2012 West Texas A&M Buffaloes football team

The 2012 West Texas A&M Buffaloes football team represented West Texas A&M University in the 2012 NCAA Division II football season as a member of the Lone Star Conference.^[1] The Buffaloes ended the regular season with 9–2 record (7–1 in the LSC) which was enough to claim a share of the Lone Star Conference title and to qualify for the NCAA tournament as a six seed in region 4.^[2] West Texas A&M went on to win the NCAA Super Region Four Tournament but ended the season with a loss to Winston-Salem State in the National semi-final. With the 57–20 win over Western State on September 8, eighth-year head coach Don Carthel tied former head coach Joe Kerbel for the most wins in school history with 68,^[3] passing him a week later with win over Texas A&M–Kingsville.^[4] The Buffaloes had multiple shutouts for first time since 2008.^[5]

2012 West Texas A&M Buffaloes football
LSC co-champion
NCAA Division II Semifinal, L 18–41 vs. Winston-Salem State
Conference	Lone Star Conference
Ranking
AFCA	No. 4
Record	12–3 (7–1 LSC)
Head coach	Don Carthel (8th season)
Offensive coordinator	Stephen Lee (2nd season)
Offensive scheme	Air raid
Defensive coordinator	Colby Carthel (7th season)
Base defense	3–4
Home stadium	Kimbrough Memorial Stadium
Seasons ← 2011 2013 →

2012 Lone Star Conference football standings

v t e	Conf.							Overall
Team		W		L					W		L
No. 16 Midwestern State +^		7	–	1					9	–	2
No. 4 West Texas A&M +^		7	–	1					12	–	3
Tarleton State		5	–	3					6	–	4
Texas A&M–Kingsville #		5	–	3					6	–	6
Abilene Christian		4	–	4					7	–	4
Angelo State		4	–	4					5	–	6
Eastern New Mexico †		2	–	6					3	–	7
Incarnate Word		1	–	7					2	–	9
Texas A&M–Commerce		1	–	7					1	–	9
+ – Conference co-champions ^ – NCAA Division II playoff participant # – Kanza Bowl participant † – Eastern New Mexico vacated all three wins Rankings from AFCA poll

West Texas A&M was ranked No. 24 the initial AFCA poll of the season.^[6]

Dismissal of Don Carthel and NCAA investigation

This was Dan Carthel's final season as the Buffaloes head coach as he was fired by the university on August 22, 2013. According to the university's press release, Carthel misled university officials about buying tickets to a Texas Rangers game for two players on the football team and instructed the players to lie about who bought the tickets.^[7] The NCAA launched an investigation that lasted for almost two-and-a-half years; the investigation found other infractions, such as defensive coordinator Colby Carthel providing impermissible benefits to a student-athlete and an academic fraud violation that occurred during the 2014 season. As punishment, the program was placed on probation from March 23, 2016 to March 22, 2019, had to vacate four wins from the 2014 season, and was fined $5,000.^[8]

Schedule

Date	Time	Opponent	Rank	Site	TV	Result	Attendance
August 30	7:00 pm	at No. 6 CSU Pueblo*	No. 24	DeRose ThunderBowl Pueblo, CO	KCIT	L 34–44	6,457[9]
September 8	6:00 pm	Western State (CO)*		Kimbrough Memorial Canyon, TX		W 57–20	8,432[10]
September 15	8:00 pm	vs. No. 14 Texas A&M–Kingsville		Cowboys Stadium Arlington, TX (LSC Football Festival)	KAMR	W 40–10	19,143[11]
September 22	7:00 pm	at Incarnate Word	No. 25	Benson Stadium San Antonio, TX	KAMR	W 24–0	4,755[12]
September 29	6:00 pm	Tarleton State	No. 23	Kimbrough Memorial Canyon, TX		W 41–24	7,825[13]
October 6	6:00 pm	at Angelo State	No. 21	San Angelo Stadium San Angelo, TX	KCPN/KAMR	W 35–9	4,822[14]
October 13	6:00 pm	Abilene Christian	No. 20	Kimbrough Memorial Canyon, TX	FSSW.com	W 36–0	13,019[15]
October 20	6:00 pm	at Eastern New Mexico	No. 17	Greyhound Stadium Portales, NM (Wagon Wheel)	KAMR	W 44–21	2,759[16]
October 27	7:00 pm	at West Georgia*	No. 14	University Stadium Carrollton, GA (GSC–LSC First and Ten Challenge)	KAMR/CSSW	W 44–21	2,886[17]
November 3	6:00 pm	No. 10 Midwestern State	No. 12	Kimbrough Memorial Canyon, TX		L 48–52	12,238[18]
November 10	2:00 pm	at Texas A&M–Commerce	No. 17	Memorial Stadium Commerce, TX (East Texas vs. West Texas)	KAMR	W 45–14	1,521[19]
November 17	2:00 pm	at No. 20 Chadron State*	No. 16	Elliott Field Chadron, NE (NCAA Division II First Round)	KCIT	W 38–30	1,490[20]
November 24	10:00 am	at No. 4 Ashland*	No. 16	Jack Miller Stadium Ashhland, OH (NCAA Division II Second Round)	KAMR	W 33–28	2,842[21]
December 1	5:30 pm	at No. 1 CSU Pueblo*	No. 16	DeRose ThunderBowl Pueblo, CO (NCAA Division II Quarterfinal)	KCIT	W 34–13	10,217[22]
December 8	5:30 pm	at No. 2 Winston-Salem State*	No. 16	Bowman-Gray Stadium Winston-Salem, NC (NCAA Division II Semifinal)		L 18–41	8,612[23][24]
*Non-conference game Homecoming Rankings from AFCA Poll released prior to the game

Rankings

See also: 2012 NCAA Division II football rankings

Ranking movements
Legend: ██ Increase in ranking ██ Decrease in ranking
RV = Received votes

	Week
Poll	Pre	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10	11	Final
AFCA	24	RV	RV	25	23	21	20	17	14	12	17	16	4

Game summaries

At No. 6 CSU Pueblo

See also: 2012 CSU Pueblo ThunderWolves football team

	1	2	3	4	Total
No. 24 Buffaloes	14	0	6	14	34
No. 6 Thunderwolves	14	10	6	14	44

Statistics	WTAMU	CSUP
First downs	25	27
Total yards	541	487
Rushing yards	75	265
Passing yards	466	222
Turnovers	2	1
Time of possession	25:45	34:15

Team	Category	Player	Statistics
West Texas A&M	Passing	Dustin Vaughan	30/47, 398 yards, 3 TD, INT
	Rushing	Aaron Harris	9 rushes, 28 yards, TD
	Receiving	Torrence Allen	9 receptions, 164 yards, TD
CSU Pueblo	Passing	Ross Dausin	20/24, 222 yards, 2 TD
	Rushing	J. B. Matthews	23 rushes, 153 yards, TD
	Receiving	J. B. Matthews	4 receptions, 78 yards, TD

Western State (CO)

	1	2	3	4	Total
Mountaineers	0	0	6	14	20
Buffaloes	21	13	14	9	57

Statistics	WSCU	WTAMU
First downs	16	29
Total yards	278	677
Rushing yards	65	170
Passing yards	213	507
Turnovers	2	0
Time of possession	30:38	29:22

Team	Category	Player	Statistics
Western State	Passing	Brian Duboski	15/30, 213 yards, 2 TD, INT
	Rushing	Germaine Daniels	19 rushes, 48 yards
	Receiving	Lukas Adams	4 receptions, 59 yards, 2 TD
West Texas A&M	Passing	Dustin Vaughan	22/32, 409 yards, 5 TD
	Rushing	Geremy Aldridge	11 rushes, 102 yards
	Receiving	Nate Slaughter	6 receptions, 132 yards, TD

Vs. No. 14 Texas A&M–Kingsville

See also: 2012 Texas A&M–Kingsville Javelinas football team

	1	2	3	4	Total
No. 14 Javelinas	3	0	0	7	10
Buffaloes	7	3	14	16	40

Statistics	TAMUK	WTAMU
First downs	19	18
Total yards	285	368
Rushing yards	88	112
Passing yards	197	256
Turnovers	3	1
Time of possession	34:14	25:46

Team	Category	Player	Statistics
Texas A&M–Kingsville	Passing	Nate Poppell	19/32, 188 yards, TD, INT
	Rushing	Randall Toney	10 rushes, 42 yards
	Receiving	Sherman Batiste	6 receptions, 86 yards, TD
West Texas A&M	Passing	Dustin Vaughan	19/29, 250 yards, 3 TD
	Rushing	Khiry Robinson	17 rushes, 110 yards, TD
	Receiving	Lance Ratliff	3 receptions, 76 yards, 2 TD

At Incarnate Word

See also: 2012 Incarnate Word Cardinals football team

	1	2	3	4	Total
No. 25 Buffaloes	0	10	14	0	24
Cardinals	0	0	0	0	0

Statistics	WTAMU	UIW
First downs	18	10
Total yards	361	146
Rushing yards	105	15
Passing yards	256	131
Turnovers	3	1
Time of possession	24:43	35:17

Team	Category	Player	Statistics
West Texas A&M	Passing	Dustin Vaughan	19/32, 243 yards, 2 TD, INT
	Rushing	Khiry Robinson	13 rushes, 58 yards
	Receiving	Torrence Allen	9 receptions, 86 yards
Incarnate Word	Passing	Taylor Woods	14/26, 123 yards, INT
	Rushing	Trent Rios	14 rushes, 66 yards
	Receiving	Trent Rios	6 receptions, 67 yards

Tarleton State

See also: 2012 Tarleton State Texans football team

	1	2	3	4	Total
Texans	7	0	14	0	21
No. 23 Buffaloes	7	17	10	7	41

Statistics	TSU	WTAMU
First downs	23	27
Total yards	389	502
Rushing yards	193	171
Passing yards	196	331
Turnovers	1	1
Time of possession	32:06	27:54

Team	Category	Player	Statistics
Tarleton State	Passing	Aaron Doyle	15/27, 196 yards, TD
	Rushing	Vaughn Smith	24 rushes, 134 yards, TD
	Receiving	Arthur Buckingham	4 receptions, 69 yards, TD
West Texas A&M	Passing	Dustin Vaughan	23/37, 331 yards, 4 TD
	Rushing	Khiry Robinson	18 rushes, 125 yards
	Receiving	Torrence Allen	5 receptions, 104 yards, 2 TD

At Angelo State

See also: 2012 Angelo State Rams football team

	1	2	3	4	Total
No. 21 Buffaloes	8	10	10	7	35
Rams	3	0	0	6	9

Statistics	WTAMU	ASU
First downs	17	23
Total yards	398	332
Rushing yards	154	49
Passing yards	244	283
Turnovers	2	3
Time of possession	29:23	30:37

Team	Category	Player	Statistics
West Texas A&M	Passing	Dustin Vaughan	17/32, 241 yards, 3 TD, INT
	Rushing	Khiry Robinson	17 rushes, 143 yards
	Receiving	Alphonse Coleman	3 receptions, 75 yards
Angelo State	Passing	Blake Hamblin	23/50, 264 yards, TD, 2 INT
	Rushing	Donovan Roberts	7 rushes, 41 yards
	Receiving	C. J. Akins	7 receptions, 70 yards

Abilene Christian

See also: 2012 Abilene Christian Wildcats football team

	1	2	3	4	Total
Wildcats	0	0	0	0	0
No. 20 Buffaloes	7	6	16	7	36

Statistics	ACU	WTAMU
First downs	15	26
Total yards	210	475
Rushing yards	3	92
Passing yards	207	383
Turnovers	2	0
Time of possession	28:59	31:01

Team	Category	Player	Statistics
Abilene Christian	Passing	Mitchell Gale	17/29, 207 yards, 2 INT
	Rushing	Charcandrick West	6 rushes, 17 yards
	Receiving	Darian Hogg	2 receptions, 75 yards
West Texas A&M	Passing	Dustin Vaughan	32/46, 359 yards, 3 TD
	Rushing	Khiry Robinson	15 rushes, 102 yards, TD
	Receiving	Jarrian Rhone	9 receptions, 106 yards, TD

At Eastern New Mexico

See also: 2012 Eastern New Mexico Greyhounds football team

	1	2	3	4	Total
No. 17 Buffaloes	14	7	14	9	44
Greyhounds	0	14	0	7	21

Statistics	WTAMU	ENMU
First downs	18	19
Total yards	454	391
Rushing yards	123	205
Passing yards	331	186
Turnovers	2	1
Time of possession	21:56	38:04

Team	Category	Player	Statistics
West Texas A&M	Passing	Dustin Vaughan	20/33, 321 yards, 2 TD, 2 INT
	Rushing	Khiry Robinson	16 rushes, 131 yards, 4 TD
	Receiving	Nate Slaughter	7 receptions, 133 yards, TD
Eastern New Mexico	Passing	Wesley Wood	15/31, 188 yards, 2 TD
	Rushing	Wesley Wood	15 rushes, 79 yards, TD
	Receiving	Chase Kyser	7 receptions, 92 yards, 2 TD

At West Georgia

	1	2	3	4	Total
No. 14 Buffaloes	7	24	7	14	52
Wolves	14	0	14	0	28

Statistics	WTAMU	UWG
First downs	19	21
Total yards	463	267
Rushing yards	119	151
Passing yards	344	116
Turnovers	1	1
Time of possession	24:52	35:08

Team	Category	Player	Statistics
West Texas A&M	Passing	Dustin Vaughan	28/37, 331 yards, 5 TD
	Rushing	Khiry Robinson	15 rushes, 89 yards
	Receiving	Torrence Allen	4 receptions, 97 yards, TD
West Georgia	Passing	Dallas Dickey	7/10, 112 yards, 2 TD
	Rushing	David Bailey	17 rushes, 70 yards, TD
	Receiving	Joey Eliezer	2 receptions, 45 yards, TD

No. 10 Midwestern State

See also: 2012 Midwestern State Mustangs football team

	1	2	3	4	Total
No. 10 Mustangs	14	14	3	21	52
No. 12 Buffaloes	10	21	10	7	48

Statistics	MSU	WTAMU
First downs	24	30
Total yards	565	525
Rushing yards	317	134
Passing yards	248	391
Turnovers	2	3
Time of possession	29:52	30:08

Team	Category	Player	Statistics
Midwestern State	Passing	Brandon Kelsey	14/22, 248 yards, TD
	Rushing	Keidrick Jackson	20 rushes, 133 yards, 2 TD
	Receiving	Keivin Swanson	6 receptions, 91 yards
West Texas A&M	Passing	Dustin Vaughan	30/47, 391 yards, 3 TD, INT
	Rushing	Khiry Robinson	23 rushes, 147 yards, 3 TD
	Receiving	Lance Ratliff	11 receptions, 180 yards, TD

At Texas A&M–Commerce

	1	2	3	4	Total
No. 17 Buffaloes	14	7	14	10	45
Lions	0	7	7	0	14

Statistics	WTAMU	TAMUC
First downs	28	16
Total yards	510	328
Rushing yards	199	111
Passing yards	311	217
Turnovers	1	1
Time of possession	27:35	32:25

Team	Category	Player	Statistics
West Texas A&M	Passing	Dustin Vaughan	20/29, 278 yards, 2 TD
	Rushing	Khiry Robinson	16 rushes, 110 yards, 2 TD
	Receiving	Torrence Allen	5 receptions, 113 yards, TD
Texas A&M–Commerce	Passing	Kevin Vye	15/31, 217 yards
	Rushing	Jamar Mosley	12 rushes, 72 yards, TD
	Receiving	Tyler Rawlings	4 receptions, 81 yards

At No. 20 Chadron State (NCAA Division II First Round)

	1	2	3	4	Total
No. 16 Buffaloes	0	17	7	14	38
No. 20 Eagles	14	0	6	10	30

Statistics	WTAMU	CSC
First downs	25	27
Total yards	580	455
Rushing yards	311	72
Passing yards	269	383
Turnovers	2	0
Time of possession	29:38	30:22

Team	Category	Player	Statistics
West Texas A&M	Passing	Dustin Vaughan	19/31, 269 yards, 2 TD, 2 INT
	Rushing	Khiry Robinson	30 rushes, 235 yards, 3 TD
	Receiving	Torrence Allen	7 receptions, 142 yards
Chadron State	Passing	John McLain	32/49, 331 yards, 2 TD
	Rushing	Michael Madkins	11 rushes, 54 yards
	Receiving	Nathan Ross	8 receptions, 76 yards, TD

At No. 4 Ashland (NCAA Division II Second Round)

	1	2	3	4	Total
No. 16 Buffaloes	10	9	14	0	33
Eagles	0	21	7	0	28

Statistics	WTAMU	AU
First downs	19	22
Total yards	451	366
Rushing yards	53	200
Passing yards	398	166
Turnovers	2	4
Time of possession	31:24	28:36

Team	Category	Player	Statistics
West Texas A&M	Passing	Dustin Vaughan	35/50, 398 yards, 4 TD, INT
	Rushing	Khiry Robinson	21 rushes, 58 yards
	Receiving	Torrence Allen	13 receptions, 185 yards, 3 TD
Ashland	Passing	Taylor Housewright	20/34, 166 yards, 2 TD, 3 INT
	Rushing	Anthony Taylor	22 rushes, 156 yards, TD
	Receiving	Logan Slavinski	7 receptions, 43 yards

At No. 1 CSU Pueblo (NCAA Division II Quarterfinal)

	1	2	3	4	Total
No. 16 Buffaloes	7	17	10	0	34
No. 1 ThunderWolves	0	3	3	7	13

Statistics	WTAMU	CSUP
First downs	24	17
Total yards	517	225
Rushing yards	193	32
Passing yards	324	193
Turnovers	2	2
Time of possession	31:09	28:51

Team	Category	Player	Statistics
West Texas A&M	Passing	Dustin Vaughan	24/38, 324 yards, 3 TD, INT
	Rushing	Khiry Robinson	26 rushes, 176 yards
	Receiving	Nate Slaughter	7 receptions, 170 yards, 2 TD
CSU Pueblo	Passing	Ross Dausin	22/33, 193 yards, TD, INT
	Rushing	J. B. Matthews	16 rushes, 75 yards
	Receiving	J. B. Matthews	6 receptions, 58 yards

At No. 2 Winston-Salem State (NCAA Division II Semifinal)

See also: 2012 Winston-Salem State Rams football team

	1	2	3	4	Total
No. 16 Buffaloes	7	0	3	8	18
No. 2 Rams	6	14	7	14	41

Statistics	WTAMU	WSSU
First downs	19	28
Total yards	302	510
Rushing yards	133	261
Passing yards	169	249
Turnovers	2	0
Time of possession	27:02	32:58

Team	Category	Player	Statistics
West Texas A&M	Passing	Dustin Vaughan	21/35, 169 yards, TD, 2 INT
	Rushing	Khiry Robinson	20 rushes, 137 yards, TD
	Receiving	Torrence Allen	6 receptions, 74 yards
Winston-Salem State	Passing	Kameron Smith	15/23, 233 yards, 2 TD
	Rushing	Maurice Lewis	21 rushes, 118 yards, 2 TD
	Receiving	Jamal Williams	5 receptions, 99 yards, TD

Personnel

2012 West Texas A&M Buffaloes football team roster
Players			Coaches
Offense Pos. # Name Class RB 3 Khiry Robinson Sr QB 4 Luke Halpin Jr RB 5 Aaron Harris Jr WR 6 Aarrhon Flores Sr WR 7 Sean Morris Jr WR 8 Nate Slaughter Jr QB 10 Dustin Vaughan Jr WR 11 Torrence Allen Jr QB 12 David Lehocky So WR 14 Jace Jackson Jr WR 15 Luke Russell Jr WR 16 Jeff Lavulo Jr WR 17 Lance Ratliff Jr QB 29 Preston Rabb  Fr RB 37 Jullian Ward  Fr FB 39 Aaron Hyman So RB 42 Calvin Burns Fr WR 43 Jarrian Rhone  Fr RB 44 Blake Dean Fr RB 45 Geremy Alridge-Mitchell  Fr OL 55 Aaron Mullane Sr OL 59 Austin Carson Fr OL 60 Josh Williams Jr OL 62 Chris Dobos  Fr OL 64 Craig Watts Jr OL 65 Cody Kluge Fr OL 67 Manase Foketi Sr OL 68 Sergio Montejano  Fr OL 70 Casey O'Conner Sr OL 71 Terrance Harris Sr OL 72 Juan Roman  Fr OL 73 Marc Waller Jr OL 74 Emory Atterberry Jr OL 75 Larson Crume  Fr OL 76 Stephan Dube Jr OL 78 Patrick Ward Jr OL 79 Justin Griego Fr WR 80 Alphonse Coleman Sr WR 81 Sidney Parket Jr WR 82 Trevor Hammargren Jr WR 84 Jacob Hancock So WR 86 Ryan Lenzy  Fr WR 87 Andrew Kelley  Fr WR 88 Dimitri Donald  Fr WR 89 Lorenzo Mervin So	Defense Pos. # Name Class DB 1 Jordan Smith Sr DL 2 Tyrell Higgins Sr DB 9 Dwight Morrison Jr LB 18 Bryan Johnson Jr DB 19 John McSheffery Jr DB 20 Chris Ceazer  Fr DB 21 Torian Oakley So DB 22 Curtis Slater Jr DB 23 Tarin Lee Jr DB 24 Mark Okoro Sr LB 25 LeBrandon Mosley Jr DB 26 Anthony Hayes  Fr DB 27 Chris Metcalf Jr LB 28 Eric Finefeuiaki Jr LB 30 Victor Cuero Jr DB 31 Rickey White So LB 32 Taylor McCuller Jr DL 33 David Christmas Jr LB 34 Cameron Warren  Fr LB 35 Christian McBride  Fr DB 36 Kendrele Staten  Fr DB 38 Ethan Morriss  Fr LB 40 Chris Olson Jr LB 46 Kyle Voss Jr LB 49 Dionte Johnson  Fr LB 50 Kevin McCluskey Sr LB 51 Nick Whitt Jr LB 52 Jamen Sisk  Fr LB 53 Seth Culp Fr LB 54 Kyler Gregory So LB 56 Shane Sobnosky So DL 57 Zachary Miterko Fr DB 85 Ryan Baca So DL 90 Ethan Westbrooks Jr DL 92 Deone Bondurant Jr DL 93 Aaron Wampler Sr DL 94 Lawrence Lehauli Jr DL 95 Shane Pennix Jr DL 96 Joshua Hunt Jr DL 97 Randy George  Fr DL 98 Ronald Gonzalez Fr DL 99 Jacob Laguna  Fr	Special teams Pos. # Name Class P, K 13 Kevin Vanvoris Jr P, K 41 Sergio Castillo Jr DS 58 Josh Beal  Fr	Head coach Don Carthel Coordinators/assistant coaches Stephen Lee Offensive coordinator Colby Carthel Defensive coordinator Joel Hinton Wide receivers Nick Paremski Defensive backs Matt Storm Offensive line Caid Faske Defensive tackles Legend (C) Team captain (S) Suspended (I) Ineligible Injured Redshirt Roster Last update: October 13, 2023

TV and radio

West Texas A&M road games were brotcasted on KAMR-TV.^[25]