KINGSVILLE, Texas – After seven grueling football games, the Texas A&M-Kingsville football team will close out their Lone Star Conference schedule on Saturday when they visit the Western New Mexico Mustangs at Altamirano Field in Silver City, N.M. with the action starting at 1 p.m.

The Mustangs enter Saturday following a 44-7 road loss to Angelo State, but prior to that, they had won two of three. This came after coach Adam Clark watched his team drop the first five contests on their schedule. Their first triumph came at home against Tarleton State on Oct. 7^th, when Western New Mexico held their opponents to just 27 yards rushing and registered six sacks. Two weeks ago against Fort Lewis, quarterback Javia Hall and the offense erased a 17-point halftime deficit to come back and win on a last-second field goal by Collin Grady.

The WNMU offense is led by senior quarterback Javia Hall, who is tops in the country in pass attempts with 389. Hall owns a completion percentage of 55.3 and has totaled 2584 yards through the air with 19 scoring throws, his longest being an 86 yarder to D'Angelo Bowie in the first week of the season. He has also thrown 11 interceptions.

Hall's top targets this season have been  Bowie and fellow wideout Evan Beebe. Bowie's 50 grabs for 683 yards and six touchdowns all put him in the top five in the LSC and Beebe isn't far behind with 39 receptions for 522 yards to go with a pair of scores. Bowie has reached double-digits in catches twice this season, including in week one against San Diego, when he hauled in 19 passes for 263 yards and a pair of six-pointers. Receiver Sean North has been a key contributor near the goal line with six TD catches. On the ground, Justin Harris has been the bellcow for the 'Stangs, carrying the ball 124 times for 546 yards, while scoring thrice. His best performance came on Sept. 30^th against Midwestern State, when he ran for 109 yards, caught seven balls for 64 yards and hit paydirt twice.

For the Hogs, quarterback Beau Reilly is coming off the best night of his collegiate career, throwing for 339 yards and two scores against Eastern New Mexico, but redshirt-freshman Cade Dyal has been under center for most of the season and leads the team with 15 touchdown passes. The player having the best season for TAMUK on offense is receiver Jordan Thomas, who is coming of a season-best 11 catches for 212 yards and a TD versus ENMU. He stands at the top of the conference in receptions, receiving yards and touchdowns and is only 235 yards away from the program record for receiving yards in a season, which is 1,156 yards and was set by Glenn Starks in 1976. In the run game, Nick Pelrean's 87.0 yards per game and 6.8 yards per carry are the best on the squad.

Kingsville's defense, which continues to lead the LSC in both sacks and interceptions, will be looking to add to both totals on Saturday. The WNMU offense has turned the ball over 30 times in 2017 and allowed 19 sacks. Coach David Brown II's unit owns a streak of collecting at least one sack in 23 straight games, a mark that dates back to 2015. The Hogs also have three players in the league's top 10 in tackles for loss, including senior linebacker Braedon Robinson, who was credited with three against the Greyhounds. TAMUK's 12 interception is a total that nine players have contributed to.

Dominic Barry has been the leader on defense for the Mustangs. He currently sits in second-place in the LSC with 95 tackles and is in third in the conference with 12.5 TFLs. His five-and-a-half sacks are good enough to tie him for third. The unit has struggled at times this season, allowing a conference worst 38.1 points per game. Western New Mexico's defense is at its best when defending the pass, as they rank in the top half of the league with an average of 237.7 ypg allowed.

This will be TAMUK's first visit to Silver City, as each of their previous two match-ups with WNMU have been in Kingsville. The schools first met in 1976, with the Hogs cruising to a 63-2 victory. Last season, the Javs came away with a 28-13 triumph thanks in large part to 493 yards of total offense.

Saturday's game will be broadcast live on WILD 105.5 FM and on javelinaathletics.com with Mark Inserra and Jim Carl on the call. Once the final whistle sounds, a recap will be published on javelinaathletics.com.