PORTALES, N.M. – It is time for the Wagon Wheel Game. West Texas A&M and Eastern New Mexico have played for the traveling trophy 36 times since 1986. Before the Saturday night rivalry, please take a look at the 4th and 1 Preview:

First Down – Narrow Loss: Eastern New Mexico fell to Western Oregon last week at home, 21-18. ENMU scored the contest's first 10 points to hold a 10-0 edge at halftime intermission. However, it was all Western Oregon in the second half as they bolted for 21-straight points after scoring on three of their first five drives of the period. Eastern tacked on a late score with a two-point conversion but were unable to keep the game in their favor after failing on an onside kick attempt. Eastern ran for 177 yards and threw for 128 in the matchup. WOU powered through with an impressive 229 rushing yards in the game. Quarterback Jordan McCarty dominated with 120 of those yards on the ground and bolted for two rushing scores. ENMU's Chad Ragle had 67 yards passing and 67 yards rushing. He tallied a throwing and running score.

Second Down – Field Position: One area where ENMU can excel is by forcing poor or less than ideal field position. Western Oregon did not start on less than their own 32-yard line until late in the fourth quarter when Eastern failed on fourth down and gave up an onside kick. This was due to Eastern's special teams unit who posted three touchbacks on three attempts courtesy of Clayton Vincent. Ryan Travis also had a productive day with five total punts and three of them going inside the 20-yard mark.

Third Down – Stop the Pass: West Texas A&M will not fret to throw the ball. With 338.7 passing yards per game, they rank second in the conference and fourth nationally in that category. Eastern New Mexico comes into the matchup with the third least passing yards allowed in the nation with just 139.0 yards per contest. Midwestern State threw for 350 yards and ran for 141 yards against Eastern earlier this season. Every other opponent has thrown for less than 150 total yards against ENMU. WT has not thrown for less than 260 yards this season. In wins, the Buffs are averaging 401.3 passing yards per contest. Quarterback RJ Martinez is responsible for 12 touchdowns and just three interceptions while throwing for 1861 yards.

Fourth Down – The Wheel: It does not get any better than a Wagon Wheel game. Both teams have won the battle for the wheel 18 times since 1986. With the trophy series tied, this game will grant bragging rights for the winner. West Texas A&M currently possesses the wheel after earning a 42-24 win in Portales in 2024. WT ran for 264 yards and threw for 201 yards in the win. The Buffs were down 17-6 midway through the second quarter and scored 36-straight to go up 42-17 by the fourth quarter. The Greyhounds only earned 240 rushing yards and 80 passing yards. Chad Ragle had 21 rushing yards for ENMU. Matthew Quartieri was one of the program's leading tacklers with six total.



&1 – Coaching History: One of the fun quirks of this game is that both Kelley Lee and Josh Lynn coached together at Eastern New Mexico. Lynn played for ENMU from 1997-2000 and continued in graduate assistant/assistant coach roles at Eastern until 2003. In 2012, the Eunice, N.M. native became the head coach of the Greyhounds before leaving to Nebraska Kearney in 2017. Kelley Lee was a graduate assistant at Eastern from 2002-03 and was the offensive coordinator under Lynn from 2012-16. Lee became the head coach at ENMU directly after Lynn's departure. Lee is now in his second tenure and sixth season overall in Portales as the head coach. Current OC for ENMU, Andrew McCraw, was an assistant for the team from 2012-14 and went back in 2017 when Lee was given the head coaching position.