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KINGSVILLE – The ACU Wildcats can take a giant step toward a sixth straight bid to the NCAA Division II playoffs Saturday night when they take on Texas A&M-Kingsville at Javelina Stadium.
The Wildcats are still fifth in the NCAA Division II Super Region Four rankings with two weeks left, and a win over Kingsville and next week in the regular-season finale against Incarnate Word would essentially clinch a berth in the NCAA Division II playoffs for the Wildcats for a sixth straight season.
First things first for the Wildcats, though, and that's a matchp against the Javelinas of Texas A&M-Kingsville, who are coming off a 36-33 triple-overtime win over Angelo State last week in San Angelo.
The Javelinas are out of the race for a playoff berth, but can play spoiler this week against the Wildcats, who can't afford a loss this late in the season.
ACU is coming off a 40-28 win over Texas A&M-Commerce in a game that featured 10 combined turnovers (five for each) in one of the Wildcats' sloppiest games in head coach Chris Thomsen's seven seasons.
But the Wildcats can make all of that irrelevant with a win Saturday over Kingsville and a win next week over Incarnate Word. After losing 20 straight games to the Javelinas from 1984-2003, the Wildcats have turned the tables on the Javelinas, winning seven straight games on the field, although the NCAA forced ACU to vacate the 2007 win because of NCAA rules violations.
The Wildcats have beaten the Javelinas in each of their last three trips to Kingsville: 41-38 on a last-play field goal by Matt Adams in 2006, 42-17 behind backup quarterback Zach Stewart in 2008 and 31-24 in 2010 behind quarterback Mitchell Gale's 417 passing yards.
