PORTALES, N.M. – Eastern New Mexico football is set to face Midwestern State on the road. Before the Greyhounds battle the Mustangs, please take a look at the 4th & 1 Preview:

First Down – Staying Close: Eastern New Mexico stayed in a tight battle with No. 8 Angelo State last week. The Greyhounds dropped the matchup 31-20 in a contest that saw a three-hour lightning/rain delay. Eastern ran for a season-high 252 yards with Xavier Johnson leading the attack with 103 yards of his own. Quarterback Chad Ragle ran for two touchdowns on 20 carries and 46 total yards. Nine different Hounds contributed to the rushing total for Eastern. On the other hand, ENMU's defense was the highlight of the night as they held ASU to 145 rushing yards and just two passing yards. Cyrus Moore was one of the major contributors to the defense as he earned 11 tackles along with posting a pass breakup and a quarterback hurry.

Second Down – Own The Possession: The Greyhounds have held the possession battle in each of their three contests. Eastern New Mexico is second in the Lone Star Conference with 224.7 rushing yards per game. The program is also finding ways to lengthen drives as they rank third fourth in the Lone Star Conference with a 44.7% conversion rate on third downs and rank third with a 60% conversion on fourth downs. Another key to Eastern's program is limiting penalties and they currently commit the fourth least among conference foes with 6.33 flags per outing.



Third Down – Keep In The Game: Eastern New Mexico's defense has kept ENMU in several games this season. The Hounds did not allow a first quarter score until the most recent contest against the Rams when they gave up a touchdown. They currently rank third in the LSC allowing just 333.3 yards per game. Both Matthew Quartieri and Aaron Warren lead the conference with 25 tackles. Linebacker Dylan Quartieri is second in the league with 3.5 tackles for loss. Another area where Matthew Quartieri is excelling is leading the team with two quarterback hurries. Over the first three matchups, ENMU's defense has improved yards allowed each game this season.

Fourth Down – Mustang Musings: Midwestern State will pass the ball. MSU ranks third in the league and ninth in the nation with 330.5 passing yards per contest. This season, they are only gaining 39.5 yards per game on the ground. Three of the four touchdowns they have scored have come from the pass. The team's leading receiver is preseason LSC offensive player to watch Demonte Green. He boasts 17 catches for a whopping 241 yards. He scored the Mustangs first touchdown of the season with a 75-yard reception in the opening contest of the year. Junior linebacker Noah Bustard is the top tackler with nine early in the season for the team. He is the only MSU student-athlete with a sack this year. The Mustangs go into the contest with the Hounds at a 0-2 mark. The last time they started 0-2 was during the 1996 season.

&1 – History Is Fun: Eastern New Mexico and Midwestern State first met in 1955 with ENMU holding onto a 13-6 home win. The two programs took a 42-year hiatus before meeting in 1997 as conference foes. Overall, the Hounds only have seven wins over the 30 meetings in the series. Four of those wins have come in Wichita Falls. The last time Eastern New Mexico beat Midwestern State was in 2019 when the Kelley Lee led program held onto a 27-24 result on the road. Eastern won the rushing battle, 391-162, during the win. Both teams will be fighting the possession battle and that stat is particularly important because seven of the last ten meetings had been decided by single digits.