Football | 8/27/2025 11:52:00 AM
GOODWELL, Okla. — Fresh off consecutive five-win seasons under third-year head coach
Cory Miller, the Oklahoma Panhandle State football team is set to open the 2025 season Saturday at Peru State College.
The Schedule
OPSU's two-game non-conference slate features Peru State and East Texas Baptist University, teams that won seven and six games, respectively, in 2024, presenting an early-season challenge.
Conference play begins with the Hall of Fame Game at Anchor D Stadium versus No. 18 Ottawa University-Arizona on Sept. 20, marking a stretch of five home games in 42 days for the Aggies. The lone road game between Sept. 20 and Nov. 1 will be played at Wayland Baptist, against which the Aggies are 10-2 since 2012, including a 31-13 victory last season. The mid-season run of five-of-six home games concludes with a showdown against the defending Sooner Athletic Conference champion, No. 10 Texas Wesleyan.
The final two games of the season are set for Nov. 8 and Nov. 15 on the road at Texas College and Langston, respectively, both of which finished 2024 one game better than the Aggies in conference play.
The Roster
The headlines will be dominated by the quarterback position with the departure of four-year starter
Brandon Stephens, who amassed 6,260 yards through the air and 1,322 on the ground, combining for 86 touchdowns in his career. Sophomore
Cache Barrett and redshirt freshman
Chance Guadiz are in line to lead the offense this season, each hoping to gain the trust of the coaching staff as the full-time starter.
"Both of (the quarterbacks) have kind of risen to the occasion and played really well in fall camp," Miller said.
Despite the quarterback transition, OPSU returns a plethora of talent from its other skill positions.
"I really like our offensive skill positions," Miller said. "This is probably the deepest we've been at wide receiver. We really feel good with about six of our wide receivers, which is nice."
Miller also touched on the complementary skill set of his tight-end room, highlighting senior
William Rodriguez III and junior
Jabari Coleman as well as a good group of freshmen.
On the other side of the ball, the defensive line figures to be a strength with the return of
Elzie Barnett III,
Wally Palega Jr.,
Hector Rodriguez and
Aaron Vinson.
The experience of the defensive backs with a pair of three-year starters in
Charles Holmes III and
Loren Snead is also a valuable asset for the Aggies heading into 2025.
On special teams, kicker
Carlos Vazquez returns following a 2024 campaign in which he drilled all six of his field-goal attempts, topping the NAIA in field-goal percentage.
In all, OPSU's roster features strong leadership with 19 players listed as seniors to help usher in the large and promising freshmen and sophomore classes.
The Expectations
Panhandle State looks to make the leap as a team that has seen improvement but remained in the middle of the SAC standings and many statistical categories over the past two seasons.
"We've got to close games out. … We've got to be able to win close games. I think we were 1-3 in one-score games (in 2024), so that's the maturity, the experience, being able to overcome that," Miller said.
The head coach also mentioned red-zone offense efficiency and limiting pre- and post-snap penalties as necessary areas of improvement should the Aggies make the jump into the upper echelon of the conference.
A key to sustaining the success OPSU has seen under Miller will be winning the turnover battle, something it did very well last season with only four lost fumbles and five interceptions thrown. Conversely, the Aggies ranked sixth in the NAIA in 2024 with 19 defensive interceptions.
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Facing three teams with a combined 21 wins in the opening three games of the season is certain to serve as an excellent measuring stick for 2025 Aggie football.
