ROLLA, Mo. – Just days after completing a long road trip to western Nebraska, Missouri S&T's football team heads back on the road for another lengthy excursion against a top flight opponent as it will face Midwestern State Saturday evening in Wichita Falls, Texas.  Game time is 7 p.m.

The Miners, who dropped a 42-25 decision at Chadron State in the opening weekend of play, will face a team that received votes in the latest AFCA rankings for the second week in a row.  The Mustangs picked up 18 votes in this week's poll despite the fact that this weekend's game will be their first of the 2014 campaign.

Midwestern State finished at 7-3 a year ago – losing its last two games after a 7-1 start – on the strength of one of the nation's top rushing attacks and a favorable turnover ratio.  The Mustangs averaged 261.9 yards per game last season, which ranked tenth in NCAA Division II, while finishing fourth in the nation in turnover ratio at plus 1.5 per game.

Despite losing their leading rusher from last season (Keidrick Jackson, who ran for 1,177 yards), the Mustangs return their second-leading runner in that department in Dante Taylor, who accumulated 552 yards at a rate of 6.7 yards per carry.  Quarterback Jake Glover completed 55.9 percent of his passes for 1,237 yards and 10 touchdowns for a unit that threw the ball an average of just once every four plays last year.

Defensively, the Mustangs return their top two tacklers in safety Marqui Christian, who had 95 stops last year and linebacker Daniel Laudermilk, who made 66 tackles.

Last week, the Miners fell behind 21-0 in the opening half at Chadron State, but made two runs at the Eagles behind the play of sophomore quarterback Kason Key (Owasso, Okla./Owasso).  In his S&T debut, Key completed 30-of-55 passes for 380 yards and three touchdowns, with the yardage total being the second-most by any S&T signalcaller in his first game with the Miners or in a season opening contest.

Key threw for 273 yards in the second half and fired two of his scoring passes to Melvin Stovall (Los Angeles, Calif./Lancaster), who recorded 10 receptions for 127 yards last week.

Stovall and fellow senior wideouts Leon Moody (St. Louis, Mo./DeSmet Jesuit HS) and Nick Taylor (Wichita, Kan./Southeast HS) combined to make 25 catches in the game, the most by a Miner trio in a game in nearly two years.

Defensively, the Miners were led in tackles by Nick Kruse (Cuba, Mo./Cuba HS) with 10 stops and Dawan Ferguson (St. Louis, Mo./Riverview Gardens) with nine.  S&T got an interception from Will Brown (Hazelwood, Mo./Hazelwood West) in the game and a blocked field goal attempt by defensive end Daleroy Davey (Kansas City, Kan./Turner).

Game Notes: Miners vs. Midwestern State
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