PITTSBURG — The Pittsburg State University football team will return for a second straight week to the friendly confines of Brandenburg Field/Carnie Smith Stadium Saturday (Nov. 6) to play host to MIAA rival Washburn University. Kickoff is set for 1 p.m. (CDT).

Pitt State enters Saturday's action with a 7-2 record. Pitt State has posted consecutive victories over Lincoln University (59-7), Missouri Western State University (34-14) and the University of Central Oklahoma (26-20) the past three weeks and the Gorillas are 6-1 in their last seven games.

Washburn also is 7-2 on the season entering today's action. The Ichabods have won four straight games, including a 35-0 victory over Northeastern State University last Saturday.

Pitt State and Washburn sit in a three-way tie (along with the University of Nebraska-Kearney) for second place in the MIAA standings, one game behind Northwest Missouri State University.

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 a 9-4 overall mark. He has a 13-4 (.765) 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 first match-up against Washburn.

Craig Schurig is in his 19th season directing the Ichabods program and his 19th year as a collegiate coach.  Schurig (Colorado Mines, '87), who became head coach at Washburn in 2002 after eight seasons as an assistant at Pitt State (1994-2001), has a 128-86-0 (.598) record leading the Ichabods. He is 9-8 all-time vs. Pitt State.

The Pitt State-Washburn Series
This will be the 91st all-time meeting between the Gorillas and the Ichabods in a series that dates all the way back to the 1921 season.

The two teams met annually from 1941-2011, but did not face one another in 2012-13 thanks to an unbalanced MIAA schedule.

Pitt State holds a commanding 63-26-1 advantage in the series. The Gorillas are 31-12-1 vs. the Ichabods in Pittsburg.

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 728-357-48 overall record, winning 66.4 percent of their 1,133 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).

WU has a 568-590-44 (.491) record in 131 seasons of intercollegiate play.

Gorillas at Home
Pitt State holds a 359-136-12 (.720) record in 507 games inside Carnie Smith Stadium (including postseason). The Gorillas have won 159 of their last 190 regular season home games, posting a 159-30-1 record (.839) over the last 36 seasons.

WU is 21-24 (.467) in road games since the start of the 2012 season and the Ichabods are 2-2 on the road this year.

PSU's Regular Season Success
Pitt State has won 311 of its last 378 regular season games, posting a phenomenal 311-65-2 (.825) mark during the past 36 seasons (1985-2021). PSU is 164-27-1 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 151 of 244 passes (.619) for 2,065 yards (229.4 ypg) and 16 touchdowns 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 on Sept. 25 when he passed for 309 yards and two scores against Emporia State.

Sexton, who has a 10-4 record in 14 career starts for the Gorillas, has completed 358 of 611 passes (.586) for 4,768 yards and 37 touchdowns in 24 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 continues to climb the Pitt State career rushing yards chart. Adkins has carried the ball 485 times for 2,419 yards (5.0 ypc) and 23 touchdowns. He ranks 13th all-time in school history for career yards.

Adkins, who carried the ball 18 times for 107 yards and a touchdown against Central Oklahoma last Saturday (Oct. 30), needs 190 yards to pass Justin Johnson (1995-97) for 12th place on the list.

Freshman transfer Cross Holmes tied the Pitt State single game record for the second time this season by booting four field goals in Pitt State's 26-20 victory over UCO Saturday.

The Aurora, Ill., matched his season long kick by connecting on a 54-yard field goal with 2:24 to play in the first quarter. He converted four of five field goals on the day, also making kicks from 25, 35 and 49 yards in the game.

For the season, Holmes is 14 of 18 (.778) on field goal attempts. He leads the MIAA and is tied for the Division II lead in field goals per game (2.0 pg).