No. 16 Texas A&M Commerce Lions Football Team Closes Out Regular Season Road Slate at UT Permian Basin

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The No. 16 Texas A&M University-Commerce football team plays its final regular season road game of the 2018 season, traveling to Odessa to take on UT Permian Basin on Saturday.

WHO:  Texas A&M University-Commerce at The University of Texas of the Permian Basin
WHERE: Odessa, Texas | Ratliff Stadium
WHEN: 6 p.m. on Saturday, November 3
RECORDS: The Lions are 7-2 overall and 5-1 in the Lone Star Conference. The Falcons are 2-7 overall and 1-5 in the Lone Star Conference.
RANKINGS: Texas A&M-Commerce is ranked No. 16 in the AFCA Coaches’ Poll and No. 19 in the D2Football.com Media Poll. UT Permian Basin is unranked.

LIVE AUDIO: Lion Sports Network — KETR 88.9 FM, Commerce (http://www.ketr.org)
LIVE VIDEO: https://utpbfalcons.com/watch
LIVE STATS: https://utpbfalcons.com/sidearmstats/football/summary

LIONS HAVE FINAL ROAD TEST OF SEASON
• The Lions head to the Permian Basin for the 10th game of the 2018 season and the final road game of the campaign.
• A win would be the eighth of the season, giving the Lions five straight campaigns with eight victories.
• Prior to the tenure of Colby Carthel, the Lions had never had a run of more than three straight seasons with eight wins.

ALL-TIME AGAINST THE FALCONS
• The Lions and Falcons are meeting for the third time overall and second in Odessa.
• The first-ever meeting in 2016 was truncated to a three-quarter game in Odessa with lightning infringing on the contest. The Lions won that game 58-21.
• Last season, the Lions rolled to a 52-0 victory in Commerce.
• Vincent Hobbs has had two touchdown receptions in each of the Lions’ games against UTPB.

SUCCESS IN BUNCHES
• The Lions scored 34 points in the second quarter of the game at Western New Mexico, establishing a school record for points in a quarter.
• The previous record was 32, which the Lions scored in the second quarter of a 39-39 tie against Angelo State in 1991.

CONTINUED RECOGNITION NATIONALLY
• A&M-Commerce has been ranked in 49 consecutive AFCA polls, dating back to the 2015 preseason poll.
• This is A&M-Commerce’s 55th all-time appearance in the AFCA poll since its inception in 2000.
• In the polls recognized by Division II as the top rating system, the Lions have been recognized as a nationally ranked team 104 times since joining Division II in 1981.

MOVING UP THE RANKS
• Head coach Colby Carthel now ranks fifth in A&M-Commerce history in coaching wins with 56 wins.
• He is now only seven wins behind Lion and LSC legend J.V. Sikes, who sits in fourth place with 63 wins.

SENIORS ON PACE TO SET SCHOOL RECORD
• The 2017 senior class established the school record for wins in a four-year period with the victory in the National Championship Game with 42 games won in a four-year span.
• The 2018 seniors now rank second in school history at 40-9 with a guarantee of two more games in the season.

MARTINEZ CONTINUES TO CLIMB SCORING CHARTS
• Kicker Kristov Martinez scored 11 kicking points with two field goals and five PATs in the Homecoming win over West Texas A&M, winning LSC Special Teams Player of the Week honors.
• The graduate student from Edinburg is now 10-for-13 on field goal attempts and 30-for-30 on PAT attempts in 2018,
• He is now 64-of-84 on field goal attempts in his career, which is tied for fourth in Division II history. The Division II career record is 82 made field goals. Second place is 68.
• Martinez is now the record-holder for most career field goals in Lone Star Conference history, eclipsing Sergio Castillo’s 62 career field goals.
• Martinez is the Division II active career leader in made field goals, and fourth in all NCAA divisions behind LSU’s Cole Tracy (89), Toledo’s Jameson Vest (68), and Wisconsin’s Rafael Gaglianone (65).
• Martinez is on the preseason, September, and October watch lists for the Mitchell Award.
• For his career, Martinez has made 213-of-220 PAT attempts and is the Division II active career leader. Oklahoma’s Austin Seibert is the all divisions active career leader with 274 made PATs. Martinez is fourth in all divisions behind Seibert, North Dakota State’s Cam Pederson (223), and Ohio State’s Sean Nuernberger (216).
• In terms of overall scoring, Martinez (405 points) is chasing Castillo (437 points), and former Harlon Hill winner at Texas A&I Johnny Bailey (426 points) for the all-time LSC scoring record.
• Martinez is also the only Division II kicker with 60 or more consecutive PATs made, having made 92 straight PATs.
• A&M-Kingsville’s Julio de la Garza failed on a PAT last week to fall off the list after a streak of more than 100, and Slippery Rock’s Jake Chapla was at 77 straight when he had a kick blocked.

HARRIS AWARD NOMINEE IS TOP TACKLER
• The Lions’ leading tackler in senior Brucks Saathoff is also one of the leaders in the Lone Star Conference.
• The San Antonio native is averaging 8.3 tackles per game through nine contests, ranking 77th nationally and sixth in the LSC.
• For his career, Saathoff has 284 tackles, which is the leading mark for the Lions.
• This ranks Saathoff in the top five in Lion history in tackles, passing Danny Mason in the last two games.

UREVBU’S CAREER GAME PUTS HIM OVER A THOUSAND
• Lion running back Ovie Urevbu had his fifth career 100-yard rushing game and a career high against West Texas A&M.
• He had 20 carries for 118 yards in the Homecoming contest.
• This total pushed the senior from Plano over 1,000 career rushing yards
• Urevbu now has 1,099 career yards on 173 carries, averaging 6.4 yards per carry for his career.

TAKE THAT AND LIKE IT
• The Lion kicking game has been spectacular during the 2018 season.
• A&M-Commerce ranks second nationally in kickoff return defense, as Lion opponents average 11.81 yards per return. Minnesota State is the national leader at 11.56 yards per return
• A&M-Commerce ranks No. 14 nationally in net punting. The Lions average 38.08 yards net per punt.
• Tristan Perry averages 42.3 yards per punt, which is second in the Lone Star Conference and ranks 20th nationally.

RETURN TO SENDER
• Lion defensive back Dominique Ramsey had a key 84-yard interception return for a touchdown in the fourth quarter of the Homecoming win over WT to seal the victory.
• Ramsey has two interceptions for 127 return yards, averaging 63.5 yards per INT return. This does not include an interception on a two-point conversion attempt in the A&M-Kingsville game, which the NCAA statistics policy does not count as an interception.
• On top of this, Ramsey ranks 21st nationally and first in the LSC in punt return average, averaging 13.4 yards per punt return.
• Between his punt, kickoff, and interception returns, Ramsey has 447 all-purpose yards this season, an average of 49.7 yards per game, ranking fourth on the team.
• He has six plays of over 20 yards this season – three punt returns, two interception returns, and a kickoff return. Two of those plays went for touchdowns.
• His five career interceptions are tied for the team lead with senior Chris Smith.

LIONS RANKED SIXTH IN REGIONAL RANKING
• The regional rankings came out for the second time on Monday, with the Lions ranked sixth in Super Region Four.
• The top seven teams in the region qualify for the playoffs at the end of the regular season, with the field announced on November 11.
• The Lions have been ranked in every regional ranking in the last five seasons.
• In the current configuration of Super Region Four (Lone Star, RMAC, Northern Sun, GNAC), the Lions were ranked seventh in the initial rankings in week one of 2018.
• This is the second season of the current configuration of the region.

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