Ken Collums Interview
ABILENE -- One week after being shut out for the first time in 11 years, the Wildcats return to action Saturday for Homecoming against the team that last year dealt them their worst regular-season loss since 2001.
The Wildcats were blanked, 36-0, last Saturday night in Canyon against West Texas A&M, snapping a streak of 121 straight games in which they had scored. Prior to Saturday, the last shutout was a 31-0 loss at Angelo State exactly 11 years earlier (Oct. 13, 2001). The loss last week?was ACU's most lopsided shutout in Lone Star Conference play since Texas A&M-Kingsville won 38-0 in 1996.
ACU – which has already matched last season's loss total of three and is in a position to miss the NCAA?Division II?playoffs for the first time since 2005 – is trying to avoid its first four-loss season since that year.
Saturday's opponent is 12th-ranked Midwestern State, which beat ACU 70-28 last year in Wichita Falls on its way to an undefeated regular season and the LSC championship.
Kickoff is set for 2 p.m. Saturday and can be heard locally on Mix 92.5 FM.
The Wildcats' slim hopes for making a seventh straight trip to the NCAA?Division II?playoffs hinge on the next four weeks, starting with today's game against the Mustangs. Head coach
Ken Collums' team needs to win out to finish 8-3 overall and hope for one of the six at-large bids from Super Region IV.
ACU is 4-3 overall and fifth in the LSC at 2-3, while the Mustangs enter today's game at 5-1 overall and 4-1 in the LSC and with five straight wins to their credit, including a 35-28 home victory over Angelo State last Saturday.
The Wildcats?and Midwestern State each carry two of the LSC's?top scoring offenses and scoring defenses into today's game. MSU?is No. 1 in scoring offense (39.7 points per game) and No. 2 in scoring defense (20.7 points per game), while ACU?is fourth in scoring offense (30.6) and third in scoring defense (22.3).
Perhaps the largest difference between the two teams comes in the area of rushing offense, where MSU?ranks No. 1 in the LSC?and among the NCAA?Division II?leaders at 305.2 yards per game, while ACU?is eighth at 75.6. MSU?junior Keidrick Jackson is averaging 117.3 rushing yards per game and has scored 13 touchdowns, while senior quarterback Brandon Kelsey is averaging 72.3 yards per game and has seven touchdowns.
ACU, meanwhile, is led in rushing by backup running back
Marcel Threat, who has run for just 170 yards on the season, while
Charcandrick West has 156 yards and three TDs.
Senior Wildcat quarterback Mitchell Gale is second in the LSC?in passing yards per game (245.6) and has thrown for 1,719 yards and 13 touchdowns on the season while completing 57.8 percent of his passes (137 of 237). He has been intercepted only five times.
Junior
Taylor Gabriel continues to lead the Wildcats in receiving with 445 yards and five touchdowns on 33 receptions.
ACU?is 51-32-1 all-time on Homecoming and has won two straight Homecoming games (31-28 over Midwestern State in 2010 and 28-18 over West Texas A&M?in 2011).
