• After opening the season at home for the first time in its 3-year history, No. 2/3 ranked UWF travels to No. 10/7 Midwestern State for the spotlight game in the country.

• UWF and MSU Texas are playing the only top-10 matchup across any of the four levels - FBS, FCS, D2 & D3 - of NCAA competition.

TOP STORYLINES
• UWF is ranked No. 2 in the AFCA poll (3 by the media of D2Football.com), putting the Argos into the rankings for the third-consecutive ranking period after ending the 2017 season ranked No. 2.
• The Argos are facing a ranked opponent for the eighth-consecutive game and the tenth in the last 12 weeks. UWF is 7-4 all-time against top-25 teams and 5-2 on the road.
• UWF and Ashland are the only schools in Division 2 to play two ranked teams to start the 2018 season.

THE COACHES
• UWF coach Pete Shinnick was hired as the first coach in program history on Feb. 6, 2014. He has a 120-56 career record in his 16th season as a head coach, which includes a 50-24 mark at UNC Pembroke from 2007-13 and 53-22 at Azusa Pacific from 1999-05. He was named the AFCA and D2Football.com National Coach of the Year last season.
• MSU Texas coach Bill Maskill enters his 17th season at Midwestern State with a 130-47 record. His 130 victories account for 54.9 percent of MSU's total wins as a four-year program. The 5-time Lone Star Conference Coach of the Year has a career record of 143-55 through 18 seasons which includes a 2-year stint at Southeast Missouri State from 1988-89.

ABOUT UWF
    Year three of UWF football got underway last week with a 19-9 win over then-No. 22 Carson-Newman. The Argos shut down the Eagles in the second half, limiting them to 65 total yards and zero points after trailing 9-6 at the intermission.
    Graduate QB Sam Vaughn entered the game as a replacement to starter Mike Beaudry midway through the first quarter and was 17-for-29 for 218 yards with a TD and an interception. He led the team on its lone TD drive of the game  - an 11-play, 76-yard drive that saw him go 5-for-6 for 53 yards and a 4-yard touchdown pass to Lee Walker.
    The running back trio of Chris Schwarz, Quaide Weimerskirch and Anthony Johnson, Jr. combined for 92 yards on 28 carries.
    UWF returns nine starters on offense and eight on defense to begin the year. In terms of statistical production, those players have accounted for 60 percent of last year's offense and 72 percent of the defensive tackles.

ABOUT MIDWESTERN STATE
    Midwestern State is 1-0 on the season after a 55-12 win over Humboldt State. The Mustangs went 10-1 last season and rolled through the Lone Star Conference with an 8-0 mark. They were picked to finish second in 2018, marking the third-consecutive year for that prediction.
    MSU Texas has won 17 of its last 18 regular-season home games dating back to the start of the 2015 season. The lone setback came in 2016 against Eastern New Mexico.
    The Mustangs ranked 11th in NCAA Division II piling up 483.3 yards per game including 175.3 rushing yards per game (3rd in LSC/59th in D2) and 308 passing yards a contest (3rd in LSC/11th in D2).
    MSU Texas returns 23 letter winners and seven starters off of the 11th-best attack in NCAA Division II.

UWF & THE GSC VS. LONE STAR CONFERENCE
    Saturday's game will mark just the second against a Lone Star Conference team for UWF. The previous occurrence came against Texas A&M-Commerce in last year's national championship game - a 37-27 loss.
    Last week, Tarleton State defeated Delta State, 44-13, in the only other matchup thus far.

VAUGHN TO MAKE FIRST CAREER START ON SATURDAY
    Graduate QB Sam Vaughn is expected to make his first career start on Saturday with week one starter Mike Beaudry unable to practice following an injury sustained against Carson-Newman. In his absence, Vaughn was 17-for-29 for 218 yards with a TD and an interception. It was the first time in program history that the Argos had to make an in-game switch at quarterback due to injury.
    Vaughn spent the past four years as a walk-on at Georgia and did not appear in a game. Prior to last Thursday, the last time he played in a live game was as a senior at Fort Pierce (Fla.) Central HS.
    Below are the debut performances of the three previous players who have started at QB for UWF:
Name    Game
Kaleb Nobles    at Ave Maria, 9/3/16
20-for-28, 229 yards, 2 TD, 0 INT

Mike Beaudry    at Missouri S&T, 9/2/17
20-for-31, 192 yards, 2 TD, 0 INT

Grey Jackson    Miss. College, 10/6/17
10-for-21, 101 yards, 2 rush for 5 yards

DEFENSE DOMINANT IN OPENER VS CARSON-NEWMAN
    The UWF defense hit its stride around week seven last year and was a major force during the postseason run to the national championship game. Last week, defensive coordinator Darian Dulin's unit picked up where they left off  and held Carson-Newman to just nine points - their lowest in any game in five years and their fewest in a season opener since 1967.
    The second-half effort was the perfect storm as the Eagles were held scoreless and managed just 67 yards of total offense in the final 30 minutes. Additionally, C-N totaled just eight yards on 10 plays in the fourth quarter and were held to one or fewer yards on seven of them.

DEFENSE HAS FORCED TURNOVERS IN 24 OF 27 GAMES
    The UWF defense forced and recovered two fumbles last week against Carson-Newman, extending it's streak of games with at least one turnover to three games.
    While that doesn't seem like a great streak, further inspection shows the Argonauts have gotten at least one turnover in 24 of their 27 games all-time UWF is 16-8 when getting a turnover and 1-2 when unable to force a sudden change.

WILLIAMS NAILS 4 FIELD GOALS FOR FOURTH TIME
    Junior PK Austin Williams made four field goals against Carson-Newman to tie his own school record, which he previously set against Valdosta State (9/23/17), Delta State (10/14/17) and at West Alabama (10/28/17).
    The Phelan, Calif. native earned his fourth Gulf South Conference Special Teams Player of the Week award after adding an extra point and putting four of his six kickoffs into the end zone for a touchback.
    In 2017, he garnered Honorable Mention All-America honors after he finished with a UWF record 126 points on 27 field goals and 45 extra points. He shattered the GSC single-season record for field goals in a season with 27 – the previous mark was 23.

GSC SINGLE-SEASON FG MADE
27    Austin WIlliams, UWF    2017
23    Anthony Pistelli, Valdosta St.    2014
22    Will Rhody, Valdosta State    2004
20    Jason Williams, Southern Ark.    1998

UWF WITH ANOTHER SHOT AT A RANKED OPPONENT
    This week's game against #10 Midwestern State marks the tenth ranked opponent for UWF in the last 12 weeks. The Argonauts are 7-4 all-time against ranked teams.
    The Argonauts went 5-3 against ranked teams in 2017, with all five wins coming on the road in consecutive weeks, including four during the NCAA postseason run.

UWF vs. NATIONALLY RANKED PROGRAMS
2016    
16    Florida Tech    W, 42-39
3    at North Alabama    L, 3-51

2017
21/20    Delta State    L, 25-28
25/23    at West Alabama    L, 18-35
24/18    at West Georgia    W, 34-29
16/18    at Wingate (NCAA)    W, 31-0
24/25    at West Georgia (NCAA)    W, 17-14
17/17    at West Alabama (NCAA)    W, 28-21
3/1    at Indiana (Pa.) (NCAA)    W, 27-17
8/8    vs. A&M-Commerce (NCAA)    L, 27-37

2018    
22/rv    Carson-Newman    W, 19-9
10/7    at Midwestern State
* Rankings are AFCA/D2FB

UWF ON THE ROAD
    UWF made its magical run through the postseason with some of the best road play in the country. The Argonauts went 8-1 last year with five-consecutive victories heading into the neutral-site National Championship Game, The Argonauts are now 10-5 all-time away from Pensacola.
    UWF is 3-1 in regular-season non-conference road games and 2-0 in road openers.

DIVISION II ROAD VICTORIES IN 2017
8    WEST FLORIDA, Harding
7    Texas A&M-Commerce
6    Central Wash., Findlay, Minn.-Duluth, Minnesota State, Virginia State
5    Ashland, Assumption, Bowie State, Delta State, Fort Hays, Indiana (Pa.), Shepherd, Shippensburg, Tuskegee, West Chester, Winona State.