RICHARDSON - ACU quarterback Billy Malone on Sunday was named the Lone Star Conference South Division Offensive Player of the Week after his six-touchdown performance last Thursday night led the 20th-ranked Wildcats to a 49-33 road win over No. 4 West Texas A&M.
The win over the Buffaloes pushes the Wildcats to 7-0 overall and alone atop the LSC at 6-0. ACU is 3-0 in the LSC South Division and tied for firth in the LSC South Division, along with Tarleton State. The Texans will be in Abilene this weekend for a key LSC South showdown at Shotwell Stadium. Kickoff is set for 2 p.m., and it can be heard locally on KYYW 1470 AM.
Malone tied the LSC and ACU single-game records for touchdown passes in a game with his six passes, three of which went to wide receiver John Brock. The senior from Spearman caught four passes for 160 yards and the three scores, two of which went for 67 and 84 yards. He also had a 3-yard TD catch in the second quarter that gave the Wildcats their first lead at 21-15, a lead they wouldn't relinquish the rest of the way.
Malone completed 23 of 36 passes for 388 yards and the six touchdown passes. In addition to the three scoring strikes to Brock, Malone connected on touchdown passes to Caleb Stone (3 yards), Tyjuan Manning (29 yards) and Chris Conklin (18 yards). Five other quarterbacks in LSC history have thrown for six touchdowns in a game, and the only other ACU quarterback to do it was Clint Longly in a 56-46 loss to Arkansas State in 1973.
Malone is the first Wildcat offensive player to win the league's weekly award, while Wildcat defenders Marcus Brown, Cody Stutts and Travis Carpenter have each earned the league's weekly defensive honor this season.
ACU FOOTBALL NOTES
The Wildcats are 7-0 for the first time since 1950 when they finished 11-0, posting the only unbeaten, untied season in school history. ... ACU's victory over West Texas A&M ensures the program of its first seven-win season since the 1997 team finished 7-4. ... Dating back to the last three games of the 2005 season, the Wildcats are 9-1 in their last 10 games with four wins over top-25 teams: 18-7 over No. 19 Tarleton State on Oct. 22, 2005; 19-3 over No. 21 Texas A&M-Kingsville on Oct. 29, 2005; 51-14 over No. 10 Southeastern Oklahoma State on Sept. 16, 2006; and 49-33 over No. 4 West Texas A&M on Oct. 19, 2006. ... ACU quarterback
Billy Malone threw six touchdown passes in last Thursday's win at West Texas A&M to become the sixth quarterback in LSC history to throw for six TDs in a game. ... The mark was originally set in 1952 by East Texas State's James Gray against Austin College. ACU's Clint Longley (1973 vs. Arkansas State), West Texas A&M's Tod Mayfield (1986 vs. Texas A&I), Tarleton State's Cliff Watkins (2003 vs. SE Oklahoma State), and Angelo State's Trey Weishuhn (2005 vs. West Texas A&M) were the first five quarterbacks to throw six TDs in an LSC game. ... Malone's 388-yard passing day is the 12th-best single-game effort in school history, and is the best by a Wildcat quarterback since John Frank threw for 410 in a loss against Tarleton State on Oct. 24, 1998. ... Malone's 84-yard scoring pass to
John Brock is tied for the sixth-longest touchdown pass in school history (Jim Reese to Johnny Perkins vs. Cameron in 1976 also went for 84 yards). ... Malone has thrown for at least 300 yards in three games this season and has three other games of at least 200 yards passing. ... Malone's 16 touchdown passes on the season are the highest single-season total by an ACU quarterback since Rex Lambert threw 28 scoring passes in 1993, and they are the third-highest total since Lamberti threw 32 TD passes in 1986. ... In four road games this season, the Wildcats have outscored their opposition by an average score of 42-17. ... For the first time since the 1993 season, the Wildcats have scored at least 45 points three times in a season. ... ACU wide receiver
Jerale Badon continues to move up the ACU career receiving lists after his six-catch, 74-yard effort last Thursday against West Texas A&M. ... The junior from Abilene is fourth on the career list for receptions with 136, and he is eighth on the career receiving yards list with 1,848 yards. ... In just 16 games as the ACU quarterback, Malone is already in the ACU career top-10 in three categories: completions (ninth with 278), yards (ninth with 3,645) and touchdowns (eighth with 30). ... ACU rallied from its largest deficit of the season last Thursday against West Texas A&M as the Buffaloes jumped out to a 15-0 lead. However, from the 2:14 mark of the first quarter through the end of the game, the Wildcats outscored the Buffs 49-18. ... The Buffaloes' second touchdown of the night that gave them a 15-0 lead came when Jared Brock picked up a Malone fumble and returned it 26 yards for a score. The fumble was the first lost fumble by the Wildcats all season. ... Despite losing a fumble and an interception, the Wildcats are still an LSC-best plus-12 in turnover ratio after coming up with a fumble recovery and interception of their own. Last Thursday's game marked the first time all season that ACU turned the ball over more than once in a game. ... Of the 420 minutes the Wildcats have played this season, they have trailed for only 56 minutes, nine seconds of those seven games. ... The Wildcats have scored 256 points this season through eight games, the most they have scored since they scored 297 in 1993, and the third-highest total since 1987 when they scored 291 points. ... The ACU defense has forced at least one turnover in 17 straight games dating back to the start of the 2005 season. The last time an ACU opponent did not turn the ball over was Nov. 6, 2004, when Midwestern State beat ACU 29-19 in the regular-season finale in Abilene. ... Despite giving up a season-high 33 points in the win over West Texas A&M, the ACU defense still hasn't give up 100 points this season, leading the LSC with just 92 points allowed (13.3 per game).
