Ken Collums Interview l
Charcandrick West Interview
ABILENE -- After a long road trip – and a win last Thursday night at Delta State (Miss.) – the ACU Wildcats return to Shotwell Stadium and Lone Star Conference play tonight when they host Eastern New Mexico in the final conference meeting between the two teams.
Kickoff is set for 6 p.m. and it can be heard locally on Mix 92.5 FM.
The Wildcats and Greyhounds first met in 1967 and have played 33 times since then with the Wildcats holding a 22-11 lead in the series. With ACU moving to NCAA Division I affiliation and the Southland Conference in 2013, this game will mark the final conference meeting between the Wildcats and Greyhounds and could be the final time the teams play for the foreseeable future.
The Wildcats are coming off a tense 34-28 win over the Statesmen of Delta State last Thursday night (Sept. 27) in Cleveland, Miss. ACU's defense came up with three turnovers and three big stops – including two goal-line stands – to help the Wildcats secure the win.
Senior linebacker
Mike Wallace had two interceptions for the second straight week, and a fourth-down stop at the 1-yard line at the end of the first half and another stop inside the 15-yard line at the end of the game secured the win for the Wildcats.
Offensively, the Wildcats were led by senior quarterback Mitchell Gale, who completed 26 of 37 passes for 246 yards and three touchdowns, throwing one each to
Charcandrick West, DeMarcus Thompson and
Taylor Gabriel.
The game marked the second straight contest in which Gale has thrown three touchdown passes and the 15th game of his career in which he has thrown at least three touchdown passes. Gale now has 85 career touchdown passes, which moves him past former Wildcat standout Rex Lamberti (84 career TD?passes) for second place on ACU's all-time list behind the 114 thrown by Billy Malone from 2005-08.
The Wildcats – who have had injury problems on the defensive side all season – might have lost another linebacker last week when
Justin Stephens went down in the first half with an apparent hamstring injury.
After spending the last five seasons throwing the football all over the yard, the Greyhounds under first-year head coach Josh Lynn have returned to a more traditional offensive style.
In fact, they've returned to an option offense with quarterback Wesley Wood operating and leading the team in rushing (319 yards and six touchdowns.
Last year he threw 442 times for 2,711 yards and 22 touchdowns, but so far in five games he's only thrown the ball 80 times (49 completions) for 655 yards and five touchdowns against just one interception.
Aside from Wood, De'Coreyon Thomas has 236 yards and two scores on the ground, while Christian Long (190 yards and one touchdown) and Derek K-Campbell (144 yards and one score) have also rushed for more than 100 yards on the season.
Defensively, however, the Greyhounds are giving up more than 465 yards per game and 37.0 points per game.
