COMMERCE - The No. 8 Texas A&M University-Commerce Lions hit the road for the final time in the regular season this weekend, playing at first-year program UT Permian Basin on Saturday night.

WHO: Texas A&M University-Commerce at the University of Texas of the Permian Basin
WHERE: Odessa | Ratliff Stadium
WHEN: 7 p.m. on Saturday, November 5
RECORDS: Texas A&M-Commerce is 8-1 overall and 6-1 in the Lone Star Conference after a 36-0 win over West Texas A&M. UT Permian Basin is 2-7 overall and 0-7 in LSC play after a 76-21 loss at Midwestern State.
RANKINGS: Texas A&M-Commerce is ranked No. 8 in the AFCA Coaches' Poll and No. 7 in the D2Football.com Media Poll. The Lions are also ranked fourth in the NCAA Division II Super Region Four Rankings. UT Permian Basin is unranked

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: TBA
LIVE STATS: http://www.sidearmstats.com/utpb/football

LIONS STAY IN TOP TEN; UP TO 8th
• The Lions remain ranked No. 8 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 23 straight AFCA polls, dating back to the 2015 preseason poll.
• This is A&M-Commerce's 29th all-time appearance in the AFCA poll since its inception in 2000.
• The Lions also moved up one spot to No. 7 in the D2Football.com rankings.
 
A&M-COMMERCE 4th IN SUPER REGION
•  The Lions are ranked fourth in the second release of this year's Super Region Four rankings, as announced by the NCAA Division II Football Committee on Monday.
• The Lions move up one spot in the rankings following a 36-0 shutout victory over West Texas A&M last weekend. Ashland was defeated by Michigan Tech and fell to seventh.
• Undefeated Grand Valley State still holds the top spot in the region, while Midwestern State moves up to second and Southwest Baptist falls a spot to third. Colorado School of Mines jumped to the fifth position, followed by Truman State in sixth, Ashland in seventh, Ferris State in eighth, Colorado Mesa in ninth and Wayne State in 10th.
• This is the second publication this season of the Super Region rankings, which are officially used by the NCAA Division II Football Committee to select the playoff field on Sunday, November 13. The top seven teams from each of Division II's four Super Regions will qualify for the playoffs.
• The first seed will receive a bye to the second round, while the second, third and fourth seeds would host first round games.
 

Rk	School	Div-II
1	Grand Valley St.	9-0
2	Midwestern St.	7-1
3	Southwest Baptist	8-1
4	A&M-COMMERCE	7-1
5	Colorado Mines	7-2
6	Truman St.	7-2
7	Ashland	7-2
8	Ferris St.	7-2
9	Colorado Mesa	7-2
10	Wayne St. (Mich.)	7-2

 
 CARTHEL 5TH IN SCHOOL HISTORY IN WINS
• Head coach Colby Carthel now ranks fifth in A&M-Commerce history in coaching wins with 31 wins.
• However, he will be in fifth for a while, as his 31 wins are half of J.V. Sikes' 63 wins in fourth place.
 

1	Ernest Hawkins	1964-85	132-92-6
2	Eddie Vowell	1986-98	74-71-1
3	Bob Berry	1935-41, 46-50	72-34-8
4	J.V. Sikes	1954-63	63-34-4
5	Colby Carthel	2013-pres.	31-13
6	M.A. Smith	1951-53	30-2-1

 
HOOKS' RETURNS SPARK LIONS
• Shawn Hooks has now worked his way up to fifth nationally in the punt return average standings
• He ranks second in the Lone Star Conference in punt return average after the West Texas A&M game.
 

Rk	Returner	School	Punt Ret Avg
1	Paul Revis	Western Ore.	24.3
2	Deandre Black	Midwestern St.	24.0
3	Cole Chiappiale	Shippensburg	20.1
4	Philbert Martial	North Ala.	19.1
5	Cody Paul	Chadron St.	19.0
6	Braxton Graham	Missouri S&T	17.2
7	Shawn Hooks	A&M-COMMERCE	17.1
8	PJ Leonce	West Tex. A&M	16.7
9	Lavatiae Kelly	Virginia Union	16.5
10	Donta Armstrong	West Ala.	14.7

 
GOING BACK-TO-BACK
• Across all four divisions of NCAA football, Hooks is now tied with 14 other players for the national lead in punt return TDs with 2. 
FBS
Nacarius Fant, Western Kentucky; Eddie Jackson, Alabama; Christian Kirk, Texas A&M; Jojo Natson, Akron; Dante Pettis, Washington
FCS
Rashard Davis, James Madison
Division II
Shawn Hooks, A&M-Commerce; Cole Chiappiale, Shippensburg; Cody Paul, Chadron State; Josh Brown, Colorado Mesa; Kyle Briggs, Mercyhurst
Division III
Jordan Williams, Trinity (Texas); Victor Bunce, Claremont-Mudd-Scripps; Bryce Wilkerson. Mary Hardin-Baylor; Devan Clark, Cornell College
 
HANGIN' WITH MR. COOPER
• Running back Richard Cooper has continued his march upwards in the all-time A&M-Commerce rushing record books.
• He is now the league leader in rushing average - both per game and per carry.
• Cooper ranks 17th nationally in rushing yards per game (113.0 yards per game)
• He became the fifth 3,000-yard career rusher in the fantastic history of Lion football with his first quarter touchdown carry vs West Texas A&M.
• He is within reach of fourth place on the all-time rushing charts.
• He also has 15 career 100-yards rushing games after his performance vs. WT.
 

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.	3,074	Richard Cooper	2013-pres.

 
• Cooper is only the fifth Lion running back to come back for the season following a 1,000-yard season.
• Three Lions repeated their 1,000-yard season with another such milestone year.
 

RICHARD COOPER
2015	Jr.	1,380 yards
2016	Sr.	904 yards

 
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 - pass efficiency, passing yards per game, passing yards per attempt, passing yards per completion, points responsible for per game and total offense.
 

Stat	LSC	D2	Stat
Completion Pct	2	15	66.0%
Completion/Gm	3	38	20.38
Pass Efficiency	1	7	167.8
Pass TDs	4	24	21
Pass Yds	3	34	2,240
Pass Yds/Gm	1	20	280.0
Pass Yds/Att	1	14	9.07
Pass Yds/Cmp	2	46	13.74
Pts Responsible	4	49	126
Pts Resp/Gm	3	33	16.0
Total Offense	3	38	278.5

 
SPREADING THE LOVE
• The Lions are in the lead in the conference in interceptions as a team, picking off 16 of their opponents' passes at this point in the year.
• While this is impressive, perhaps more impressive is that 14 of the 16 interceptions have been made by a different player.
• Brent Walker's interception at Western New Mexico made him the first player to repeat this season for the Lions.
• The Lions four picks vs. West Texas A&M are their most in one game this season.
• A&M-Commerce has returned three of its last five interceptions for touchdowns.
 

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
Danny Huckaby	vs. Midwestern State
Brucks Saathoff	at Western New Mexico
Cameron Rogers	at Western New Mexico
Brent Walker (2)	at Western New Mexico
Jaylon Edwards-Cooper (TD)	at Angelo State
Pierre Leonard	vs. West Texas A&M
Uriah Harris (TD)	vs. West Texas A&M
Chris Smith (2)	vs. West Texas A&M
Yusef Sterling-Lowe (TD)	vs. West Texas A&M

 
DUAL THREATS
• The Lions are the Lone Star Conference leaders in both scoring offense and scoring defense, thanks in large part to the 62-14 win at Angelo State.
• Of the 15 Division II conferences, six have the same team leading in both scoring offense and scoring defense
 

School	Conference	Offense	Defense
Harding	Great American	43.6	12.1
Azusa Pacific	Great Northwest	39.7	13.0
A&M-Commerce	Lone Star	40.4	18.9
Northwest Missouri St.	MIAA	51.9	14.9
California (Pa.)	PSAC	52.5	15.3
Tuskegee	SIAC	27.8	14.3

 
THE HOG MOLLIES
• In addition to blocking for one of the nation's top rushers and the one of the top offenses in the Lone Star Conference, the Lion offensive line has prided itself on its protection of Perez.
• The Lions rank 6th nationally in sacks allowed per game (0.50), with four total sacks allowed.
 
WINNING THE TURNOVER BATTLE
• The Lions plus-five turnover margin both at Angelo State and on Homecoming vs. West Texas A&M put them back near the top of the NCAA standings in turnover margin.
• A&M-Commerce ranks second nationally with a plus-2.13 margin per game.
 

Rk	Team	G	W-L	FR-INT	Plus	FL-INT	Minus	Mgn	Avg
1	Indiana (Pa.)	8	7-1	6-19	25	5-2	7	+18	2.25
2	A&M-COMMERCE	8	7-1	11-16	27	5-5	10	+17	2.13
3	Azusa Pacific	9	8-1	8-21	29	9-2	11	+18	2.00
4	Emporia St.	9	8-1	8-15	23	3-5	8	+15	1.67
	Fairmont St.	9	9-0	9-18	27	4-8	12	+15	1.67
6	Grand Valley St.	9	9-0	9-13	22	4-5	9	+13	1.44
	Harding	9	9-0	12-12	24	11-0	11	+13	1.44
8	Tarleton St.	9	5-4	12-14	26	6-8	14	+12	1.33
	West Alabama	9	6-3	13-13	26	9-5	14	+12	1.33
10	Black Hills St.	9	6-3	6-20	26	6-9	15	+11	1.22
	Virginia St.	9	7-2	11-7	18	5-2	7	+11	1.22

 
ON THE ROAD AGAIN
• The Lions return to the road this week for the final of six road games, all of substantial distance.
• This is the third-longest of the road trips, at just over 400 miles one-way.
• With the addition of Oklahoma Panhandle State, Western New Mexico and UT Permian Basin to the Lone Star Conference, A&M-Commerce will visit all three new schools.
 

Opponent	1-way mileage
Delta State	362
Eastern New Mexico	476
Oklahoma Panhandle State	483
Western New Mexico	853
Angelo State	341
UT Permian Basin	418
TOTAL	2,933