Ticket Information | Live Video | Live Audio | Live Stats | Game Notes |
ACU Sports Facebook | ACU Sports Blog
Media Note: The Wildcats' radio broadcast can be heard locally on Mix 92.5 FM with the pre-game show starting at 6:30 p.m. Thursday night.
STEPHENVILLE – The fourth-ranked ACU Wildcats open the 2011 season Thursday night, and they don't have any room for error as the season-opener is also the Lone Star Conference opener for both ACU and Tarleton State in the revamped LSC.
Gone from the league are Northeastern State, Central Oklahoma, Southeastern Oklahoma State and Southwestern Oklahoma State, leaving the LSC “old guard” in place.
The Wildcats' season begins with them ranked as high as No. 3 in the nation in some polls and picked to defend their LSC championship. Last year the Wildcats finished 11-0 in the regular season for the first time in program history on their way to an 11-1 final record and second LSC championship in the last three full seasons.
ACU hosted Tarleton State last year with the Wildcats taking a lopsided 65-3 win over an injury-depleted and young Texan squad.
QB Mitchell Gale
This year's matchup, however, promises to be much more competitive as the Texans will have senior Nick Stephens at the controls of a new offense, the wide-open attack featured by West Texas A&M and directed by new offensive coordinator Lee Hayes, the former coordinator at WTAM and assistant at Baylor.
OTHER NOTES: The ACU Wildcats open the season with their highest pre-season ranking in the Division II era. ... ACU is ranked No. 4 in the American Football Coaches' Association pre-season poll, topping by one spot the No. 5 pre-season ranking the 2009 team garnered. ... The 2009 Wildcats were eventually ranked No. 1 in the nation in that season before finishing 9-4. ... ACU has now been ranked in 64 straight AFCA polls dating back to the Sept. 26, 2006, poll. ... ACU has been ranked in the top 10 in 37 of the 64 polls and in the top five in 31 of the polls.... A win over the Texans on Thursday would give ACU four straight season-opening wins, and would be the program's longest such streak since the Wildcats won five straight openers from 1975-79. ... ACU actually won six straight openers on the field, but the 1974 win over Central Arkansas was later forfeited. ... The Wildcats are one game below .500 all-time in season-openers (42-43-4). ... Thursday night's game marks the ninth time ACU and Tarleton State have played each other in ACU's season-opener, but the first time since 1938. ... ACU is 3-2-3 all-time in openers against the Texans. ... For the first time since 2007, the Wildcats won't be playing a nationally ranked team in the season-opener. That was also the last time the Wildcats lost their season-opener, losing 27-17 at Central Oklahoma.
