THE GAME
Tarleton is back home for the regular season finale Saturday afternoon at 2 p.m. when the Texans welcome Western New Mexico to Memorial Stadium in hopes of securing the program's first outright Lone Star Conference Championship. Tarleton holds a one-game lead over Texas A&M-Commerce in the league standings with one game left to play. The Texans can win the outright Lone Star Conference championship for the first time in program history with a win over the Mustangs this weekend. Tarleton has had shared league titles in 2001, 2009 and 2013, along with divisional titles in 2002, 2003, and 2006.
 
WHAT'S AT STAKE
In addition to the outright championship, Tarleton's positioning in the NCAA regional rankings are on the line. The top seven teams in the NCAA regional rankings advance to the national playoffs with the top seed earning a bye and the No. 2, 3, and 4 seeds earning the right to host the first-round games. Tarleton is currently ranked No. 2 in the regional rankings.
 
MEMORIAL STADIUM TOURS
The construction on Memorial Stadium is still under way. However, Tarleton State University will be hosting tours through the stadium prior to Saturday's. The free tours will take place from 11:30 a.m. to 1:30 p.m. on Nov. 10. Elevators will not be available. More information will be made available next week at TarletonSports.com and Tarleton.edu.
 
GAME COVERAGE
A complete broadcast of the game can be heard on the Tarleton Sports Network presented by the North Texas Ford Dealers. The Tarleton Sports Network team of Byron Anderson, Kyle Masters, Savion Washington, and J.P. Stingley have the call on the flagship station of Tarleton Athletics – KTRL 90.5 FM in Stephenville – and worldwide at TarletonSports.com/ListenLive. Links to live stats and a video stream of the game can be found on the Tarleton Football schedule, the Game Day preview story, and on the @TarletonSports social media channels. The live video stream is free of charge, courtesy of the Tarleton Sports Network.
 
TICKET INFORMATION
Single game reserved tickets are $15 while general admission tickets are $10 for adults and $7 for students. All Stephenville-Campus Tarleton students with a valid ID receive free admission. There will be three ticket booths available to fans, one each on the North and South ends of the stadium and a third under the current press box on the east side. All gates will open at 5:30 p.m. on Thursday. The ticket booth under the press box on the east side is home to visitor will call tickets while the south end by the Tarleton Field House will host the home will call tickets. On game day, the new Rudder Way Ticket Office, located in the old police station, will be open from noon to 4 p.m.
 
NATIONAL SPOTLIGHT
Tarleton Football remains among the top 10 football programs in the nation according to the latest American Football Coaches Association poll. The Texans moved up one spot to No. 7 in the nation and lead the way among Lone Star Conference schools with Texas A&M-Commerce at No. 14 and MSU Texas at No. 16.
 
ABOUT THE TEXANS
Tarleton guaranteed itself a share of the Lone Star Conference Championship by defeating No. 10 MSU Texas in Wichita Falls two weekends ago. Last Saturday, Tarleton improved to 9-0 with a 59-3 rout of Lincoln (Mo.) for the second-longest win streak to begin a season in program history, behind only the 1990 team's start of 11-0. Tarleton continues to dominate both sides of the line of scrimmage as the Texans rank among the national leaders at No. 3 in rushing offense (306.1) and No. 9 in rushing defense (90.7). Xavier Turner leads the ground attack with 928 yards while Daniel McCants (839), Adam Berryman (407), Ben Holmes (288), and D'Anthony Hopkins (237) have also gone for over 200 yards each on the season. Holmes also leads the air attack with 1,909 yards passing and 21 touchdowns. Zimari Manning leads the receiving corps with 643 yards on 32 catches and nine touchdowns. Defensively, Jai Edwards leads the team with 63 tackles while EJ Speed (10.0), Chris Radford (8.0), Gary Moore (8.5), Sean Walton (6.5), Jordan Phillips (6.0) and Tyrell Thompson (6.5) lead the way for the Texan defense in making tackles behind the line of scrimmage.
 
ABOUT WESTERN NEW MEXICO
The Mustangs have fallen on hard times in the post-Adam Clark era. Clark, who is now on the Tarleton coaching staff, will face his former team for the first time after leading the Mustangs as their head coach for the last eight seasons. This year, Western New Mexico is 0-9 under first year head coach Frank Tristan. Despite coming into the weekend among the worst scoring offenses in the nation, the Mustangs have found an offensive spark over the last two weekends by scoring 69 points against Texas A&M-Kingsville and MSU Texas. The Mustangs scored just 72 points in the seven games prior to that. DeAndre Williams leads the Mustang ground game with 487 yards on 77 carries in just six games this season. QB Blayne Armstrong leads the team with 609 passing yards. Defensively, Roosevelt Calhoun leads the team in tackles.
 
SERIES HISTORY
Tarleton is looking for some revenge on the Mustangs, who defeated the Texans 38-25 in Silver City last year to bring the all-time record of the series to 3-2 in Tarleton's favor. The home teams have won every game of the series, which began in 1991 with a Tarleton road trip to Silver City. The Texans are 3-0 against the Mustangs in Stephenville, averaging 44.7 points per game in those wins.
 
UP NEXT FOR TARLETON
Tarleton appears primed to make the NCAA playoffs for the first time since 2009. The NCAA Selection Show will take place on NCAA.com on Sunday, Nov. 11 at 4 p.m. CT and will announce the Super Region postseason teams and matchups. If Tarleton remains in the No. 2, 3, or 4 position of the regional rankings, then next week's first-round playoff game will be in Stephenville. It would be the first time Tarleton has hosted an NCAA playoff football game.