The West Texas A&M Buffaloes (0-1,0-0) opened the season with a loss against the Azusa Pacific Cougars 28-10 (1-0.0-0) in Glendora, California. The Buffs played well, but were ultimately done in by turnovers. The Buffs outgained the Cougars on offense 272 to 242 and led in passing yardage 233 to 68.

Junior quarterback Ethan Brinkley played well, passing for 233 yards, completing 29 of 46 passing attempts, with two interceptions. Senior running back Devon Payne rushed for 62 yards and a touchdown. He also capped off the Buffs longest drive of the day in the second quarter with an 18 yard touchdown run. The drive went for 11 plays for 73 yards.

The Buffs weren’t able to get their running attack going however, only managing 40 total yards on the ground. The Cougars outrushed the Buffs 174 yards to 40. The Cougars also controlled the time of possession 32:37 to 27:23. The Buffs defense wasn’t able to get the Cougars off of the field although the Buffs did run 12 more plays than Azusa, 71 to 59.

“We had a ton of missed opportunities offensively early,” fourth year head coach Mike Nesbitt said. “There were some good to put some points up early and force the tempo of the game. We missed some plays, though our offensive line pass protection was very good. Defensively we left them out there too long – they had 59 plays and we had 71 as there weren’t a lot of yards in the game.”

The Buffs will be on the road again next week, their second straight of three to open the season against Colorado State-Pueblo.