Tuesday, November 11, 2014
                                                                                                                
PORTALES, N.M. —   Having clinched a winning record for the second straight year and the highest scoring season in team history, the Eastern New Mexico University football team (6-4) will look to close the season strong against rival West Texas A&M (6-4). Both teams won their opening round Lone Star Conference playoff game last week, with the Greyhounds hosting a 61-7 win over Texas A&M-Kingsville, while the Buffaloes earned a 58-13 victory over McMurry.
 
Greyhound Fullback E'lon Spight (Sr., FB, St. Louis, Mo. / Hazelwood East HS / Grossmont College) also set ENMU single-season rushing marks for yards and touchdowns.

• The Greyhounds lead the nation in time of possession
• On first downs, Eastern is 13th in the nation offensively and 17th defensively
• The Greyhounds are 27th (38th last week) in the country in total offense and lead the LSC in total defense
• The Greyhounds are fifth (fifth last week) in the country in rushing offense, eighth (ninth last week) in  rushing defense and first in the LSC in both
• The Greyhounds are 11th (19th and 32nd over last two weeks) in the nation in passing efficiency and second in the conference
• ENMU is 16th (24th, 37th last two weeks) in the nation and leads the LSC in third-down conversion defense
• E'lon Spight is fourth (fifth, sixth, ninth last three weeks) in the country in rushing yards and leads the LSC
• Kevin Reaves leads the LSC in punt return average and is 15th in the nation
• Seth Bailey is 13th in the league in total tackles and 14th in tackles for a loss. He also is fifth in passes broken up and second in interceptions

 
Lone Star Conference Notes
LSC Website
LSC Schedule
2013 Standings
2014 Statistics
 
Entering the final week of play, LSC teams are 22-14 at home and 15-19 on the road. Last week, all four home teams were victorious.
 
Texas A&M-Commerce is the only LSC team in the national poll, at 24^th and will host Angelo State, which is in the receiving votes section. Midwestern State will host Tarleton State and McMurry will host Texas A&M-Kingsville.
 
Home Sweet Home
ENMU Website
ENMU Football
ENMU Roster
ENMU Schedule
ENMU 2014 Statistics
 
The Greyhounds have won six of the last ten home games and are 7-6 at Greyhound Stadium under Head Coach Josh Lynn. At home in 2014, Eastern is outscoring the opposition by a 41.6-29.8 points per game average.
 
Jeremy Buurma (R-Jr., Las Cruces, N.M./Las Cruces HS) has thrown for 693 yards and eight touchdowns at Greyhound Stadium this season, while Spight has rushed for 760 yards and ten scores.
 
In the Series
 
The Buffaloes hold a 15-13 edge in the overall series, and a 14-13 edge in the Wagon Wheel series, which began in the 1986 season. Eastern has won the last two meetings, including a 31-21 victory two weeks ago. Earlier this season, WT recovered their own kickoff to start the game, but a bad snap on the first play from scrimmage stalled the drive. Eastern went on to seize a 21-0 lead and never looked back.
 
Last year, the Hounds rallied from a 21-point deficit to defeat the Buffaloes for the first time since the 2004 season. Today marks the first non-Wagon Wheel meeting since 1945.
 
On the Run
 
Against Texas A&M-Kingsville, Spight posted the Greyhounds first 200-yard rushing game since 2007. He had 114 yards on just three carries in the second half and set new single-season rushing records for yards and touchdowns. The Hounds also shattered the team mark for points in a season.
 
Spight rushed for 161 yards and a touchdown against West Texas A&M and is just 196 yards and three touchdowns from matching Michael Benton's single-season records from the 2007 season. Buurma hit six of his eight pass attempts against WT and rushed for a career-high 81 yards with two touchdowns on the ground and one through the air.
 
Spight rushed for a career-best 196 yards on 40 carries at Angelo State. The 40 carries was the most by any Greyhound player since at least the 1998 season.
 
 
The Defense Doesn't Rest
 
Jerell Bradford (Jr., DB, Compton, Calif./ Robert A. Millikan HS / Cerritos College) made a career-best 10 tackles against Texas A&M-Kingsville, last week, while Elliot Peters (R-So., OLB, Mesepa, American Samoa / Marist HS) had five quarterback pressures. Earlier in the season, Eastern posted the first shutout against the Javelinas since the 1984 season.
 
Eastern turned in a strong performance in the Wagon Wheel Game and limited the Buffaloes to a season-low 266 yards of total offense, which included just 35 yards and two first downs in the first half.
 
The Greyhounds limited Angelo State to 252 yards of total offense, 78 rushing yards and just two-for-eleven on third downs.
 
Teams that are Special
 
Logan O'Brien (R-Jr., TE, San Angelo, Texas/San Angelo Central HS) leads the special teams with nine tackles, with a team-high four in punt coverage. Mitchell Cox (So., PK/P, Kent, Wash./Kentwood Senior HS), Bradley Beeston (Sr., WR, Edmond, Okla./Edmond North HS/Eastern Arizona College) and O'Brien are tied for the lead in kick coverage, with five each.
 
Cox had a big game against West Texas A&M with four touchbacks on kickoffs, two punts downed inside the 20 and a 40-yard field goal.
 
Kevin Reaves (Sr., DB, Albuquerque, N.M./Manzano HS/NMMI) had a 53-yard kick return against Angelo State, continuing his strong special teams play.
 
D'Maujeric Tucker's (So., RB, Lubbock, Texas/Frenship HS) 100-yard kick return against Tarleton State was his second for a touchdown in his last two seasons. It also was the fifth 100-yard return in team history and earned him LSC Special Teams Player of the Week Honors.
 
Reaves was selected as the Lone Star Conference Special Teams Player of the Week after he blocked two field goals at Texas A&M-Kingsville. It marked the first time a player blocked two kicks in a game, since Nathan Uland at CSU-Pueblo in the 2009 opener.
 
West Texas A&M Notes
WT Website
WT Football
WT Roster
WT Schedule
WT 2014 Statistics
 
After dropping a 31-21 decision to the Greyhounds, WT routed McMurry in the opening round of the LSC playoffs.
 

• The Buffaloes are fourth in the nation in red zone offense
• West Texas A&M is seventh in the country in punt returns
• WT is second in the LSC in scoring defense and third in total
• The Buffaloes lead the LSC in passing defense
• Geremy Aldridge-Mitchell is second in the LSC in rushing and rushing touchdowns
• Carter James is second in the conference with 127 tackles and averages 12 per game