PITTSBURG — The Pittsburg State University football team will return to the friendly confines of Brandenburg Field/Carnie Smith Stadium Saturday (Oct. 30) to play host to MIAA rival University of Central Oklahoma. Kickoff is set for 1 p.m. (CDT).

Pitt State enters Saturday's action with a 6-2 record. The Gorillas have posted back-to-back victories over Lincoln University (59-7) and Missouri Western State University (34-14) the past two weeks and Pitt State is 5-1 in its last six games.

Central Oklahoma is 4-4 on the season entering Saturday's match-up. The Bronchos saw their season best three-game winning streak halted in a 29-17 home loss to Washburn University last Saturday (Oct. 23).

The Coaches
Brian Wright is in his second season as head coach at Pittsburg State.

He was hired as the program's 15th all-time head coach on December 7, 2019. Wright led the Gorillas to a 2-2 record during the abbreviated 2020 season; and he has compiled an 8-4 overall mark. He has a 12-4 (.750) record as a collegiate head coach.

Wright came to Pitt State after serving the previous four seasons as offensive coordinator/quarterbacks coach at the University of Toledo.

In his four seasons with the Rockets, Wright helped guide offenses that have been among the best in the Mid-American Conference while boasting four NFL draft picks.

Prior to coming to Toledo, Wright coached at Florida Atlantic for four seasons as the Owls' offensive coordinator. He stepped in as interim head coach for the final four games of the 2013 season, leading the Owls to four consecutive victories and bowl eligibility (6-6) for the first time since 2008.

Prior to his stint at Florida Atlantic, Wright spent two seasons at Montana State as the offensive coordinator/quarterbacks coach.

Before heading west to Montana State, Wright served nine years at perennial FCS power Youngstown State.

Wright joined the Penguins' staff in 2001 as quarterbacks coach, also working as offensive coordinator from 2005-09. He began his collegiate coaching career at Walsh (Ohio) University as a graduate assistant in 1995-96.

After a year as a graduate assistant at YSU in which the Penguins won the NCAA Division I-AA national title, Wright returned to Walsh in 1998 and served until 2000.

Saturday's action will mark Wright's second match-up against Western. He is 1-0 against the Griffons after securing a 20-7 victory at St. Joseph, Mo., last year.

UCO's Nick Bobek is in his 10th year leading his alma mater. Bobeck (UCO, '02) returned to UCO after serving as the head coach at Navarro Junior College for three years. Bobeck has guided the Bronchos to a 47-51 (.480) record. This will be his ninth meeting vs. Pitt State. He is 1-7 vs. the Gorillas.

The Pitt State-Central Oklahoma Series
This will be the 18th all-time meeting between the Gorillas and the Bronchos in a series that dates all the way back to the 1915 season.

Pitt State holds an 11-4-1 advantage in the series, including four straight wins and nine victories in the last 10 meetings. The Gorillas are 6-3 against the Bronchos in games played at Carnie Smith Stadium.

All-Time Winningest Programs
Pittsburg State is the all-time winningest NCAA Division II football program. The Gorillas, who are playing in their 114th season of intercollegiate competition, have compiled a 727-357-48 overall record, winning 66.3 percent of their 1,132 all-time games.

Pittsburg State is one of just seven NCAA Division II institutions to have recorded 600 all-time victories and the Gorillas became just the 33rd program – the first Division II institution – across all levels of college football to reach the 700-win plateau. The Gorillas rank 30th among all college football programs in all-time victories.

Tuskegee is second on the Division II all-time list with 699 victories, followed by Hillsdale (652), Carson-Newman (643) and Central Oklahoma (642).

UCO has a 642-436-47 (.592) record in 115 seasons of intercollegiate play.

Gorillas at Home
Pitt State holds a 358-136-12 (.719) record in 506 games inside Carnie Smith Stadium (including postseason). The Gorillas have won 158 of their last 189 regular season home games, posting a 158-30-1 record (.839) over the last 36 seasons.

UCO has posted a 20-22 (.476) record in its last 42 road games dating back to the start of the 2013 season.

PSU's Regular Season Success
Pitt State has won 310 of its last 377 regular season games, posting a phenomenal 310-65-2 (.825) mark during the past 36 seasons (1985-2021). PSU is 163-27-1 at home, 143-29-1 on the road and 4-9-0 at neutral sites in the regular season during that span.

Scouting the Gorillas
Redshirt sophomore quarterback Mak Sexton has completed 133 of 212 passes (.627) for 1,817 yards (227.1 ypg) and 15 touchdown on the season. He currently ranks sixth in the MIAA in passing yards.

Sexton (6-1, 206) had a hand in all five Pitt State touchdowns against No. 13 Central Missouri on Sept. 2 and earned MIAA Player of the Week honors from that game. The Leander, Texas, native posted his second career 300-yard game last week when he passed for 309 yards and two scores against Emporia State.

Sexton, who has a 9-4 record in 13 career starts for the Gorillas, has completed 341 of 580 passes (.589) for 4,520 yards and 36 touchdowns in 23 career games. He currently ranks seventh all-time in Pitt State history in career passing yards and career passing touchdowns.

Senior running back Tyler Adkins has broken into the Pitt State record books for career rushing. Adkins has carried the ball 467 times for 2,312 yards (5.0 ypc) and 22 touchdowns. He ranks 19th all-time in school history for career yards.

Adkins, who carried the ball 15 times for 74 yards and a touchdown against Missouri Western last Saturday (Oct. 23), needs just eight yards to pass Bob Howard (1967-69) for 18th place on the list. The Broken Arrow, Okla., native needs less than 100 yards to climb as No. 14 on the all-time rushing chart.

Senior Dallis Flowers returned the opening kickoff 98 yards for a touchdown against the Griffons last week.

The Chicago, Ill., native leads the MIAA and ranks fifth in NCAA Division II in kickoff returns, averaging 32.0 yards per return. A graduate transfer, Flowers came to Pitt State in August after earning NAIA All-America honors the past two seasons at Grand View (Iowa) University.