COMMERCE - Texas A&M University-Commerce hosts the NCAA Division II Playoffs for the first time since 1991 this Saturday, welcoming Colorado Mesa University for a 2 p.m. kickoff on Saturday in the first round..

WHO: Colorado Mesa University at Texas A&M University-Commerce 
WHERE: Commerce | Memorial Stadium
WHEN: 2 p.m. on Saturday, November 19
RECORDS: Texas A&M-Commerce is 10-1 overall and 8-1 in the Lone Star Conference, winning the LSC Championship. Colorado Mesa is 9-2 overall and 8-2 in the Rocky Mountain Athletic Conference and tri-champions of the RMAC.
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 the fourth seed of Super Region IV. Colorado Mesa is ranked No. 24 in the AFCA Coaches' Poll and No. 25 in the D2Football.com Media Poll. The Mavericks are the fifth seed of Super Region IV.

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: TBA
TICKETS: Tickets information is available on the Lions' Playoff Central page.

LIONS IN THE POSTSEASON
• The Lion have qualified for the NCAA Division II Playoffs for the second consecutive season and will play in the post season for the fourth straight season.
• This is the first time the Lions have hosted a postseason contest since 1991.
• The Lions have made 12 overall trips to the postseason with a 9-6-1 record.
 
WE ARE THE CHAMPIONS
• With the 30-10 win over Tarleton and an Eastern N.M. win over Midwestern State in the final game of the season, the Lions won the 2016 Lone Star Conference championship outright.
• This is the third consecutive LSC Championship for A&M-Commerce.
• In LSC history, a three-year championship has happened 12 times since the league's founding in 1932.
• A&M-Commerce has had a three-year championship streak four times.
• This is the first since 1957-59.
• ET won five straight championships from 1951-55, which was the beginning of eight championships in nine seasons in the 1950s.
• The last time an LSC team won three straight titles was West Texas A&M from 2005-07.
 
CARTHEL 5TH IN SCHOOL HISTORY IN WINS
• Head coach Colby Carthel now ranks fifth in A&M-Commerce history in coaching wins with 33 wins.
• However, he will be in fifth for a while, as his 33 wins are just over 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.	33-13
6	M.A. Smith	1951-53	30-2-1

 
UNFAMILIAR TERRITORY
• A&M-Commerce has only faced one RMAC opponent in its storied history, taking a 48-17 win over Adams State last season.
• Also, Colorado Mesa has only played in the state of Texas twice, losing at West Texas A&M in Week 2 of 2006 and losing to Abilene Christian in the first round of the 2007 playoffs.
 
HOOKS' RETURNS SPARK LIONS
• Shawn Hooks sealed the LSC Championship with a 70-yard punt return for a touchdown in the fourth quarter of the Lions' 30-10 victory over Tarleton State.
• He is one of two players in all four divisions of NCAA football with three punt returns for touchdowns this season.
• Both players in the nation with three touchdowns are in the same university system, as Christian Kirk of Texas A&M is the other.
 
• Hooks is now ranked fourth nationally in the punt return average standings in NCAA Division II.
• He ranks second in the Lone Star Conference in punt return average after the regular season.
 

Rk	Returner	School	Punt Ret Avg
1	Paul Revis	Western Ore.	24.3
2	Gunner Olszewski	Bemidji St.	21.3
3	Deandre Black	Midwestern St.	19.9
4	Shawn Hooks	A&M-COMMERCE	18.0
5	Braxton Graham	Missouri S&T	17.8
6	Donta Armstrong	West Ala.	17.1
7	Cole Chiappiale	Shippensburg	17.1
8	Cody Paul	Chadron St.	16.7
9	Philbert Martial	North Ala.	16.6
10	Lavatiae Kelly	Virginia Union	16.5

 
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 now rank 3rd nationally in sacks allowed per game (0.40), with four total sacks allowed.
• A&M-Commerce has not allowed a sack in the last four games, dating back to the Western New Mexico game.
• The top two teams in the nation in this category allowed 0.36 sacks per game, which is 4 sacks allowed in 11 games, where as the Lions have allowed their 4 sacks in 10 countable games.
 
SCORELESS STREAK ENDS AFTER MORE THAN 2 HOURS
• A second quarter touchdown by UT Permian Basin snapped a Lion defensive scoreless streak of more than two hours.
• The Lions did not allow a point from late in the first quarter at Angelo State until the 11:13 mark of the second quarter at UTPB.
• The streak totaled 131 minutes and 48 seconds with eight full quarters of scoreless football.
 
LIONS NCAA HISTORY
• A&M-Commerce makes its fifth appearance in the NCAA Division II Playoffs.
• Outside of the Lions' trip to Ferris State in the 2015 playoffs.
• The Lions also made three playoff trips under coach Eddie Vowell in 1990, 1991, and 1995. The 1990 and 1991 teams each defeated Grand Valley State in the first round before losing at Pittsburg State in the second round.
 
HANGIN' WITH MR. COOPER
• Running back Richard Cooper has continued his march upwards in the all-time A&M-Commerce rushing record books.
• He leads the league in yards per carry.
• Cooper ranks 27th nationally in rushing yards per game (103.0 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-yard 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.	3,097	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.
 
PEREZ CONTINUES TO IMPRESS
•Texas A&M-Commerce quarterback  Luis Perez has been fantastic in his introduction to the Lion lineup.
• He has been exceptional in terms of interceptions, having thrown all of three picks this season.
• Perez is featured prominently in the NCAA Division II and Lone Star Conference statistical rankings
• He leads the LSC in seven categories - pass efficiency, passing touchdowns, 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	13	66.0%
Completion/Gm	3	36	20.20
Pass Efficiency	1	8	170.1
Pass TDs	2	16	27
Pass Yds	3	27	2,802
Pass Yds/Gm	1	15	280.2
Pass Yds/Att	1	12	9.16
Pass Yds/Cmp	1	35	13.87
Pts Responsible	2	37	162
Pts Resp/Gm	2	29	16.4
Total Offense	1	29	280.7

 
• Perez has 27 touchdowns  this season, which ranks third in a single season at A&M-Commerce - and third-most in the last three seasons.
• Tyrik Rollison had 31 passing TDs in 2015, followed by Harrison Stewart with 30 in 2015.
• At 2,802 yards, he needs 198 passing yards to become the third Lion trigger man with 3,000 passing yards in a season.
 
SPREADING THE LOVE
• The Lions are in the lead in the conference in interceptions as a team, picking off 19 of their opponents' passes at this point in the year.
• While this is impressive, perhaps more impressive is that 15 of the 19 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.
• Yusef Sterling-Lowe has had three of the Lions' last four picks.
 

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
Yusef Sterling-Lowe (2)	at UT Permian Basin
Neema Behbahani	vs. Tarleton State
Yusef Sterling-Lowe (3)	vs. Tarleton State

 
DUAL THREATS
• The Lions are the Lone Star Conference leaders in both scoring offense and scoring defense, thanks in large part to high offensive outputs and strong defensive performances in the last three games.
• Of the 15 Division II conferences, nine have the same team leading in both scoring offense and scoring defense
 

School	Conference	Offense	Defense
Harding	Great American	41.6	11.2
Ashland	GLIAC	43.5	15.1
Azusa Pacific	Great Northwest	37.6	14.4
North Alabama	Gulf South	40.4	14.4
A&M-Commerce	Lone Star	41.1	18.2
Northwest Missouri St.	MIAA	49.0	13.1
California (Pa.)	PSAC	52.1	13.6
Tuskegee	SIAC	27.0	16.9
Newberry	South Atlantic	36.6	18.7

 
WINNING THE TURNOVER BATTLE
• The Lions plus-five turnover margin both at Angelo State and on Homecoming vs. West Texas A&M helped put them at the top of the NCAA standings in turnover margin.
• A&M-Commerce is alone in the national lead in turnover margin at plus-2.1 per game.
 

Rk	Team	G	W-L	FR-INT	Plus	FL-INT	Minus	Mgn	Avg
1	A&M-COMMERCE	10	9-1	13-19	32	6-5	5	21	2.10
2	Indiana (Pa.)	10	9-1	7-22	29	6-4	4	19	1.90
3	Azusa Pacific	11	9-2	10-23	33	10-3	3	20	1.82
4	Emporia St.	11	10-1	10-19	29	4-8	8	17	1.55
5	Virginia St.	11	9-2	14-11	25	5-4	4	16	1.45
6	Miles	9	5-4	12-16	28	9-7	7	12	1.33
7	Harding	11	11-0	14-17	31	17-0	0	14	1.27
8	North Ala.	9	8-1	10-14	24	4-9	9	11	1.22
9	Shippensburg	11	7-4	9-14	23	1-9	9	13	1.18
9	Winona St.	11	8-3	13-15	28	4-11	11	13	1.18

 
REALLY SPECIAL TEAMS                                                                         
• The Lions have been exceptional in the kicking and coverage phases, ranking highly in the nation in all punt and kickoff categories.
 

Stat	LSC	Nation	Stat
Kickoff Return Defense	1	2	12.58
Punt Return Defense	1	6	3.00
Net Punting	1	7	38.39
Punt Returns	1	7	18.10
Kickoff Returns	4	78	20.82