The Teams: No. 3 Tarleton State Texans (8-0, 4-0 UAC) at Eastern Kentucky Colonels (3-4, 1-2 UAC)
Where: Richmond, Kentucky
Stadium: Roy Kidd Stadium
Time: 2 p.m. CT
Streaming Platform: ESPN+ (Greg Stotelmyer, Jim Tirey, Wes Chandler)
Radio: Tarleton Sports Network on 90.5 FM (Byron Anderson, Kyle Masters, Keltin Wiens, Ty Walker)
 
TEXAN FOOTBALL GAME DAY
It's another Homecoming game for Tarleton State, this time on the road in Richmond, Kentucky.
 
Tarleton State and Eastern Kentucky will square off at 2 p.m. CT on Saturday. The game will be broadcast on ESPN+, with Greg Stotelmyer, Jim Tirey and Wes Chandeler on the call. The game can be heard on Tarleton Sports Network at 90.5 FM in Stephenville and surrounding areas, with Byron Anderson, Kyle Masters, Keltin Wiens and Ty Walker leading the broadcast.
 
ABOUT THE MATCHUP

• This is the fourth all-time meeting. EKU is 3-0, with two home wins. The last one at EKU was a 41-35 2OT final in 2023. Last year EKU won 17-13 at TSU, Tarleton State's lowest FCS scoring output all year.
• Despite a 3-4 overall record, EKU is a perfect 3-0 at home and has won 10 straight home games (last lost Nov. 4, 2023). Most recently at home, EKU defeated No. 15 Austin Peay 34-20.
• EKU's offense has struggled, ranked No. 103 in scoring (18.7 PPG), No. 122 in total (247.1 YPG), and No. 123 in passing (122.6 YPG).
• This is EKU's Homecoming. Each time Tarleton State has played at Eastern Kentucky, it's been the Colonels' Homecoming.

 
QUICK HITS

• The Texans are ranked No. 3 in both the Stats Perform FCS Top 25 Poll and AFCA Coaches Poll for the seventh straight week. Only North Dakota State and South Dakota State rank ahead of the Texans in both polls.
• The Texans have started 8-0 for the first time in their NCAA Division I era. They last started 8-0 in 2019, a season they started 11-0. They are the only 8-0 team across all of NCAA Division I. Tarleton State is one of 14 D1 undefeated teams remaining (FBS' BYU, Georgia Tech, Indiana, Navy, Ohio State, Texas A&M; FCS' Harvard, Lehigh, Montana, North Dakota State, Presbyterian, South Dakota State, Tennessee Tech).
• TSU is enjoying its longest winning streak in its D1 era (eight games). Since 2023, Tarleton State is 26-7 (.788). 
• With a win Saturday, Tarleton State would improve to 5-0 on the road for the first time since 2019 (6-0).
• With a win Saturday, Tarleton State would improve to 5-0 in conference play for the first time since 2019 (8-0). 
• Tarleton State has an active six-game streak of scoring 40+ points, its longest such streak in program history.
• Tarleton State is second in the country in scoring offense (47.1 PPG) and has the most points (377).
• Tarleton State is 11th in the country in scoring defense (17.4 PPG) with the most takeaways (24, next is South Dakota State at 18). The Texans are best in FCS in average turnover margin (+2.50) and total TO margin (+20).

 
RECORD WIN
Every week, it seems Tarleton State's season gets even more special, and that rang true once again this past Saturday as the Texans crushed a ranked conference opponent, No. 23 West Georgia, at home 45-10. The Texans won their eighth straight game, a program D1 record winning streak, in front of a Memorial Stadium record crowd of 24,012 fans, by scoring 40+ points for the sixth straight game, a program record such streak. Tarleton State scored six touchdowns, all via a different player, three on the ground (Tre Page III, James Paige, Braelon Bridges) and three through the air (Cody Jackson, Marquis Willis, T'iar Young). Tarleton State outgained West Georgia 520-219 and forced five more turnovers by five different players. The Texans also had a tied-season-high six sacks and 10 tackles for loss.
 
HOMECOMING DATE
Tarleton State had such a special Homecoming, that the Texans are going to do it twice more over the next two weeks. First, the Texans will play on Eastern Kentucky's Homecoming Saturday, then they'll play on Abilene Christian's Homecoming on Nov. 1, making it three straight Homecoming games for the Texans. Playing on EKU's Homecoming is all Tarleton State knows, making it 3-for-3 while in Richmond since 2021.
 
The Texans have had great Homecoming success just about everywhere except for Eastern Kentucky. In Stephenville, Tarleton State is now 8-1 on Homecoming over its past nine such games, and under head coach Todd Whitten, the Texans are now 13-3. Last year, the Texans won their lone road Homecoming game at Austin Peay 27-17, went 1-0 against non-EKU teams with a 25-23 win at No. 18 Central Arkansas in 2023, and went 1-0 on the road in 2022 with a 43-28 win at North Alabama.
 
PERFECTION
It's been a perfect season thus far for the Texans. The team is a spotless 8-0, 4-0 at home and 4-0 on the road. The Texans have won a pair of nationally televised games (42-0 at Portland State on ESPN2 during Week 0, 30-27 OT at Army on CBS Sports Network during Week 1), have set record crowds at Memorial Stadium, and are ranked No. 3 in the national polls for the seventh straight week. The Texans have now started 8-0 for the third time under head coach Todd Whitten (2025, 2019, 2018) and for the sixth time in program history (also 2007, 1990, 1935). Between 2018-19, the previous two times Tarleton State started 8-0 (and 9-0), the Texans finished a combined 23-2 (.920). Tarleton State is the only 8-0 team in the country and one of 14 D1 programs still undefeated, across FBS and FCS.
 
Offensively, the Texans are one of the best teams in the nation, ranked No. 2 in scoring (47.1 points per game), No. 4 in team passing efficiency (176.8), No. 7 in rushing offense (234.0 yards per game), No. 10 in total offense (473.4 YPG), and tied-17th in sacks allowed (1.25 per game). The Texans have just four turnovers on the year, tied-seventh fewest in the FCS. Tarleton State has thrown just two interceptions this season, tied-fifth fewest in the FCS.
 
Defensively, Tarleton State has been elite, especially in getting the football. The Texans have 24 takeaways this season, the most in the country by far, with the next closest team at 18 (South Dakota State). The Texans are best in the country in average turnover margin at +2.50, and are best in total turnover margin at +20 (next closest is +13, Dayton). The Texan defense has scored four touchdowns themselves, tied-most in the nation with EKU. The Texans have allowed just four passing touchdowns on the year across eight games. Tarleton State is No. 11 in scoring defense this season, allowing just 17.4 points per game. The Texans are also No. 27 in total defense, allowing 328.4 yards per game, second best in the conference. It's been a full effort by the Texans on defense, with 10 players recording a fumble recovery, seven players with an interception, six with a forced fumble, five players at 5.0+ TFL, five with a sack, and four with a defensive touchdown. Kasyus Kurns has the tied-most interceptions in the nation at four, and is one of two players at the highest interception rate per game at 0.67. Angelo Anderson is second in the nation in sacks per game at 1.42, and has the tied-second most sacks at 8.5, behind Furman's Joshua Stoneking at 10.5.
 
ON THE SAME PAIGE
With Caleb Lewis missing the past two games due to injury, Tarleton State quarterback (now QB/RB) James Paige has stepped up in his absence, rushing for 220 yards and five touchdowns over the past two games, totaling six touchdowns with one passing. In his first start on Oct. 11 at Utah Tech, Paige had five total touchdowns, with four rushing, adding 114 rushing yards on 30 carries (3.8 YPC). Paige became the ninth player in program history to score four touchdowns in a game, technically the second quarterback to do so, joining Steve Kelly's four-touchdown scoring game against Eastern New Mexico on Oct. 13, 2001. Paige did most of the work as a running back, a feat that five Texan RB's have accomplished, the most recent by Kayvon Britten last year. Paige's four rushing touchdowns are the tied-most in a single-game at the FCS level this season. These were all career-high marks for Paige; rushing touchdowns, rushing yards and passing touchdowns.
 
JERRY RICE AWARD WATCH LIST
RB Tre Page III is having an incredible freshman campaign, and on Wednesday it was announced he is in the running for the FCS' Freshman of the Year award.
 
Stats Perform announced its Jerry Rice Award Watch List, naming 22 freshmen across the nation in the running to win the 2025 Jerry Rice Award, which honors the FCS freshman player of the year in college football's Division I subdivision.
 
Page, a redshirt freshman, is one of the top running backs in the country this year, with 765 yards and seven touchdowns on 99 carries, averaging 109.3 rush yards per game and 7.7 yards per carry. Among all running backs in the nation, not just freshmen, Page is ranked second in the FCS in rush yards per carry, sixth in rush yards per game, sixth in total rush yards, and tied-14th in rushing touchdowns. Among his seven games played, Page has three 100+ yard games, plus two multi-touchdown games. His best performance came against Southern Utah on Oct. 4, in which he raced for a career-high 198 yards and two touchdowns on 19 carries. In the season opener, a Week 0 contest at Portland State, he ran for 170 yards and a pair of touchdowns on just 15 attempts. Page was named the United Athletic Conference Freshman of the Week after both performances.
 
OFFICIALLY TOP THREE
Tarleton State Football has been No. 3 in both the Stats Perform and AFCA Coaches polls, the two major national rankings used at the FCS level, nearly all season. But the ranking that determines every team's playoff fate comes via the Division I Football Championship Committee. The committee agreed that Tarleton State is No. 3 across all of the FCS on Oct. 15 in its initial FCS Top 10 ranking release.
 
Live on ESPN2 during College Football Live, the committee released its first of two "snapshots" of how teams stack up at this point of the season. Tarleton State Football was announced as the No. 3 team in the Top 10, only behind North Dakota State and South Dakota State. The rest of the Top 10 was No. 4 Montana State, No. 5 Montana, No. 6 UC Davis, No. 7 Lehigh, No. 9 North Dakota, No. 9 Monmouth and No. 10 Tennessee Tech. 
 
The Division I Football Championship Committee plans to announce another midseason look at its FCS Top 10 ranking on Nov. 5, also during the College Football Live broadcast at 1 p.m. CT on ESPN2. That will come following Week 10, just three weeks away from selections for the Division I Football Championship.
 
OFFICIALLY TOP THREE
Tarleton State Football head coach Todd Whitten can be described easily with one word -- winner. Whitten is now 122-57 (.682) at Tarleton State across his 16 seasons, already with eight wins on the year, making it his ninth time winning 8+ games. The winningest head coach in team history has more wins than Nos. 2-3 have combined. Among all active NCAA Division I head coaches, Whitten is No. 16 in wins all-time with 147, between Montana's Bobby Hauck and Utah State's Bronco Mendenhall. Over the past seven seasons, the Texans are now .750 (66-22). When the Texans have scored 40+ points under Whitten, they are now 68-1, and 42-3 when totaling 500+ yards of offense.
 
Tarleton State has already guaranteed another winning season for the program, making it now eight straight years of a winning season and nine straight years of .500+ football (went .500 in 2017 after a bowl loss). Entering the year, they were the only Texas D1 or D2 team with seven straight winning seasons, and now that has increased to eight.
 
Offensively, Tarleton State already has the 11th most points in a season in program history at 377. If the Texans score 40+ points again this Saturday, they will move into the top-six. Their most points in a season was in 2018 (585), followed by 540 in 2019, 478 in 2001, 437 in 2007, and 430 last year (2024).
 
CULTURE IS KING
In the modern collegiate days of collective conference, roster and staff fluidity, Tarleton State does not fit the norm. The Texans have been able to retain their elite staff and players year-over-year, credit to the culture that head coach Todd Whitten solidifies at the helm.
 
The Texans' coaching staff tenures at Tarleton State are thus; 16 years (Todd Whitten), eight years (Scott Carey), eight years (Tate Whitten), six years (Michael Walton), five years (Adam Austin), four years (Tyrone Nix), four years (Fred Tate), three years (Jake Stone), three years (Pepe Pearson), two years (Devante Sims), Beau Blair (entering first season). The Texans have not replaced more than two assistant coaches on a staff in a given year  in their D1 era. Player-wise, the portal has not seen a lot of Texans go through. Since 2022, Tarleton State has seen just 1-2 contributors depart via transfer max per year.
 
BEST IN TEXAS
Since the start of the 2018 season, Tarleton State has been one of the best scholarship football programs in the entire state of Texas. The Texans enter Saturday's game with a .750 winning percentage since the start of 2018, the highest mark across all of the NCAA Division I and II programs in the state. Tarleton State is the only Texas D1 or D2 institution with all seven winning seasons since 2018. They have 66 wins since the start of 2018, the second most wins in the state by an NCAA Division I or II programs. The list of the top scholarship programs in Texas over that span are as follows:
 

#	School	Conf.	Win Pct.
1.	Tarleton State	UAC	.750
2.	Angelo State	LSC	.723
3.	Texas	SEC	.687
4.	SMU	American	.674
5.	Incarnate Word	SLC	.659
6.	Texas A&M	SEC	.656
7.	Sam Houston	C-USA	.605
8.	TCU	Big 12	.585
9.	UTSA	C-USA	.577
10.	Baylor	Big 12	.558

 

#	School	Conf.	Wins
1.	Texas	SEC	68
2.	Tarleton State	UAC	66
3.	SMU	American	64
4.	Texas A&M	SEC	61
5.	Angelo State	LSC	60
6.	Incarnate Word	SLC	58
7.	UTSA	American	56
8.	TCU	Big 12	55
9.	Baylor	Big 12	53
10.	Sam Houston	C-USA	52

 
GABALLER
Tarleton State starting quarterback Victor Gabalis returned from injury this past a week, a three-game absence. Now through six games, Gabalis has completed 82-of-135 (.607) passes for 1,234 yards, 15 touchdowns, and just one interception. In Tarleton State's home opener, Gabalis completed 20-of-27 (.741) passes for 295 yards, five touchdowns and zero turnovers in TSU's 59-3 win against Mississippi Valley State. His five passing touchdowns are the most in a game by a Tarleton State QB in 10 years, since Zed Woerner had five against Oklahoma Panhandle on Oct. 24, 2015. The five touchdowns mark Gabalis' most in his three seasons at Tarleton State, surpassing four four-touchdown performances, two in 2024 and two in 2023. His five touchdown passes are his most since throwing five against Southern Utah while with Utah Tech on Oct. 29, 2022.
 
This is Gabalis' sixth season at the collegiate level, having played two seasons at Washington State (2020-21), one season at Utah Tech (2022) and now in his third season at Tarleton State (2023-25). He's played in 43 career collegiate games, sitting at 8,756 passing yards and 75 passing touchdowns. In games Gabalis has started in his career, his teams have gone 26-8 (.765). At Tarleton State, Gabalis is 23-6 (.793) as a starter with 6,609 passing yards on 439-of-745 (.589) passing, 56 touchdowns and 25 interceptions. Gabalis has surpassed Steve Kelly (51) on Tarleton's State's career passing touchdown list at No. 4, and he's one short of tying Scott Grantham at 57 (2007-09) at No. 3. Gabalis has surpassed Ben Holmes (5,997) at No. 5 on Tarleton State's all-time career passing yards leaderboard and is 652 short of Chad Cole (7,267, 1995-98) at No. 4.
 
During the preseason, Gabalis was named the unanimous UAC Preseason Offensive Player of the Year and to the Preseason All-UAC Team. He was also named to the 2025 Walter Payton Award Preseason Watch List, one of 30 players named to the list for an award that is equivalent to the Heisman Trophy at the FBS level.
 
Last season, Gabalis was named UAC Second Team All-Conference after leading the Texans to a 9-3 overall record as the starting quarterback, 6-2 in UAC play. He completed 193-of-309 (.625) for 2,883 yards, 23 touchdowns and 11 interceptions in 12 games.
 
UAC PLAYER OF THE WEEK
Linebacker Courtland Stephens was just named the UAC Special Teams Player of the Week. Through eight games, Tarleton State has won seven weekly honors.
 
After Weeks 0-1, Tarleton State had Kasyus Kurns named the UAC Defensive Player of the Week, kicker Brad Larson the UAC Special Teams Player of the Week, and running back Tre Page III the UAC Freshman of the Week. Kurns recorded two interceptions, a fumble recovery and four total tackles in Tarleton State's 30-27 double overtime win at Army. Kurns' three takeaways were all in the second half to help Tarleton State to one of its best victories in program history. Kurns earned a takeaway on three straight Army drives. Larson made the game-winning field goal in double overtime at Army. He went 3-of-3 on field goals, making a 30-yard field goal to give Tarleton State a 3-0 lead in the first quarter, then made a 28-yard field goal in the first overtime to give Tarleton State a 27-24 lead, and finally made a 37-yard field goal to win the game for Tarleton State in double overtime. These were Larson's first field goal attempts in his Tarleton State career. Page stole the show in the first half against Portland State on Aug. 23, racing for a 28-yard touchdown in the first quarter, then an 89-yard scamper for a score in the second quarter. Page had 160 rushing yards in the first half alone, finishing with 170 for the game and his two scores on 15 carries (11.3 yards per rush). Page had the most rushing yards in a season opener in Tarleton State Football NCAA Division I history, and the most since Daniel McCants had 190 yards and a pair of touchdowns in 20.
 
After Week 3, linebacker Yasir Holmes was named the UAC Defensive Player of the Week, his first career honor in his first season at Tarleton State. Holmes recorded a team-high three tackles for loss, a sack and a team-high seven total tackles in Tarleton State's 56-10 road win in its conference opener at Central Arkansas. Holmes became the first Texan with three tackles for loss in a game since Blaine Hoover had 3.0 TFL on Nov. 19, 2022, against Houston Christian. 
 
After Week 4, kicker Corbin Poston was named the Special Teams Player of the Week, his first career honor. Poston nailed a pair of long field goals, drilling one from 50 yards and the other from 49 yards, plus had 10 kickoffs cover 608 yards with seven touchbacks in Tarleton State's win. Poston is the only kicker across all of the FCS to make two field goals from 49-plus yards in a single game this season. His 50-yarder is the tied-27th longest field goal make in the FCS this season. Poston is one of five kickers with multiple field goal makes of 49 yards or longer (New Hampshire's Nick Reed, Idaho State's Trajan Sinatra, Mercer's Reice Griffith, Stony Brook's Michael Mannino). Over the past 15 years, Poston is one of two Texans to make a 50-yard field goal.
 
After Week 6, Page was named the UAC Freshman of the Week, along with the Stats Perform FCS National Freshman Player of the Week. He recorded 198 rushing yards and two touchdowns on 19 carries (10.4 YPC) in Tarleton State's 52-42 win over Southern Utah. This was a career-night for the redshirt freshman, who set a new career-high in rushing yards (198), plus tied his career-high in rushing touchdowns (two). Page's 198 rushing yards mark the tied-13th most in a single game across the FCS this season. He is now sixth in the nation in rush yards this season (765), and tied-14th in rushing touchdowns (seven). He's second in yards per carry at 7.73, just barely behind Jackson State's Ahmad Miller at 7.80 yards per carry.
 
After Week 8, Stephens earned Special Teams Player of the Week after earning a blocked punt and a muffed kickoff fumble recovery in Tarleton State's 45-10 home conference win against No. 23 ranked West Georgia. His punt block led to a touchdown to boost Tarleton State ahead 21-0, and his fumble recovery opened the second half, putting the Texans in great field position.
 
NATIONAL LEADER
Across the country, only 10 NCAA Division I teams (seven FBS, three FCS) have a better win percentage than Tarleton State since 2018 (Ohio State, North Dakota State, Georgia, Alabama, South Dakota State, Notre Dame, Clemson, Oregon, James Madison and Montana State). So among some other elite programs, Tarleton State has a higher W% than the likes of Michigan, Michigan State, Iowa, USC, LSU, etc.
 

#	School	Conf.	Win Pct.
1.	Ohio State	Big 10	.888
2.	North Dakota State	MVFC	.881
3.	Georgia	SEC	.874
4.	Alabama	SEC	.864
5.	South Dakota State	MVFC	.825
6.	Notre Dame	Ind.	.820
7.	James Madison	SBC	.800
8.	Clemson	ACC	.796
8.	James Madison	SBC	.798
9.	Oregon	Big 10	.792
10.	Montana State	MVFC	.772
11.	Tarleton State	UAC	.750
12.	Montana	Big Sky	.739
13.	Dartmouth	Ivy	.738
14.	Oklahoma	SEC	.735
15.	Boise State	MWC	.726

 
7: Tarleton State is the only NCAA Division I program in Texas with seven straight winning seasons. Among head coach Todd Whitten's 15 completed seasons at Tarleton State, his team has finished .500 or better 14 times, the only losing record at 5-6 in 2016.
 
40: Tarleton State has an active six-game streak of scoring 40+ points, its longest such streak in program history. The Texans have scored 40+ points in all seven FCS games this year, making it seven of eight games overall.
 
11: At 8.5 sacks, Angelo Anderson already has the most sacks by a Texan in 11 years (Anthony Gonzalez had nine in 2014). Next up in recent history is Rufus Johnson's 10-sack season in 2012. Anderson 2.5-sack night on Saturday tied a program D1 record.
 
3: In Tarleton State's three FCS road games, the Texans are 3-0 with an average margin of victory of 35.3 points, in addition to a three-point win at Army. TSU has allowed just three road touchdowns in three FCS games.
 
1: Whitten is the only coach at any NCAA level actively coaching in his third stint at his current school. He is one of 37 coaches at any NCAA level to have three non-consecutive tenures at one school and the second coach with three stints at Tarleton State (W.J. Wisdom, 1920-22, 1924-28, 1930-35).
 
UP NEXT
Tarleton State will face rival Abilene Christian in Abilene on Saturday, Nov. 1, at 3 p.m. The Texans are inviting their fans to purchase tickets for their specific section and elevate the environment. Tarleton State has sections available for fans to purchase tickets in 109-110, along with sections 209-211.
 
Tarleton State invites Texan Nation to purchase tickets for the game using this link to sit in a Tarleton State section: https://tickets.acusports.com/event/6748050bc7a5a0020aa55252/68c1da9818faafa2a983645b.
 
There will also be a Tarleton State fan tailgate, with details coming soon.