The Teams: Tarleton Texans (4-2 FCS Independent) vs. Northeastern State (OK) (0-0 MIAA)
Where: Stephenville, TX
Stadium: Memorial Stadium
Time: 6:00 p.m. CT
Streaming Platform: Tarleton Sports Network
Radio: Tarleton Sports Network on 90.5 FM (Byron Anderson, Kyle Masters)
 
TEXAN FOOTBALL GAME DAY
Tarleton welcomes Northeastern State (OK) to Stephenville in a battle of former Division II rivals Saturday night at 6 p.m. at Memorial Stadium. With a win, the Texans will secure the 500^th victory in the history of the Tarleton Football program (499-484-33).
 
The game will be broadcast on the Tarleton Sports Network presented by the North Texas Ford Dealers, which can be found online at TarletonSports.com/Watch. The game will also be carried on 90.5 FM in Stephenville and surrounding areas. Tickets are available and must be purchased in advance. Walk-up ticket sales are not permitted this spring. All tickets must be purchased online in advance at TarletonSports.com/Tickets.
 
HEROES GET REMEMBERED, LEGENDS NEVER DIE

• Tarleton will welcome back the 1994 Tarleton Football team for the annual Legends Game. The 1994 Texans were the first team to lead Tarleton into its first NCAA transition. Led by All-Americans Kevin Vickers (QB), Stephen Moseley (DT), and Ryland Bailey (LB), the 1994 team ushered in a new era at Tarleton State University. The team was coach by Ronnie Roemisch.

 
ABOUT THE MATCHUP

• Tarleton owns the all-time lead in the series 5-3, including a 3-1 mark in Stephenville. Tarleton and Northeastern State first met in 1993 with the game in Tahlequah, Oklahoma. The Texans five straight meetings from 2003-09. Northeastern State won the most recent meeting in 2010, a 31-23 victory in Stephenville.
• Todd Whitten is 2-1 all-time against Northeastern State as head coach of the Texans. Whitten has won the last two meetings against the Riverhawks, which came in a 52-14 road win in 2004 and a 48-44 OT win in Stephenville in 2003.

 
QUICK HITS

• Tarleton is coming off a 33-21 homecoming victory over longtime LSC rival Midwestern State. It marked the third straight victory over the Mustangs. The Texans ran for 231 yards and had a pair of 100-yard rushers in Khalil Banks (135) and Ryheem Skinner (102). Quarterback Steven Duncan also threw for three touchdowns – two of which went to Tariq Bitson, who also had 83 yards receiving.
• Todd Whitten enters the game as Tarleton's all-time wins leader (83). While every new victory is a milestone, the win against New Mexico State on Feb. 21 made him the first Texan coach in school history to reach 80 career victories for the purple and white.
• Todd Whitten recently passed legendary coach W.J. Wisdom for the most games coached in Tarleton State University history with his 122nd game on the sidelines for the purple and white. Whitten and Wisdom are the only two coaches in program history with over 100 career games spent as the head coach.
• Saturday is the annual Legends Game where Tarleton will recognize the 1994 Texan football team. This was the first NCAA team in program history when Tarleton transitioned to NCAA Division II back in 1994. The 1994 team was coached by Ronnie Roemisch.

 
NEW DIVISION WITH A BRIGHT FUTURE

• INDEPENDENT, FOR NOW: Tarleton State University made the jump to NCAA Division I and the Western Athletic Conference last July and is currently in its first year of a four-year transition period. The WAC stopped sponsoring football back in 2012, making Tarleton an independent football program for the spring 2021 season. However, the WAC has announced an expansion that will bring four football-playing schools into the WAC as early as July 1, 2021 – Lamar, Abilene Christian, Sam Houston State and Stephen F. Austin. This move will bring football back to the Western Athletic Conference at the FCS Level.
• EYES ON FBS: With the revival of the WAC at the FCS level, the question remains of – will the WAC return to its former FBS glory days? The answer is simple: that's the plan. In a recent interview with Yahoo Sports, Tarleton President Dr. James Hurley said, "Our goal going into this is to immediately start laying out a plan among the presidents and athletic directors to develop a strategic plan to become an FBS conference. That work will start Day 1. We understand that realistically this is going to be at least a five-year process."
• WAC-ASUN CHALLENGE: Officially titled the WAC-ASUN Challenge, the Western Athletic Conference and ASUN Conference have agreed on a football scheduling alliance that will allow for the seven institutions to be eligible for an automatic qualification into the 2021 NCAA FCS Playoffs.

 
IN THE AFCA NATIONAL POLL
Tarleton is wasting no time in opening the eyes of national voters across the country in their debut season at FCS Division I as the Texans moved to No. 24 in the latest National Top 25 poll released by the American Football Coaches Association (AFCA) Tuesday. Tarleton is 4-2 on the season after their rout of longtime rival Midwestern State on Homecoming in Stephenville last weekend. The Texans have defeated Division I foes Dixie State and FBS New Mexico State this season. The latest AFCA National poll is as follows:
 

#	School (1st)	Record	Votes
1	James Madison (18)	3-0	498
2	Weber State (1)	2-0	467
3	North Dakota St. (1)	5-1	449
4	Sam Houston St.	3-0	428
T-5	North Dakota	4-1	399
T-5	South Dakota St.	4-1	399
7	Jacksonville St.	7-1	389
8	Kennesaw State	3-0	362
9	Delaware	2-0	319
10	Chattanooga	3-1	318
11	Eastern Washington	2-1	276
12	Southern Illinois	4-2	270
13	VMI	4-0	244
14	Nicholls	3-1	210
15	UIW	3-0	207
16	Villanova	1-1	198
17	Murray St.	4-0	171
18	Furman	3-2	163
19	UC Davis	2-1	144
20	Richmond	2-0	135
21	Rhode Island	2-0	107
22	Southeastern Louisiana	2-2	63
23	Northern Iowa	2-3	62
24	Tarleton	4-2	38
25	New Hampshire	0-1	36

 
Tarleton is also receiving votes in the Stats Perform FCS National Top 25 media poll this week.
 
THE BEST IN TEXAS
Since the start of the 2018 football season, there has not been a better scholarship football program in the entire state of the Texas than Tarleton State University. The Texans enter Saturday's game with 26 wins since the start of 2018, which is tied with Texas A&M for the most wins in the state by an NCAA Division I or II program. Tarleton has a chance to take the lead in the category with one more victory this season since the Big XII has already completed a full season. The list of the top scholarship programs in Texas over that span are as follows:
 

#	School	League	Wins
1.	Tarleton	FCS Ind.	27
2.	Texas A&M	Big XII	26
3.	Texas	Big XII	25
4.	SMU	AAC	22
5.	A&M-Commerce	LSC	21
6.	Baylor	Big XII	20
7.	TCU	Big XII	18
8.	North Texas	C-USA	17
	West Texas A&M	LSC	17
10.	Sam Houston State	SLC	16
	Angelo State	LSC	16

 
COACH GOAT
While coaches at transitioning schools are not eligible for recognition by the NCAA, Todd Whitten will be among the best coaches at the FCS level when the Texans complete their reclassification. Entering Saturday, Whitten would rank among the best FCS coaches in the following categories if Tarleton were not reclassifying:
 

WINNINGEST ACTIVE FCS COACHES (PCT) (Min. 5 years as FCS Coach, record at 4-yr colleges only)
#	Coach, School	Career Record	Pct.
20.	Terry Sims, Bethune-Cookman	34-21	.618
21.	Todd Whitten, Tarleton	108-67	.617
22.	John Stiegelmeier, SD State	170-106	.616

 

WINNINGEST ACTIVE FCS COACHES (WINS) (Min. 5 years as FCS Coach, record at 4-yr colleges only)
#	Coach, School	Career Record	Pct.
16.	Danny Rocco, Delaware	111-58	.657
17.	Todd Whitten, Tarleton	108-67	.617
18.	Beau Baldwin, Cal Poly	95-37	.720

 
NOTABLES

• TARLETON DOMINATES PHIL STEELE PRESEASON ALL-INDY TEAM: The reputation of Tarleton Texan Football precedes itself as the Texans had 11 players named to the Phil Steele 2020 FCS Preseason All-Independent Team in July – the most of any of the four FCS Independent programs recognized. J.F. Thomas (WR) was named the Independent Preseason Player of the Year by Steele while the following players were named to the All-Indy Team – Khalil Banks (RB), Kendall Dearth (OG), Zach Perry (OT), Chris Radford (DL), Jordan Wells (DL), Ronnell Wilson (LB), Erick Willis (LB), Benjie Franklin (DB), Devin Hafford (DB) and Stephen Reeves (DS).
• WILSON, HAFFORD NAMED DCTF 2020 PRESEASON ALL-TEXAS SMALL COLLEGE: Tarleton Football senior All-American defenders Ronnell Wilson and Devin Hafford were named to Dave Campbell's Texas Football 2020 Preseason All-Texas Small College team last June. To qualify, a player must participate at a four-year institution in Texas that plays below the FBS level. The All-Texas Small College team consist of NCAA FCS Division 1 programs, Division II and Division III.
• TARLETON VS. D1 TEAM: Since joining the NCAA in 1994, Tarleton played 17 games against NCAA Division I opponents and have seven wins in those games, including wins this season over FBS New Mexico State and FCS Dixie State. Todd Whitten has four wins against D1 competition during his tenure at Tarleton.
• STOUT TEXAN DEFENSE: When Todd Whitten tasked defensive coordinator Marcus Patton in taking over the stop troops in 2016, he inherited a defense that ranked last nationally in nearly every statistical category. As the Texans prepare to enter the Division I ranks, they'll do it as one of the elite defenses in the entire country – returning three All-Americans and five seniors with key roles in the turnaround. Tarleton is coming off back-to-back seasons in which they ranked among the top 10 in the nation in scoring defense. The Texans return three All-Americans – Ronnell Wilson, Devin Hafford and Jordan Wells. Wilson and Hafford, as well as Chris Radford, Erick Willis and Tre Johnson, still remain from the first recruiting class of the Whitten/Patton era.
• THE PATTON EFFECT: When Marcus Patton accepted the job as Tarleton's defensive coordinator in the spring of 2016, he inherited a Texan defense that had given up 296.3 rushing yards, 263.3 passing yards and 559.6 total yards per game – last in the nation at the D2 level.
• Over the 2018-19 seasons, Tarleton had cut those numbers essentially in half. While boasting a 23-2 record over the last two years, Patton's defense is allowing 102.0 rushing, 193.5 passing, and 295.6 total yards per game.
• FROM D2 DESPAIR TO D1 DEFENSE: When Todd Whitten returned to Tarleton as head coach following the 2015 season, his first hire was defensive coordinator, Marcus Patton. The request was simple: fix the nation's worst Division II defense.
• Tarleton ranked last or near the bottom of every defensive statistical category in the nation in 2015. Whitten and Patton went to work in recruiting the type of players that could turn things around – enter Ronnell Wilson, Devin Hafford, Tre Johnson and Erick Willis.
• Those four Texans signed on as part of Tarleton's 2016 recruiting class and have since turned Tarleton into one of the nation's most feared defenses in Division II during the last two undefeated regular seasons and now will take the field for Tarleton at the NCAA Division I level.
• 300 THROUGH THE AIR: QB Steven Duncan threw his first 300-yard passing game for the purple and white against Dixie State. His 347 yards against Dixie State were not only a career best for this time at Tarleton, but his collegiate career. It was his second collegiate 300-yard passing performance, topping a 304-yard effort on August 29, 2019 against Central Arkansas while he was at Western Kentucky.
• MOVING INTO THE TOP 10: Ronnell Wilson (265) is 64 tackles away from passing Marquis Wadley (328) as Tarleton's NCAA-era tackles leader and third all-time. With three more PATs (points after touchdowns), kicker Christian Hernandez (86) will move into a tie for third all-time with Paul Williams (89).
• AIR TRAFFIC CONTROL: Tarleton held Midwestern State to under 100 yards passing (87) on March 20, 2021. This marks the second time this spring and the 10th time in the Marcus Patton era on defense that the Texans have held an opponent under 100 yards through the air.
• TWO 100-YARD RUSHERS: In Tarleton's last game against Midwestern State, Tarleton's Khalil Banks (135) and Ryheem Skinner (102) became the first Tarleton tandem to rush for over 100 yards in the same game since Xavier Turner (128), Adam Berryman (114) and Daniel McCants (107) all topped the century mark against Lincoln on Nov. 3, 2018.

 
UP NEXT FOR TARLETON
Tarleton will host East Central (OK) on Thursday, April 1 for the spring season finale. Kickoff is set for 6 p.m. in Stephenville. Limited tickets remain available for purchase at TarletonSports.com/Tickets. Student tickets remain free of charge, but Tarleton students with a valid ID will need to order a ticket through the ticket software. Walk-up ticket sales are not permitted this spring. All tickets must be purchased online in advance.
 
For fans in attendance, Tarleton is offering a special sneak peek at the Fall 2021 football season schedule, which will be announced on Friday, April 2. Fans in attendance will receive a free schedule poster with a first look at the fall slate while supplies last. Reserved tickets for the fall season go on sale May 1.