# 2017 Midwestern State Mustangs football team

The 2017 Midwestern State Mustangs football team represented Midwestern State University in the 2017 NCAA Division II football season. They were led by head coach Bill Maskill, who is in his 16th season at Midwestern State. The Mustangs played their home games at Memorial Stadium and were members of the Lone Star Conference.

## Preseason
### LSC media poll

LSC media poll :
| Predicted finish | Team | Votes (1st place) |
| 1 | Texas A&M–Commerce | 229 (21) |
| 2 | Midwestern State | 192 (2) |
| 3 | Texas A&M–Kingsville | 177 (1) |
| 4 | Eastern New Mexico | 136 |
| 5 | Tarleton State | 135 (1) |
| 6 | Angelo State | 114 |
| 7 | West Texas A&M | 97 |
| T8 | Western New Mexico | 45 |
| T8 | UT Permian Basin | 45 (1) |
    Source:

## Schedule

Midwestern State announced its 2017 football schedule on January 26, 2017. The schedule consists of six home and four away games in the regular season. The Mustangs will host LSC foes Tarleton State, Texas A&M-Commerce, Texas A&M-Kingsville, West Texas A&M, and Western New Mexico and will travel to Angelo State, Eastern New Mexico, and UT Permian Basin.
The Mustangs will host one of the two non-conference games against Quincy from the Great Lakes Valley Conference and will travel to West Florida from the Gulf South Conference.
| Date | Time | Opponent | Rank | Site | Result | Attendance |
| August 31 | 7:00 p.m | Quincy* | No. 24 | Memorial StadiumWichita Falls, TX | W 53–6 | 7,077 |
| September 9 | 6:00 p.m. | at West Florida* | No. 16 | Blue Wahoos StadiumPensacola, FL | Cancelled | |
| September 16 | 7:00 p.m. | Texas A&M–Kingsville | No. 13 | Memorial StadiumWichita Falls, TX | W 35–13 | 7,613 |
| September 30 | 7:00 p.m. | Western New Mexico | No. 12 | Memorial StadiumWichita Falls, TX | W 35–24 | 8,737 |
| October 7 | 7:00 p.m. | No. 2 Texas A&M–Commerce | No. 10 | Memorial StadiumWichita Falls, TX | W 47–42 | 9,201 |
| October 14 | 6:00 p.m. | at Angelo State | No. 6 | LeGrand Sports ComplexSan Angelo, TX | W 41–27 | 2,164 |
| October 21 | 8:00 p.m. | West Texas A&M | No. 5 | Memorial StadiumWichita Falls, TX | W 45–3 | 8,020 |
| October 28 | 6:00 p.m. | at UT Permian Basin | No. 5 | Ratliff StadiumOdessa, TX | W 66–8 | 1,154 |
| November 4 | 2:00 p.m. | Tarleton State | No. 4 | Memorial StadiumWichita Falls, TX | W 45–42 $^{OT}$ | 8,111 |
| November 11 | 8:00 p.m. | Eastern New Mexico | No. 4 | Greyhound StadiumPortales, NM | W 56–43 | 2,032 |
| November 18 | 1:00 p.m. | No. 18 Sioux Falls | No. 5 | Memorial StadiumWichita Falls, TX (NCAA Division II First Round) | W 24–20 | 7,502 |
| November 25 | 12:00 p.m. | No. 1 Minnesota State | No. 5 | Blakeslee StadiumMankato, MN (NCAA Division II Second Round) | L 21–63 | 1,358 |
| *Non-conference gameHomecomingRankings from AFCA Poll released prior to the gameAll times are in Central time |||||||
    The game between Midwestern State and West Florida was cancelled in advance of the arrival of Hurricane Irma.

## Rankings

Ranking movements Legend: ██ Increase in ranking ██ Decrease in ranking :
| | Week | Week | Week | Week | Week | Week | Week | Week | Week | Week | Week | Week | Week | Week |
| Poll | Pre | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | 10 | 11 | 12 | Final |
| AFCA | 24 | 16 | 13 | 13 | 12 | 10 | 6 | 5 | 5 | 4 | 4 | 5 | 5 | 11 |

## Game summaries
### Western New Mexico

| | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | Total |
| WNMU Mustangs | 14 | 3 | 7 | 0 | 24 |
| No. 12 MSU Mustangs | 7 | 7 | 14 | 7 | 35 |
| Statistics | WNMU | MSU |
| First downs | 28 | 23 |
| Total yards | 467 | 432 |
| Rushing yards | 139 | 106 |
| Passing yards | 328 | 326 |
| Turnovers | 1 | 0 |
| Time of possession | 36:25 | 23:35 |
| Team | Category | Player | Statistics |
| Western New Mexico | Passing | Javia Hall | 28/41, 328 yards, 2 TD |
| Western New Mexico | Rushing | Justin Harris | 18 rushes, 109 yards, TD |
| Western New Mexico | Receiving | Elijah Jones | 5 receptions, 73 yards |
| Midwestern State | Passing | Layton Rabb | 20/31, 326 yards, 2 TD |
| Midwestern State | Rushing | Adrian Seales | 19 rushes, 86 yards, TD |
| Midwestern State | Receiving | D. J. Myers | 4 receptions, 130 yards, TD |

### No. 2 Texas A&M–Commerce

| | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | Total |
| No. 2 Lions | 0 | 14 | 7 | 21 | 42 |
| No. 10 Mustangs | 6 | 21 | 20 | 0 | 47 |
| Statistics | TAMUC | MSU |
| First downs | 29 | 25 |
| Total yards | 515 | 539 |
| Rushing yards | 78 | 274 |
| Passing yards | 437 | 265 |
| Turnovers | 3 | 0 |
| Time of possession | 29:12 | 30:48 |
| Team | Category | Player | Statistics |
| Texas A&M–Commerce | Passing | Luis Perez | 43/55, 437 yards, 4 TD, 2 INT |
| Texas A&M–Commerce | Rushing | Carandal Hale | 9 rushes, 62 yards, TD |
| Texas A&M–Commerce | Receiving | Vincent Hobbs | 7 receptions, 105 yards |
| Midwestern State | Passing | Layton Rabb | 16/28, 265 yards, 3 TD |
| Midwestern State | Rushing | Vincent Johnson | 19 rushes, 133 yards, 3 TD |
| Midwestern State | Receiving | Tyrique Edwards | 7 receptions, 94 yards, TD |

### At UT Permian Basin

| | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | Total |
| No. 5 Mustangs | 24 | 14 | 14 | 14 | 66 |
| Falcons | 0 | 6 | 2 | 0 | 8 |
| Statistics | MSU | UTPB |
| First downs | 28 | 20 |
| Total yards | 667 | 367 |
| Rushing yards | 243 | 253 |
| Passing yards | 424 | 114 |
| Turnovers | 0 | 4 |
| Time of possession | 26:47 | 33:13 |
| Team | Category | Player | Statistics |
| Midwestern State | Passing | Layton Rabb | 16/23, 280 yards, 5 TD |
| Midwestern State | Rushing | Adrian Seales | 9 rushes, 87 yards |
| Midwestern State | Receiving | DeAndre Black | 7 receptions, 177 yards, 2 TD |
| UT Permian Basin | Passing | Kameron Mathis | 16/32, 114 yards, 3 INT |
| UT Permian Basin | Rushing | Marquis Simmons | 28 rushes, 133 yards, TD |
| UT Permian Basin | Receiving | Mitchell Leonard | 6 receptions, 45 yards |