WICHITA FALLS - West Texas A&M played its best game of the season at Memorial Stadium in Wichita Falls Saturday night to a crucial 38-26 victory over Midwestern State.

The Buffs like to use the hashtag RollDamnBuffs on their social media platforms, and the Mustangs were stampeded from the start of the contest. WT scored touchdowns on four of its six drives in the first half to take a 28-10 lead into halftime.

WT’s offense opened the third quarter with an impressive 7-play, 72-yard drive capped with a 10-yard touchdown run from Jarrod Compton to extend the Buffs lead to 35-10. MSU pulled within nine points at the beginning of the fourth quarter, but WT responded with a 14-play, 71-yard drive that ended in a Gage Urias 21-yard field goal.

Finding the missing consistency: The Buffaloes have been inconsistent during both wins and losses and have struggled to put together two good halves of football in the same game. That is until tonight.

WT won the turnover battle 4-1, held nearly a 14-minute advantage on time of possession, and gained 585 total yards that were almost an equal split. The Buffs gained 308 yards through the air and 277 yards on the ground.

“It's definitely the best all-around game we’ve played this season,” WT coach Hunter Hughes said. “We’ve played good on defense at times and played good on offense at times, but this was a complete game.” 

Winning on third down started on first down: Modern-day coach speak has a mantra about winning on third down. The Buffs certainly accomplished that feat Saturday, converting 11-of-18 third down attempts. 

The success for WT on third down began on first down. The Buffs averaged 6.5 yards per play on first down using a nice mix of running plays (26) and passing plays (13). The success on first down led WT to need an average of 4.8 yards to gain on third down.

It’s a familiar story for MSU, which has allowed teams to convert 29-of-47 third down attempts in its three losses while holding opposing teams to a measly 10-of-42 third down conversions in the Mustangs victories.

One big step closer: Hughes and the Buffs have made no secrets about their desire to earn a spot in the NCAA Division II playoffs this year. Saturday’s game was a must-win to maintain hope of a playoff berth after losing to Texas A&M-Kingsville and Angelo State.

“We need to win out, but we can only do it one win at a time. We took a big step today. Now we have to build on it. Once we quit beating ourselves or playing against ourselves, we can be pretty good.”

Game Ball: West Texas A&M quarterback Nick Gerber

The biggest key for West Texas A&M entering the game was to limit turnovers, considering the Buffs have turned the ball over eight times in their two losses. The senior quarterback was superb against MSU, completing 82 percent of his passes (23-of-28) for 308 yards and a touchdown for a 186.3 rating. The Buffs will be a force if Gerber continues to play at this level.