PORTALES, N.M. - The Eastern New Mexico football program will welcome their fourth consecutive nationally-ranked opponent to Greyhound Stadium dating back to last year on Saturday evening when #5 Midwestern State comes to town for a Lone Star Conference showdown.

The Hounds are looking to build on a 31-14 victory last week over Texas A&M-Kingsville on the road and have been led by consecutive outstanding defensive performances throughout the past two games. Eastern will need to keep up that defensive intensity as they welcome the nation's no. 2 ranked offensive team in Midwestern State and look to upset the undefeated Mustangs for their second consecutive win of the season. 

WELCOMING ANOTHER RANKED OPPONENT
• The Hounds are to set to welcome their third nationally-ranked opponent of the season in no. 5 Midwestern State this weekend inside Greyhound Stadium.
• The Mustangs are undefeated on the season at 4-0 and are currently tied for first in the LSC at 2-0 with Tarleton State. 
• The Hounds picked up their first win of the 2018 season last week on the road against Texas A&M-Kingsville by a final score of 31-14. 
• That victory in Kingsville is just the second time the Hounds have defeated the Javelinas on their home turf in program history. 
• Eastern New Mexico will be looking for their first home victory of the season having lost to Colorado Mesa and Texas A&M-Commerce in weeks two and three. 

GETTING BACK TO THE ROOTS
• The 31-14 Hound's victory last week was a textbook performance of the Eastern New Mexico brand of football that head coach Kelley Lee has instilled in his program. A relentless rushing attack (374 total yards), a suffocating rushing defense (71 opponent yards), and a strong emphasis on time of possession (31:41), all led to the Hounds securing their first victory of the season. 
• Another key component to the dominating victory over Texas A&M-Kingsville was the arrival of the big offensive plays that were hard to come by in the Hounds first three games of the season. Eastern had three rushing plays go for over 30 yards and also had a 66-yard pass from Wyatt Strand to Johnny Smith. 
     
 A WHOLE NEW BALLGAME
• After conceding 512 and 455 total yards in the first two games of the season, the Eastern New Mexico defensive unit has looked completely different in the last two games. The Hounds have surrendered just 289 and 229 total yards in the games against Texas A&M-Commerce and Kingsville and have quickly climbed every statistical category in the LSC. 
• Eastern now ranks fifth in the league in both scoring (25.0 ppg) and total (371.3) defense after ranking at or near the bottom of the conference in both categories just two weeks ago.  
  
HISTORY WITH THE MUSTANGS 
• Eastern New Mexico is 6-17 all time against Midwestern State and have won just three out of 11 games in Portales. 
• Last year's regular season finale meeting between the two teams was broadcast on ESPN Networks
• That meeting turned into a shootout as the Mustangs pulled away late for a 56-43 victory in a contest in which the teams combined for over 1,000 total yards of offense.
• Kamal Cass broke the ENMU rushing record in that game after rushing for a season-high 276 yards on 39 carries and three touchdowns. Midwestern's Layton Rabb also had a career day, completing 29-of-47 attempts for 393 yards and six touchdowns.  
   
SCOUTING THE MUSTANGS
• As was the case last season, the Mustangs feature the league's premiere offense and currently rank second in all of Division II football with an average of 583.8 yards per game. 
• Quarterback Layton Rabb has returned as the signal caller for the Mustangs in 2018 and has collected three of the four Lone Star Conference Offensive Player of the Week honors so far this season and ranks third in the country with 18 passing touchdowns    
• Rabb averages 341.3 passing yards per game and has thrown for three or more touchdowns in all four games this season. The Llano, Texas native has spread the ball around well all season as four different receivers have averaged more than 50 yards per game.  
• Wide receiver Anthony Tennison has caught six of his 10 receptions on the season for touchdowns and ranks in the top 10 in Division II in receiving touchdowns for the season. 
 • Midwestern State currently ranks seventh in the LSC in total defense (413.0 ppg) and is led by senior safety Sir'vell Ford, who leads the team with 31 total tackles. Fellow senior defensive back Paul Manus has also been extremely effective for the Mustang defense, recording 5.5 tackles for loss in the first four games of the season.    

ACCOLADES FOR URREA
• Sophomore Dante Urrea collected the first Lone Star Conference Player of the Week honor of the 2018 season for the Hounds last week after being named the conference's defensive player of the week.  
• Urrea had a season-high 12 tackles in the Hounds win over Kingsville and led a defensive secondary that allowed just 158 passing yards for the game. 


GET AHEAD EARLY STAY AHEAD LATE
• The Hounds are now 7-1 in games during the Lee era in which they put the first points on the board after finally striking first in last week's contest in Kingsville. 
•  That game marked the first time all season that the Hounds have put the first points on the board, exemplifying the need for the Hound offense to get started early and often. 

GO JOHNNY GO
• Senior tailback Johnny Smith was electric on offense with the ball in his hands last week. The El Paso, Texas native touched the ball just 10 times, but totaled 197 total yards on offense with seven carries and three receptions. 
.• Smith scored the fourth and fifth receiving touchdowns of his career last week on catches of 28 and 66 yards. 
 
COUNT IT
• Senior Charles Countee has recorded inteceptions in back-to-back games, giving him multiple interceptions on the season for the first time in his four year Eastern New Mexico career.   • Eastern New Mexico has totaled five interceptions so far on the year, ranking fifth in the LSC. 

CONVERT BY ANY MEANS NECESSARY
• The Hounds have converted on 40.4% (23-of-57) of their third down conversions so far this year and lead the LSC in fourth-down conversions with a percentage of 66.7% (4-of-6).

WYATT IS WINGING IT 
• Quarterback Wyatt Strand threw two touchdown passes for the first time since the 2016 season in Saturday's win over Texas A&M-Kingsville. 
• Strand has now accounted for 36 total touchdowns in his career and is two passing touchdowns away from matching his total scores through the air from all of last season. 

21 AND UP
• The Hounds are 7-2 under Kelley Lee when scoring at least 21 points.
• When scoring 30 or more points, ENMU is 4-1 during the Lee era and 2-1 when scoring 40 or more points. 

HOUNDS FOOTBALL HISTORY
• In the 81 seasons of ENMU Football the Hounds have compiled a 398-396-21 (.528) record in 813 total games.
• Since joining the NCAA in 1984, the Hounds have a 172-176-4 (.498) record in 348 total games
• The Hounds have won eight or more games nine times in program history and have posted 25 seasons of seven or more wins.
• ENMU has won a school-record nine games two times (1957 & 1987). 
• Since joining the NCAA in 1984, ENMU has won seven or more games in 11 seasons and posted six seasons of eight or more wins, with the most recent coming in 2017.
• ENMU has won or shared two LSC Championships in school history with the last coming in 2013.
• The Hounds have qualified for the postseason two times in their history, with both being berths to the Heart of Texas Bowl in 2015 and 2016.