and Midwestern State.
• Eastern is 4-1 all-time when rushing for 400 or more yards in the Kelley Lee era and currently ranks third in the nation in rushing offense, averaging 316.9 yards per game.

SECOND ONE FOR THE HOUNDS
• Following the defensive showcase put on by Eastern in the Hound’s victory last week, sophomore Noah Sweitzer was named the Lone Star Conference Defensive Player of the Week, joining fellow sophomore Dante Urrea as the two Hounds to have taken home the award so far this season.
• Sweitzer led the team with 10 total tackles, 2.5 of which were for a loss. The Rio Rancho, N.M. native also forced and recovered a fumble to put an end to the final West Texas drive of the evening.
• Eastern New Mexico joins Tarleton State as the second team to have a player earn Defensive Player of the Week recognition twice this season.

AND NOW WE MOVE AHEAD
• With two consecutive emotional wins in the rear-view mirror, this week’s match-up against UT-Permian Basin becomes all that more important as the Hounds have positioned themselves to be favored to win their remaining three games of the 2018 season.
• Eastern New Mexico has looked like a rejuvinated team in the past two weeks and currently sit in sixth place in the LSC. First year defensive coordinator Mike Walton’s system is finally starting to take effect and the Hound defense has looked incredible in both games against Western New Mexico and West Texas A&M. Eastern also has four rushers in Terry, Strand, Johnny Smith and Tayshaun Gary all ranked in the top 15 in the LSC in rushing average, showing that the “Ground Strike” offense is balanced and rolling.

SCOUTING THE OPPONENTS
• UTPB conceded 24 unanswered point in the fourth quarter of last week’s 44-20 loss at home against Angelo State. The lone LSC victory for the season for the Falcons came back on Sept. 29 at home against Western New Mexico, 21-20. UTPB picked up a non-conference win over Humboldt State on Oct. 13 by a final score of 36-17, but have struggled mightily in the rest of their games against LSC foes.
• The Falcons will enter week nine averaging 21.3 points per game, ranking eighth in the LSC, but sport the third ranked passing attack in the league with an average of 277.1 yards through the air. On the flip side of the coin, UTPB ranks last in the league in rushing offense, averaging just 103.8 yards per game. 18 of the 24 total touchdowns for the Falcons have come through the air.
• Freshman quarterback Taylor Null ranks second in the conference averaging 299.5 yards per game passing and will be coming off a game in which he totaled 409 total yards through the air and three touchdowns.
• Null has spread the ball around well so far this year as three Falcons are averaging fifty or more yards a game. Juniors Kyle McBride and Kristian Brown lead the Falcons with 28 and 26 receptions respectively, while classmate Ben Galaviz has hauled in a team-high five receiving scores.
• On the defensive side of the ball, UTPB currently sits seventh in scoring defense (31.8 ppg) and eighth in total defense (411.9 ppg), and have been particularly suspect against the run, conceding 200.4 yards per game on the ground.
• Junior Chris Hoad has been a force from his linebacker position throughout the season and ranks second in the LSC and 14th in all of Division II football with an average of 10.6 tackles per game. The Falcons have also been disruptive on the defense line, totaling the second most sacks in the LSC with 21.

ROLL THE DICE
• Eastern New Mexico has been extremely efficient when going for it on fourth down this season and ranks first in the LSC with a 64.7 (11-of-17) percentage on the year.
• That percentage is good enough to rank 23rd in all of Division II football.

RED ZONE RENEGADES
• The Hounds have been prolific in the red zone this season, scoring on 26-of-29 attempts and lead the nation with 22 red zone rushing touchdowns.
• Eastern has the second best red zone percentage in the LSC (89.7 percent), and currently ranks 14th in the nation.

GET ON THE BOARD FIRST
• Many football enthusiasts would agree that it is very difficult to play from behind when operating the triple option offense, and this season for the Hounds is a textbook definition of that idea.
• Eastern is 3-0 on the season when scoring first and has been defeated all five times that they have not scored first.

REGIONAL RANKINGS ARE OUT
• The Super Region Four rankings were released for the first time this season this week and to not much suprise the LSC is well represented. Tarleton State (5), MSU Texas (6) and Tex. A&M-Commerce (7) would all qualify for the NCAA Playoffs if the season were to have ended this week.
• What does that mean for the Hounds? The Lone Star conference receives an automatic at-large bid to the Corsicana Bowl at the end of the regular season and with those three teams battling it out for a spot in the playoffs, the next highest finisher in the conference is up for grabs.
• Assuming that Tarleton, MSU Texas, and Texas A&M-Commerce all stay in the top seven of the region and qualify for the national playoffs, it is essentially a three-team race to the end for that final next highest spot in the league between Eastern, Angelo State and West Texas A&M.
• The Buffs obviously have the two-game advantage over the Hounds with a record of 5-3, but travel to Texas A&M-Commerce and Midwestern State in two of their final three games. Angelo State maintains a one-game advantage over Eastern at 4-4, but close out the regular season against the Hounds and Texas A&M-Commerce for their final two games.
• From a pure strength of schedule perspective, Eastern New Mexico is in prime shape to finish out the regular season with five straight victories and would have a legit chance in earning that spot in the Corsicana Bowl.