- Complete Game Notes
- Live Stats
- Live Web-Stream (ESPN3.com)

FLORANCE, Ala. - The Tarleton Texans (4-4, 4-3 LSC) will makes its final road trip of the 2012 regular season as the team travels to face North Alabama (5-3, 2-2 GSC) as part of the Lone Star Conference /Gulf South Conference First-and-10 Challenge. Kickoff between the Texans and Lions is set for 3 p.m. at Braly Municipal Stadium in Florence, Ala.

QUICK HITS

WEB-STREAM COVERAGE
The Tarleton-North Alabama game will air live to a national audience on the ESPN3.com network with Don Russell, Rick Rhoades and A.A. Moore providing the commentary. The game can also be seen on the Watch ESPN app.

RADIO COVERAGE

The Tarleton Athletics Radio Network will carry the live broadcast of every football game this season. The games can be found locally in the Stephenville area on 93.1 KSTV-FM and can be listened to on the world-wide-web at www.TarletonSports.com. Play-by-play man Casey Hogan and color analyst Miky Young are joined by sideline reporter Joanna Hensley.

THE SERIES

The Texans and Lions have never met before in each others school history. Saturday will mark the first-ever meeting between the two schools.

HEAD COACH CARY FOWLER

Tarleton head coach Cary Fowler is in his third year at the helm of the Texan Football program. Fowler took over the team in January 2010 after then-head coach Sam McElroy departed to Texas Tech for an assistant coaching position.

Fowler went just 3-8 with the Texans in his first campaign as head coach in 2010. But the team and his coaching staff bounced back in 2011 with a 6-5 mark, which included going 5-3 in Lone Star Conference play and winning its final five games of the regular-season.

Fowler heads into this weekend's game with an overall record of 13-17. He is 0-0 when playing the Lions. 

UNA HEAD COACH BOBBY WALLACE

Head coach Bobby Wallace, who previously had great football success at North Alabama in the 1990's, winning three straight NCAA Division II National Championships, returned to UNA on Jan. 2, of this year to take over the Lions football program once again. He filled the vacancy left by the departure of Terry Bowden, who after three seasons resigned from UNA to take the head coaching job at Akron.

Wallace was head coach at UNA from 1988-97, posting an 82-36-1 record that included six NCAA Division II playoff appearances, three Gulf South Conference championships and three consecutive NCAA Division II National Championships (1993-95).  Wallace's 1993-95 teams had a combined 41-1 record, making Wallace the first coach in collegiate football history to win as many as 40 games in just three seasons.  The three straight national titles also made UNA the first school in the history of NCAA scholarship football to win three straight national titles. 

He was a three-time GSC Coach of the Year and three-time Division II National Coach of the Yearr. His 1995 squad was invited to the White House to meet with President Bill Clinton and became the first Division II team to receive such an invitation. 

Following his time at UNA, Wallace coached at Temple University from 1998-2005, and at the University of West Alabama from 2006-10. He was inducted into the Division II Football Hall of Fame in 2010, the UNA Athletic Hall of Fame in 2011 and was also previously inducted into the Alabama Sports Hall of Fame.

LAST WEEK

The Texans scored touchdowns on its first two possessions and then recorded a field goal with less than two minutes remaining in first quarter en route to a 45-20 win over Incarnate Word in San Antonio Saturday night.

Tarleton racked up 397 yards of total offense with 117 yards on the ground and another 280 yards through the air. The Texans were just 4-of-12 on third-down conversions, but went 2-for-3 on fourth-down plays. Tarleton had a 100 percent efficiency rating inside the red-zone, going 6-for-6 when facing UIW inside the 20-yard line.

Vauhgn Smith (RB, Jr, Menlo Park, Calif.) rushed for 83 yards on 17 carries in the win. Fenske made his first start for the Texans, completing 26 of his passes for 280 yards and five touchdowns. Arthur Buckingham WR, Sr, Pilot Point) led the Texans with seven catches and a pair of touchdowns. Jeken Frye (WR, Jr, El Paso) led all receivers with 114 yards in the contest.

The Texan defense was led by Marquis Wadley (LB, Jr, Dallas) with 12 tackles on the evening. Rufus Johnson (DE, Sr, Dallas) disrupted the backfield with three tackles-for-loss and a pair of sacks. He had six total tackles in the game.

SCOUTING THE LIONS

North Alabama heads into Saturday's game 5-3 overall and 2-2 in GSC games. The Lions are coming off a bye-week before facing the Texans, but lost 38-23 to West Georgia back on Oct. 18 in Carrollton, Ga.

UNA had won four-straight contests dating from Sep. 15 through Oct. 6, before falling 24-20 to Valdosta State on Oct. 13. The Lions enter Saturday's game having lost two-straight for just the third time in the past eight years.

The Lions have not lost three-consecutive games since the 2004 season (Oct. 23-Nov. 6).

A predominately rushing team, the Lions have four players with at least 200 rushing yards or more. Another two players head into Saturday's game with 198 yards rushing each. Lamonte Thompson leads the pack with 565  yards and five touchdowns so far this season.

The Lions rushing offense currently ranks 29th in the nation and fourth in the GSC, averaging 210.2 yards on the ground as a team.

Quarterbacks Chris Alexander (63.6 yards/gm) and Luke Wingo (78.1 yards/gm) split quarterbacking duties in games. Both QBs have thrown two touchdowns each.

Jason Smith leads the receiving corps with 289 yards and one touchdown.

Tavarius Wilson has a team-high 85 tackles on the season, while Caleb Massey has accounted for 74 tackles.

FIRST START? NO PROBLEM

Fenske made his first-ever start at quarterback for the Texans last Saturday, but he looked like a seasoned-vet as he completed his first 13 passes of the game, threw five touchdown passes and found pay-dirt again with a rushing touchdown. The senior out of Round Rock completed 26 passes in the game for a total of 280 yards, which included a 75-yard touchdown pass to Frye as time was winding down in the second quarter.

DEFENDING THE RUSH

Tarleton ranks second in the Lone Star Conference in rushing defense, giving up just 127.0 yards to opponents on the ground. The Texans rank 48th in the nation in the same category.

The Texans had its best performance of the season against the rush against A&M-Commerce, holding the Lions to just 20 yards on the ground. The Lions headed into the locker room with minus-two yards on the ground at halftime.

SPREADING THE WEALTH

Aaron Doyle has found 13 different receivers this season and has completed at least one pass to 10 different receivers in three of the seven games he has played in.

RUNNING BACKS NEARING 500 YARDS ON THE GROUND

Tarleton running back Smith surpassed the 500-yard mark against Texas A&M-Kingsville and Zach Henshaw (RB, Fr, Fischer) is nearing 500 yards rushing for the season. Smith enters Saturday's contest with 616 net-rushing yards,  while Henshaw needs 101 yards on the ground to break 500-yards.

Tarleton has now had at least one 500-yard rusher in 16 of the past 17 seasons.

CATCH THIS

Rhodes III has three 100-yard receiving games this season, while Frye has a pair of 100-yard receiving games this season. Rhodes has a total of seven 100-yard receiving games after tallying four games with a 100 yards or more last season.

GIVE ME FIVE... HUNDRED

The Texan offense has accumulated over 500 yards of total offense twice this season. Tarleton tallied a season-high 564 yards against Eastern New Mexico and 556 yards against Abilene Christian.

ISAAC PUNTS

Tarleton punter Isaac Arellano (K, So, Euless) averaged 46.2 yards per punt in Saturday's win over Incarnate Word. The sophomore punter is currently on pace to set the school's single-season record in punting average.

Arellano is averaging 43.0 yards per punt heading into Saturday's game at North Alabama. The Tarleton school record for punting is 42.0 yards per game set by Todd Sells in 1998.

COMING OFF A LOSS

The Texans are now 3-2 this season when coming off a loss. Tarleton went 2-3 following a loss last season, but since the 2007 season the Texans are 13-9 in its following contest preceding a loss.

WINNING THE 1ST QUARTER

The Texans have now won two games when leading after the first quarter. The Texans led 10-0 over the Lions (Oct. 13) en route to a 46-10 victory. Tarleton picked up another win after leading 17-0 over UIW this past weekend. Previously this season, Tarleton had first quarter leads over Abilene Christian (14-7) and Delta State (14-8), but would end up losing both contests.

BARNES KICKS HIS WAY INTO RECORD BOOKS

Blake Barnes (K, Fr, Stephenville) kicked five field goals in Tarleton's 46-10 win over A&M-Commerce a few weeks ago, tying a school record for most single-game field goals in the process. Barnes tied the mark, which was first set by Trampus Wilson back on Sept. 4, 1993 against East Central. J.W. Boren made five field goals as well back on Oct. 21, 2000 against Abilene Christian.

Barnes' game-tying field goal on that Saturday came from 38-yards out and it followed a one hour and 50 minute lightning delay.

HONORED BY THE LSC

Texan kicker Blake Barnes was named last week's LSC Co-Special Teams Player of the Week, following his school-tying, five field goal performance in Commerce last Saturday. Barnes tied Tarleton's all-time record for most field goals in a game, sharing the record with Trampus Wilson and J.W. Boren.

Barnes became the third Texan to earn POW honors this season as both Jerome Regal (Offensive POW) and Marquis Wadley (Defensive POW) both earned the weekly honor following Tarleton's 20-17 win over Midwestern State in the first game of the season.

UP NEXT FOR THE TEXANS

The Texans return home next Saturday, Nov. 10, to face Angelo State in the regular season finale. It will be Military Appreciation Weekend, with a kickoff set for 7 p.m.