Throughout their history, the Texas A&M-Kingsville football program has a 68.1 winning percentage in 850 games. They own 34 conference titles and seven national championships. In fact there is only one program that has faced the Javelinas at least 10 times and can claim a winning record… Midwestern State at 6-5.

The #19 Mustangs (7-2, 6-2) return to Javelina Stadium on Saturday night at 7 p.m. and the #4 Javelinas (8-1, 7-1) would like nothing better than to stop a five-game losing streak to MSU.

Midwestern State is the fourth nationally ranked team the Javelinas have played this year. The Hoggies defeated Northwest Missouri State and West Texas A&M and lost to Abilene Christian, previously. Since joining the NCAA Division in 1982, the Javelinas own a 19-3 record when ranked fourth in the nation by the American Football Coaches Association.

The Javelinas are coming off a 56-17 thrashing of Southwestern Oklahoma and appear to be rounding into form on offense. Sophomore running back Jonathon Woodson (Missouri City/Marshall HS) has been a revelation since moving into the starting role three weeks ago. He is averaging over 100 yards rushing and 200 all-purpose yards in his last three weeks, including 117 rushing yards and four touchdowns in one half last week.

Junior quarterback Nate Poppell (Spring/Spring HS) needs only 66 passing yards in the game to become the sixth player in school history to pass for at least 2,000 yards in a season. His favorite target has been record-setting senior wide receiver Ryan Lincoln (Bastrop/Bastrop HS) who has 52 catches for 579 yards. Lincoln will be honored prior to the game for becoming the school’s career receptions leader.

In the kicking game, Christian Brom (McAllen/McAllen HS) is a two-time Lone Star Conference South Division Special Teams Player of the Week this year and is 10-for-13 on field goals.

The Javelinas top ranked defensive unit will have their hands full with a strong Mustang offense. Quarterback Zack Eskridge lit up the Hoggies last year with a 24-of-25 passing performance. He is averaging 211.6 yards passing with 16 touchdowns and six interceptions this year. The MSU running attack is the best in the LSC averaging 215.2 yards per game. They have four players averaging at least 35 yards per game with Marcus Mathis leading the way with 507 yards on the season. David Little is the top receiving threat with 52 catches for 626 yards and seven touchdowns.

Both teams enter the week in the top six in the initial Super Region 4 rankings. The Javelinas are currently third and fighting to host at least one playoff game.

Saturday’s game will be available to watch and listen to online by going to http://www.javelinaathletics.com/.