PORTALES, N.M. - Eastern New Mexico football is undefeated during the month of October in the Kelley Lee era and will look to continue that streak as they travel down to Stephenville, Texas to take on #21 Tarleton State this Saturday night. The Texans pose as the fourth top-25 nationally ranked opponent of the season for the Hounds and will provide an opportunity for Eastern to generate some momentum heading into the second half of the season.  

A POSSIBLE TURNING POINT
• Week six will serve as an interesting point in the schedule as the Hounds travel to Stephenville for a match-up with the fourth nationally-ranked opponent of the season in #21 Tarleton State. The first five opponents up to this point on the 2018 schedule for Eastern New Mexico currently have an overall record of 18-6, while the remaining five opponents following this week's game with Tarleton have a combined record of 8-17. 
• An upset road victory this week will provide Eastern New Mexico a great opportunity to rebound after a 1-4 start and string together some wins to end the season. Eastern has faced without a doubt the toughest schedule so far this season in the Lone Star Conference, and could have a reasonable argument that they have faced the toughest competition so far this year in the nation. 

ANOTHER TOP DOG, ANOTHER NARROW ESCAPE
• Eastern New Mexico gave a top-five ranked opponent all they could handle for the second time this season last weekend as #5 Midwestern State had to use two long passing touchdowns in the early stages of the third quarter to counter the Hounds performance in a 31-23 victory for the Mustangs.
 • Eastern doubled Midwestern's time of possession, holding the ball for 40:00 minutes of the game, while the Mustangs and their high powered offense maintained possession for just 20:00 total minutes. 
• Running back Tayshaun Gary scored both touchdowns for the Hounds on the ground while kicker Tyler Vargas totaled 11 points throughout the game with three field goals makes.
• Eastern put together a 19-play, 42-yard drive that ran 6:42 off the clock in the fourth quarter to set up a 44-yard field goal make by Vargas to make it a one possession ball game with 1:22 remaining on the clock. The Hounds onside kick attempt was eventually recovered by the Mustangs, sealing the 31-23 defeat.
• That loss marks the second top-five nationally ranked opponent that the Hounds have lost to by 10 or less points after falling to previously #1 ranked Texas A&M-Commerce in week three.   
     
 SOMETHINGS GOT TO GIVE
• Saturday's game with Tarleton State will be a battle of two of the conference's best at their respective crafts. The Texans have relied on a hard-nosed defense all season and have surrendered just eight total touchdowns up to this point in the year. Tarleton ranks first in the LSC and fifth in the nation in rush defense with an average of 64.0 yards per game allowed. 
• The Hounds on the other hand have rushed for 300 yards or more in each of the last two games and now rank second in the LSC and in the top-ten nationally with 283.8 yards per game rushing.   
  
HISTORY WITH THE TEXANS 
• Eastern New Mexico is 14-11 all time against Tarleton State and have won each of the last two contests in Stephenville in 2017 and 2015.  
• The Hounds jumped out to a 24-6 lead early in the third quarter a year ago against Tarleton State and never looked back, racking up 341 total yards on the ground to defeat the Texans by a final score of 24-15. 
• The 15 points that Tarleton managed in that contest was the lowest point total of the 2017 season for the Texans.
• Gary rushed for 105 yards on just four carries in last year's contest against Tarleton.   
   
SCOUTING THE TEXANS
•Tarleton is the only team in the LSC to average more rushing yards than Eastern New Mexico this season with an average of 285.5 yards per game. Junior Daniel McCants ranks first in the LSC and third in the nation with an average of 133.8 rushing yards per game and has totaled five rushing scores on the season. 
• Senior quarterback Ben Holmes has totaled 891 yards through the air and eight touchdowns and is coming off a season high in passing yards with 305 in last week's 54-33 victory over Angelo State.
• The Texans have been extremely balanced on the defensive side of the football with five players totaling 20 or more tackles so far this season. Defensive lineman Chris Radford is fifth in the LSC with 7.5 tackles for loss while defensive back Prince Johnson is second in the league with four interceptions.
• Despite the national ranking and a 4-0 start to the season, the Texans have faced just one opponent in West Texas A&M with a winning record in 2018.
• Tarleton sports the second ranked scoring offense (44.3 ppg) in the LSC and the top ranked scoring defense (16.5 ppg).          

BACK TO BACK
• The Hounds have had back-to-back weeks in which a player has been named player of the week in the LSC after Tyler Vargas was named the league's Special Teams Player of the Week for the fifth week of the regular season.  
• Vargas totaled 11 points in last week's game against Midwestern State and connected on field goal attempts of 33, 30 and 40 yards throughout the game.
• The San Diego, Calif. native ranks third in the conference in field goal percentage (83.3%) and fifth in punting average (40.2 yards per punt).  

OCTOBER DOMINANCE
• With the start of October officially here, the Hounds will have good memories from last year as they won all three of their games throughout the month.  
• The Hounds defeated UT Permian Basin, Tarleton State and Texas A&M-Kingsville during the month of October last year and posted a record of 3-2 throughout the month in the 2016 season.

DAUNTING DANTE
• Sophomore Dante Urrea has been outstanding in the last two outings for Eastern New Mexico, totaling 10 or more tackles in each of the past two games  
• Urrea has recorded a tackle for loss in both games and also forced a fumble last week on a sack of quarterback Llayton Rabb, which proved to be a huge momentum builder for Eastern in the contest. 
• He now ranks ninth in the conference with an average of 7.8 tackles per game.

1,000 YARDS 
• The Hounds will now feature four players that have rushed for over 1,000 yards in their career in Paul Terry, Johnny Smith, Tayshaun Gary and Wyatt Strand.
• With the graduation of Kamal Cass last year, many wondered who would step up and replace the school's all-time leading rusher. The "Ground Strike" offense has instead generated a "feed the hot hand" approach and has seen all four of the career 1,000 yard rushers find success at different points throughout the season. 
• All four rushers have averaged 40 yards or more on the ground per game through the first five games of the season with Terry leading the way with an average of 85.6.

WHERE ARE THE FLAGS
• An interesting theme that has continued throughout the first five games of the 2018 season for the Hounds is the penalty yardage differences in each game.
• Eastern ranks second in the LSC with 68.2 penalty yards per game, but have seen opponents flagged for a conference low 44.2 yards per game. 

THE TWO VETERANS 
• In an age of Division II football where transfers and junior college careers are more common than ever, it is difficult to find players that remain a part of programs and have an impact on the field for all four years of their collegiate careers. Seniors Brad Hardin and Todd Countee have managed to do just that during their time here at Eastern.
• Hardin is just one tackle away from totaling 200 in his career while Countee has totaled 123.
• As the second half of their final season in a Hound uniform gets underway, each player will be looking to take advantage and have their impacts felt in the remaining six games of the season.       

THE GUYS BEHIND THE SCENES 
• From an outsiders point of view, it is easy to overlook the time and effort that is put in by all involved in collegiate athletics. The dedication and passion it takes to operate a football program at the Division II level is often under appreciated and no position embodies that grind more than the graduate assistant coaches that are apart of each and every football program.
• The Hounds currently have four GA's on staff in Max Silver, Eddie Rodriguez, Pecos Fort and Reggie Moore and their work throughout each week in preparation for gameday along with their work in the classroom as they complete their graduate degrees can't be appreciated enough by all Greyhound football fans.