ARLINGTON – In each of their first two games of the season, the ACU Wildcats have hurt themselves with too many penalties, too many turnovers and too many mental mistakes.
In the season-opener, they were just good enough to overcome all those things in a 27-24 win at Tarleton State. But Saturday at Cowboys Stadium, the Wildcats' mistakes were too much to overcome as they dropped a 23-17 decision to No. 4 North Alabama in front of a Lone Star Conference-record crowd of 24,837 at the Lone Star Football Festival.
In the Sept. 1 season-opening win over the Texans, the Wildcats were able to dig out of a hole created by 14 penalties and two turnovers with 10 late points to pull out the victory. The Wildcats had 14 more penalties and four turnovers on Saturday – two Mitchell Gale interceptions and two fumbles – and the 16-0 hole they found themselves in just 9:03 into the game was more than they could overcome. Two of the Wildcats' penalties took touchdowns off the board and another forced them to settle for a field goal instead of a touchdown.
But just like in the Tarleton State game, the Wildcats wouldn't quit as they rallied to within 16-10 and had the ball and momentum late in third quarter. That's when the game's decisive play finally turned the tide in favor of the Lions.
On second-and-20, Gale hit
Darian Hogg in the right flat for a 1-yard gain. UNA's Marcus Dowtin stripped the ball from Hogg and Florida transfer cornerback Janoris Jenkins – the top-ranked cornerback in all of college football – scooped up the loose ball and returned it 49 yards for a touchdown to push the UNA lead to 23-10 with 3:13 left in the quarter.
"That was obviously a big play in the game," ACU head coach Chris Thomsen said. "We played well in spurts, and we played poorly in spurts. We just had way too many turnovers and penalties, and that cost us. But you can't take anything away from North Alabama because they forced us into a lot of those, just like on that play."
Early in the fourth quarter, Gale scrambled to his right on second-and-2 from his own 49. Dowtin forced the ball loose, and Tommie Westbrook pounced on it at the ACU 45 with 9:50 left in the contest. North Alabama drove to the 4-yard line, but on third-and-goal Mo Milliam fumbled at the goal line on a hard hit by
L.B. Suggs, and Suggs recovered the ball in the end zone with 4:09 left in the game.
Gale then completed 4 of 7 passes for 66 yards on a 10-play, 80-yard scoring drive that was capped on a 5-yard touchdown pass from Gale to
Taylor Gabriel, cutting the UNA lead to 23-17 with 1:42 left on the clock. But UNA recovered the onside kick, and despite putting the ball on the ground twice as they tried to run out the clock, the Lions held on for the win.
"This was a very special win," UNA head coach Terry Bowden said. "To come out here and play the No. 3 team in the country in its own backyard, in an incredible atmosphere, and get a win ... I couldn't be more happy."
The first nine minutes of the game were anything but a good time for the Wildcats and their large contingent of fans. After the Wildcats went three-and-out on the game's opening possession, the Lions responded by driving to a field goal to make it 3-0.
On ACU's next possession, the mistakes began to mount as Gale was intercepted by Deandre Morgan at the ACU 33-yard line, turning the ball back over to the Lions. UNA made ACU pay for the turnover by moving 33 yards in just four plays to a 23-yard touchdown pass from Lee Chapple to Tristan Purifoy, making it 10-0 with 8:52 left in the quarter.
ACU, though, finally got its offense cranked up on the next drive as Gale and Gabriel hooked up for gains of 17 and 26 yards to help push the Wildcats to the UNA 15-yard line. After a false start penalty pushed the Wildcats back to the 20-yard line, Gale was intercepted by Jonathan Byrd at the 15-yard line, and he returned the pick 46 yards to the ACU 39.
From there, the Lions made it look easy, moving 39 yards in just three plays to a 9-yard touchdown run by Antwan Ivey. The PAT was no good, but the lead was 16-0 with 5:57 left in the first quarter.
"Just too many errors," Gale said after the game of the first nine minutes. "It's easy to point to one play here or there, but you can't take any other other mistakes away because those are the reasons we were down 16-0 and ultimately cost us the game."
The Wildcats owned the second quarter, though, taking their second drive of the quarter 96 yards to a touchdown. Gabriel capped the 12-play drive with a 17-yard touchdown reception from Gale to make it 16-7 with 4:46 left in the half.
After ACU's defense – which kept the Wildcats in the game all day – forced a turnover on downs, the Wildcats went back to work with 2:59 left from its own 35.
Daryl Richardson – who provided a spark off the bench at running back – got the things going with a 10-yard reception, followed by Gale to Darell Cantu-Harkless for 17 yards. Richard had a 9-yard run and another 15-yard catch, helping push ACU to the 7-yard line.
Another ACU penalty took a first-and-goal opportunity at the 1-yard line, and ACU instead had to settle for a 27-yard field goal from
Morgan Lineberry to send the game to the half at 16-10.
Neither team mustered much in the way of scoring offense in the second half as the Lions held on to win the first matchup between North Alabama and ACU. The loss snapped the Wildcats' 12-game regular-season winning streak, and it is ACU's first loss in September since losing to Central Oklahoma on Sept. 1, 2007, in Norman, Okla.
The Wildcats (1-1 overall and 1-0 in the LSC) will play their home-opener Saturday at 6 p.m. when they host LSC rival Angelo State (3-0, 0-0) in a conference contest at Shotwell Staidum.
