GRAND FORKS — The UND football team faces Tarleton State at noon Saturday in the second round of the FCS Playoffs in Stephenville, Texas.
Here are eight things to know about the Texans.
1. Texans run unique slow-mesh RPO
Tarleton State’s offense runs a unique style, known as slow-mesh RPO, which was popularized most recently by Wake Forest.
The Texans run a twist on the traditional RPO, which means run-pass option. UND’s offense runs a traditional RPO, where a quarterback has the option to hand the ball off or throw it depending on what he sees in front of him.
The phrase ‘mesh’ is the point in time when the quarterback puts the ball in the running back’s midsection, preparing to either hand it off or pull it back.
The ‘slow’ part of the slow-mesh RPO is what UND fans will really notice. At Tarleton, a running back walks with the quarterback toward the line of scrimmage — allowing wide receivers to stretch a defense downfield.
“We played it in 2022,” UND head coach Eric Schmidt said of his previous coaching experience with the slow-mesh RPO. “Stanford was a big slow-mesh team. I’ve worked with a couple of guys who worked at Wake Forest, which seems to be the birth of it. Tarleton is as dedicated to it as anyone I can remember. Two or three years ago you saw a ton of it, but a lot of teams have moved on. It fits (Tarleton). They’re really consistent. It’s their identity. They put points up on everybody in the country.”
Tarleton State’s defense has forced 36 takeaways, which easily ranks No. 1 in the FCS.
In fact, the No. 2 team in the FCS in turnovers is UND with 26.
The Texans’ 36 takeaways are the most by an FCS team since 2019 (Alcorn State had 36). The next Tarleton State turnover will be the most since 2017 (James Madison had 44).
The Texans average a turnover margin of 2.42, nearly double the turnover margin of No. 2 in the FCS UTRGV (1.33).
Tarleton State currently has the third-highest average turnover margin in FCS history.
The Texans rank No. 8 in pass defense in the FCS, No. 12 in scoring defense and No. 23 in total defense. Tarleton has scored four defensive touchdowns.
3. Tarleton QB is well-traveled
Texans quarterback Victor Gabalis is in his sixth season at the college level.
Gabalis spent two seasons at Washington State (2020-21), one season at Utah Tech (2022) and is now in his third season at Tarleton State (2023-25).
This season, Gabalis is 160-for-268 for 2,395 yards, 25 touchdowns and four interceptions.
Gabalis, who was one of 30 finalists for the 2025 Walter Payton Award, has played in 47 college games, sitting at 9,917 passing yards and 85 passing touchdowns.
He’s 29-9 as a starter in his college career.
4. The Texans have deep backfield
Tarleton State has quite a few options at running back.
The Texans most recently have featured Tylan Hines, who returned from injury recently and ran for 215 yards on 19 carries against Austin Peay on Nov. 22.
Redshirt freshman Tre Page III, who has missed four games due to injury, was a Top 25 finalist for the 2025 Jerry Rice Award.
Page led the Texans in rushing in the regular season with 839 yards.
Tarleton has also used Caleb Lewis and James Paige. Lewis has nine rushing touchdowns and 443 yards. Paige, a former quarterback, has eight rushing touchdowns this year to go with 520 yards on 96 carries.
5. Texans thrive on wideout transfers
Tarleton State’s top three wide receivers are all FBS transfers with more speed than height.
Peyton Kramer is a 5-foot-11 senior and Oklahoma State transfer. He’s averaging 69.75 yards per game.
Cody Jackson is a 6-0 junior and Houston transfer. He’s averaging 62.92 yards per game.
Trevon West is a 6-0 senior and Oklahoma transfer. He’s averaging 63.0 yards per game.
6. Tarleton has been school on the move
Tarleton State was a member of the NCAA Division II Lone Star Conference until joining the WAC in July of 2020.
Tarleton spent two stints in the LSC (1968-69 to 1975-76 as an NAIA institution and from 1994-95 to 2019-20).
The Texans, whose men’s teams were once known as the Plowboys and women’s teams known as the Tex-Anns, began a Division I transition when joining the WAC.
7. UND could see big crowd
UND has seen its share of big road crowds this year with games at Kansas State and Montana.
Last week in the FCS Playoffs first round, a notoriously difficult weekend to draw attendance, Tennessee Tech drew less than 5,000 fans in Cookeville.
With Thanksgiving in the rear view, FCS attendance figures typically bounce back in the second round.
Tarleton State’s Memorial Stadium holds 24,000. For the Texans’ regular-season finale against Austin Peay. the official box score lists 18,488 for attendance.
The attendance draw is extra remarkable considering Tarleton State is located in Stephenville, Texas, which has a population of 20,847.
8. Whitten is Eddie Robinson finalist
Tarleton State head coach Todd Whitten finished fifth in voting for the Eddie Robinson Award, which goes to the top coach in the FCS.
Whitten is 125-58 at Tarleton across 16 seasons.
This season marks the seventh time in program history the Texans have reached double-digit wins (2025, 2024, 2019, 2018, 2009, 2001 and 1990).
Whitten has been the head coach for five of those seven seasons.
He’s the winningest head coach in team history with more wins than coaches Nos. 2 and 3 on the all-time list.
