ABILENE – ACU head coach Chris Thomsen said all week his team would receive its first serious challenge of the season Saturday night from Tarleton State.
He'll have to use the same speech next week as the Wildcats prepare to face No. 6 Texas A&M-Kingsville after the Wildcats delivered a beatdown of the Texans at Shotwell Stadium.
Sophomore quarterback
Mitchell Gale threw for a career-high 344 yards and two scores Saturday night to lead the No. 5 Wildcats to a 65-3 blowout win over Tarleton State in the Lone Star Conference South Division opener for both teams.
The win pushes the Wildcats to 4-0 overall and 1-0 in the LSC South, while the Texans fall to 0-4 and 0-1. ACU will be back in action next Saturday at 7 p.m. when they take on No. 6 Texas A&M-Kingsville at 7 p.m. in Kingsville.
After completing 13 of 23 passes for 212 yards and a score in the first half, Gale helped the Wildcats outscore the Texans 38-0 in the second half as he completed 12 of 15 passes for 132 yards and one score in the blowout victory.
The loss was the worst for Tarleton State since it became a senior college in 1961, and for the Wildcats it was their most points in a regular season game since a 66-7 win over East Central on Oct. 4, 2008.
One week after throwing a career-best five touchdown passes, Gale had his way with the Tarleton defense, completing a season-high 24 passes on career-high 38 attempts.
He completed passes to seven different receivers, including hitting senior wideout
Kendrick Johnson six times for 80 yards and senior receiver
Edmund Gates five times for 91 yards.
Incredibly, however, this offensive showcase for the Wildcats turned on a defensive play in the first quarter.
With the game tied 3-3 and the Texans driving late in the first quarter, ACU defensive end
Aston Whiteside came up with an interception, kept his feet and returned it 58 yards for a touchdown to make it a 10-3 ACU lead with 1:52 left in the first quarter.
That took the wind out of the Texans and was the first of 24 straight points for the Wildcats to end the half, who took a 27-3 lead to the locker room. After the Whiteside touchdown,
Darrell Cantu-Harkless capped a six-play, 92-yard drive with a 2-yard touchdown run to make it 17-3 with 7:27 left in the first half.
After a 19-yard punt return by
Kendrick Johnson to the ACU 48-yard line, Gale directed the Wildcats to another touchdown, capping the drive with a 36-yard touchdown strike to
Ben Gibbs to make it 24-3 with 2:21 left in the half. The Wildcats tacked on the final points of the half with 40 seconds left on a 31-yard field goal by
Morgan Lineberry to make it 27-3.
As bad as the first half was for the Texans, the second half was worse as the Wildcats scored on the second play from scrimmage on a 42-yard touchdown run by Cantu-Harkless. On their next two drives, Lineberry nailed a 27-yard field goal and then Gale hit Gibbs with a 4-yard touchdown pass to make it 44-3 with 2:55 left in the third quarter.
Running backs
Charcandrick West and
Josh Morgan each scored their first touchdowns as Wildcats in the second half, and redshirt freshman
Taylor Gabriel returned a punt 80 yards for the final points of the game as the Wildcats opened the season 4-0 for the fourth time in head coach Chris Thomsen's six seasons.
The Wildcats finished the night with 526 yards of total offense (357 passing, 169 rushing), while the ACU defense limited the Texans to a paltry 196 yards of offense (136 passing, 60 rushing).
