COMMERCE - The eyes of the Division II football world turn to Northeast Texas as the ESPN3 cameras come to Memorial Stadium on Saturday when No. 4 Texas A&M University-Commerce welcomes No. 7 Midwestern State University for the Division II National Game of the Week.

WHO: Midwestern State University at Texas A&M University-Commerce
WHERE: Commerce | Memorial Stadium
WHEN: 7 p.m. on Saturday, October 8
RECORDS: Texas A&M-Commerce is 5-0 overall and 3-0 in the Lone Star Conference after a 35-13 win at Oklahoma Panhandle State. Midwestern State is 4-0 overall and 3-0 in the LSC after a 43-22 win at Western New Mexico.
RANKINGS: Texas A&M-Commerce is ranked No. 4 in the AFCA Coaches' Poll and No. 6 in the D2Football.com Media Poll. Midwestern State is ranked No. 7 in the AFCA Coaches' Poll and No. 5 in the D2Football.com Media Poll.

LIVE AUDIO: Lion Sports Network -- KETR 88.9 FM, Commerce (http://www.ketr.org), Thunder Country KRVA 101.7 FM, Sulphur Springs (http://www.mythundercountry.com/)
LIVE VIDEO: ESPN3 as the Division II National Game of the Week (http://es.pn/2dNVYL9), WatchESPN app on mobile devices
LIVE STATS: http://statb.us/b/139981

GAME PROMOTIONS
• Group tickets are available with discounted rates for groups of 10+, as low as $2 per ticket. Please call the box office at (903) 468-8756.
• A three-game "To The Top" ticket package is available for $24 for the Midwestern State, West Texas A&M, and Tarleton State games. This is a total discount of 20 percent when buying the three-game package. This is available by calling the box office at (903) 468-8756 or visiting www.WeAreLionsTix.com and entering "TOTHETOP" as the discount code when selecting this package.
• There will be a "Fan Cam" in the third quarter, featuring the most passionate fans with the most creative ESPN signs on the video board. There will also be multiple opportunities throughout the game for rowdy fans to be shown on the ESPN3 broadcast.
  
THE BIG ONE
• Fans, students, players, and players have had this game scheduled since the end of the 2015 season, and the anticipated matchup between A&M-Commerce and Midwestern State has finally arrived.
• The Lions are now ranked No. 4 in the nation in Division II according to the American Football Coaches Association Coaches Poll this week.
• A&M-Commerce has now been ranked in 19 straight AFCA polls, dating back to the 2015 preseason poll.
• This is A&M-Commerce's 25th all-time appearance in the AFCA poll since its inception in 2000.
• The ranking is the highest for A&M-Commerce since the AFCA Division II Poll began in 2000.
• No LSC team has been ranked higher than 4th since Midwestern State carried the No. 2 ranking into the 2011 Division II playoffs.

ON THE DIVISION II NATIONAL STAGE
• The game was selected for broadcast on ESPN3 as the Division II National Game the Week long before the magnitude of the rankings could be known.
• This is the highest combined in a Division II regular season (4 vs. 7 according to the AFCA) since the opening week of the 2015 season.
• This ties for the highest combined ranking in an LSC game (in the AFCA poll era). No. 5 Abilene Christian and No. 6 A&M-Kingsville met up on Oct. 2, 2010.
• This is the second top 10 matchup of the year. On Sept. 24, No. 5 Ashland defeated No. 7 Ferris State, 39-31.
  
HANGIN' WITH MR. COOPER
• A&M-Commerce All-American running back Richard Cooper earned LSC Offensive Player of the Week honors with a career performance against A&M-Kingsville, rushing for 224 yards and two touchdowns on 19 carries.
• His 11.8 yards per carry average was 1/10 of a yard short of the school record.
• It is the 11th-most rushing yards by a Lion in a single game.
• Cooper also continues his march upwards in the all-time A&M-Commerce rushing record books.
 

Rk	Yards	Player	Years
1.	4,285	Arthur James	1966-69
2	3,757	Aundra Thompson	1972-75
3.	3,268	Cary Noiel	1978-81
4.	3,191	Ricky Dirks	1982-84
5.	2,598	Richard Cooper	2013-pres.

 
• Cooper is only the fifth Lion running back to come back for the season following a 1,000-yard season.
 
PEREZ CONTINUES TO IMPRESS
•Texas A&M-Commerce quarterback  Luis Perez has been fantastic in his introduction to the Lion lineup.
• Perez is featured prominently in the NCAA Division II and Lone Star Conference statistical rankings
• He leads the LSC in six categories - completion percentage, pass efficiency, passing yards per game, passing yards per attempt, passing yards per completion, and total offense.
 

Stat	LSC	D2	Stat
Completion Pct	1	4	70.2%
Completion/Gm	2	30	21.25
Pass Efficiency	1	5	181.4
Pass TDs	4	32	11
Pass Yds	3	45	1,193
Pass Yds/Gm	1	17	298.3
Pass Yds/Att	1	9	9.86
Pass Yds/Cmp	1	42	14.04
Pts Responsible	4	57	66
Pts Resp/Gm	2	28	17.0
Total Offense	1	27	298.5

 
HOOKS ON THE RUN
• Shawn Hooks has proven to be a dangerous weapon for the Lions in the punt return game.
• He is now the league leader in punt returns at 15.5 yards per punt return.
• Oklahoma Panhandle State did not allow Hooks to factor in the game last weekend, as the Aggies punted eight times, all away from Hooks, who had no return yardage.
• He ranks 15th nationally in punt return average.
 
THE HOG MOLLIES
• In addition to blocking for one of the nation's top rushers and the top  gaining offense in the Lone Star Conference, the Lion offensive line has prided itself on its protection of Perez.
• The Lions rank seventh nationally in sacks allowed per game (0.50).
 
UREVBU IS LIONS' THIRD LSC SPECIAL TEAMS PLAYER OF THE WEEK
• Running back Ovie Urevbu was named the Lone Star Conference Special Teams Player of the Week for his exceptional performance in various stages of the Lions' 35-13 win at Oklahoma Panhandle State.
• Urevbu – a junior from Plano and graduate of Legacy Christian Academy – had a 28-yard touchdown reception on a fake field goal in the second quarter, but his contributions to the game didn't end there.
• On top of a tackle in kickoff coverage, Urevbu rattled off four big carries in the fourth quarter to claim top rusher honors for the Lions. He had four carries for 64 yards with a long of 40 yards, averaging 16.0 yards per carry.
• Including the touchdown reception, Urevbu averaged 18.4 yards per touch in the win over the Aggies.
• He joins kicker Kristov Martinez and punter Hector Dominguez as Lone Star Conference special teams players of the week from A&M-Commerce this season.
 
HOT START
• The Lions have started the season with five consecutive wins for the first time since 1980, when ET won the first six games of the year on the way to a Lone Star Conference championship and the NAIA National Semifinals.
• The 2016 squad is the ninth team in the storied history of A&M-Commerce football to win its first four games. Six teams have won their first five games.
 
ALL-TIME AGAINST THE MUSTANGS
• The Lions and Mustangs have met 21 times in series history. A&M-Commerce holds a 12-9 lead in the all-time series.
• This is the third straight meeting in Commerce due to the realignment of the Lone Star Conference and the Lions holding the upper seed in the 2015 LSC Football Playoffs.
• The recent history of the series (since coach Colby Carthel came to Commerce) is astoundingly close, with three of the four games since 2013 decided by a single score
 

Sept. 28, 2013	Commerce	L	24-30
Oct. 25, 2014	Wichita Falls	L (OT)	37-40
Oct. 24, 2015	Commerce	W	27-14
Nov. 14, 2015	Commerce	L	33-37

 
SPREADING THE LOVE
• The Lions are tied for the conference lead in interceptions as a team, picking off seven of their opponents' passes at this point in the year.
• While this is impressive, perhaps more impressive is that all seven interceptions have been made by a different player.
 

Hatari Byrd	at Delta State
Garrett Blubaugh	at Delta State
D.J. White	at Delta State
Anthony Smith	at Eastern New Mexico
Chris Smith	at Eastern New Mexico
Brent Walker	at Eastern New Mexico
Trey Porter	at Panhandle State

 
ATOP BOTH STACKS
• The Lions lead the Lone Star Conference in both scoring offense and scoring defense.
• Across Division II's 15 conferences, seven of them have the same team leading in both scoring offense and defense.
 

Great American	Harding
Great Lakes Intercollegiate	Grand Valley State
Lone Star	A&M-Commerce
Mid-America Intercollegiate	Northwest Missouri State
Pennsylvania State	California (Pa.)
Southern Intercollegiate	Tuskegee
South Atlantic	Wingate