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Texas A&M-Commerce | Football
COMMERCE – The No. 13 Texas A&M University-Commerce football team opens the 2019 season on Saturday evening, hosting Selección Nuevo León for International Day and Student Appreciation Day.
Selección Nuevo León will play at Texas A&M UniversityCommerce at| Ernest Hawkins Field at Memorial Stadium Saturday at 6 p.m.
Both teams are playing their first game of the season.
Texas A&M-Commerce is ranked No. 13 in the AFCA Coaches’ Poll and the D2Football.com Media Poll.
Live Audio will be by Lion Sports Network -- KETR 88.9 FM, Commerce (http://www.ketr.org)
Providing live audio Lone Star Conference Digital Network - http://www.lonestarconferencenetwork.com/commerce/
FInd live stats at http://www.statbroadcast.com/events/statbroadcast.php?t=1&gid=tame
For tickets go to WeAre LionxTx.com
BAILIFF BEGINS
Lion Football head coach David Bailiff was hired in December 2018 as the 20th head football coach at A&M-Commerce.
Since East Texas joined the Lone Star Conference as charter members in 1931, Bailiff is the 13th head coach of the Lions.
Bailiff was the head coach at Texas State University from 2004-06 and at Rice University from 2007-17. The Lions’ 2019 season will be Bailiff’s 15th season as a collegiate head coach.
As a collegiate head coach, Bailiff has led a team to the NCAA Division I National Semifinals and has made five total postseason appearances with a 5-2 postseason record.
The 2005 Texas State Bobcats were Division I National Semifinalists, and Bailiff led the Rice Owls to four bowls with a 3-1 record in those games.
Bailiff has led teams to 10-win seasons in three seasons (one at Texas State, two at Rice). Under his watch, the Owls had the most wins in school history over a two
(18), three (25), and four (30) year periods. Rice’s 18-9 mark from 2013-14 was the second-best of any FBS program in Texas.
WE’RE GOING STREAKING!
By qualifying for their fourth straight NCAA Division II Playoff berth in 2018, the Lions have the third-longest active playoff streak in the nation.
Only Northwest Missouri State (15 straight) and Ferris State (five straight) have longer
active playoff streaks than A&M-Commerce.
In Lone Star Conference history, only A&M-Kingsville (1992-98, 7 straight) has a streak of more than four appearances.
The Lions have also advanced to the regional semifinal round for three consecutive seasons. National runner-up Ferris State has reached the regional semifinal four times in a row.
LIONS CONTINUE RANKINGS RUN
The Lions are ranked No. 13 nationally in the preseason 2019 American Football Coaches Association Division II Coaches’ Poll released last week.
A&M-Commerce has been ranked in 53 consecutive AFCA polls, dating back to the 2015 preseason poll.This is A&M-Commerce’s 59th all-time appearance in the AFCA poll since its inception in 2000.
In the polls recognized by Division II as the top rating system, the Lions have been recognized as a nationally ranked team 108 times since joining Division II in 1981.
SENIORS SUCCEED OVER CAREER SPAN
The 2018 senior class now claimed sole possession of the school record for wins in a four-year period with 43.
The 2019 senior class is already on pace to challenge that record, with a record of 38-6 in the previous three years.
LION SUPPORT FANTASTIC ONCE AGAIN
In six home dates, A&M-Commerce drew 45,296 total fans in 2018. That total attendance ranked second in Division II.
In terms of average attendance, the Lion faithful turned out at a rate of 7,549 per game. That ranked eighth nationally.
Over the last five years (available in the NCAA rankings database), the Lions have nearly doubled their average turnout since the 2013 season. The next closest season since 2009 was over 2,400 fans per game fewer.
LIONS TO PLAY THEIR FIRST INTERNATIONAL GAME
The first game of the David Bailiff era will be played on Ernest Hawkins Field at Memorial Stadium this Saturday, when the Lions host Selección Nuevo León for A&M-Commerce’s first-ever international football game.
Selección Nuevo León represents the Asociación Estatal de Futbol Americano de Nuevo León (AEFANL) - the state organizing committee for the state of Nuevo León. This is El Selección’s third season of competing while associated with the Autonomous University of Nuevo León (UANL).
El Selección is the top-level team in the state, made up of players who had successful careers at some of the top preparatory programs in Mexico.
SHILLOW SHINES ON NATIONAL STAGE
Redshirt junior defensive back Alex Shillow was announced as the National Chair of the NCAA Division II Student-Athlete Advisory Committee in January.
Shillow has represented the Lions at the national level as the Lone Star Conference representative to the Division II National SAAC since 2018.
He is the president of the A&M-Commerce SAAC, which has won the LSC SAAC Cup in three of the last four years, including 2017 and 2018, when Shillow in leadership roles on the A&M-Commerce SAAC executive board.
He has also been announced as one of 137 nominees for the 2019 Allstate AFCA Good Works Team®, one of the most prestigious off-the-field honors in college football. Shillow is one of 59 scholar-athletes from the Combined Divisions (FCS, Division II, Division III and NAIA) vying for 11 spots.
A second team all-LSC selection in 2018, Shillow is a recipient of the 2018 Hunt County African American Leadership Conference - MLK Social Justice Award and a three-time LSC Commissioner’s Honor Roll honoree. He has been an exemplary student, earning LSC Commissioner’s Honor Roll distinction.