Gameday
ABILENE -- The ACU Wildcats will play their third straight home game Saturday as they host NCAA?Division II?member New Mexico Highlands. This is the first time the Wildcats and Cowboys have ever met on the football field.
Kickoff is set for 6 p.m. at Shotwell Stadium. The game can be heard locally on KTLT 98.1 FM The Ticket, and it can be heard in the Dallas/Fort Worth metroplex on KBXD 1480 AM.
ACU is 2-0 and leads all of college football in total points scored (144) and points per game (72.0) through two weeks of football. The 144 points scored by the Wildcats through two games is the most ever scored by ACU in back-to-back games, eclipsing the presvious record of 140 set in 2008 when ACU?scored 47 in the regular-season finale against Midwestern State and then 93 in a 93-68 win over West Texas A&M?in the first round of the NCAA?Division II?playoffs.
The most points ever scored by an ACU?team is 185, scored in the final three games of the 2008 season when ACU scored 181 points in wins over Southeastern Oklahoma State (59-10), Eastern New Mexico (56-11) and East Central (66-7).
The Wildcats are looking for their fifth 3-0 start to a season since 2006, but their first 3-0 start since the 2010 season when ACU went 11-0 in the regular season and won the Lone Star Conference championship.
ACU's offense has been virtually unstoppable through two games as the Wildcats have posted posted 144 points and have averaged 589.5 yards per game of total offense. The defense, meanwhile, has seven takeaways (six interceptions) in two games and one defensive touchdown.
Senior quarterback
John David Baker has been the triggerman for the offense as he has thrown for 534 yards and nine touchdowns in two games, while completing 34 of 43 passes (79.1 percent). He's also carried the ball 11 times for 91 yards and one touchdown, including 10 carries for 102 yards and a 23-yard touchdown run in last Saturday's 60-17 win over McMurry.
Baker's 102-yard rushing effort made him the first Wildcat quarterback to rush for at least 100 yards in a game since Jacky Roland did so on Nov. 20, 1965, when he carried the ball nine times for 119 yards and one touchdown in a 41-12 win over Angelo State. Earlier that season (Oct. 23) he carried the ball 14 times for 139 yards and one score in a 35-13 loss to Arkansas State in a Southland Conference contest.
Senior running back
Charcandrick West had another big night against the War Hawks as he rushed for a career-high 132 yards and four touchdowns on 20 carries to pace an ACU?rushing attack that chewed up 333 yards against the War Hawks. The Wildcats also put up 31 first downs in the contest, the third-most in a game in school history.
West's back-to-back 100-yard rushing efforts mark the first time in two seasons since an ACU running back totaled at least 100 rushing yards in consecutive games. The last time was late in the 2011 season when Daryl Richardson ran for 170 yards and two touchdowns on 18 carries against Texas A&M-Commerce (Oct. 29) and then had 109 yards and two scores on 23 carries against Texas A&M-Kingsville (Nov. 5).
New Mexico Highlands enters Shotwell Stadium as one of the rising programs in NCAA Division II football. The Cowboys are in their third season under head coach Eric Young, who is 13-10 in his two-plus seasons in charge of the Highlands' program.
Highlands is 1-0 so far this season after last Saturday's 31-28 win at Eastern New Mexico. The Cowboys' Dominique Ferrell ran for 79 yards and two scores on 14 carries, and his 2-yard touchdown run with 7:21 to play put the Cowboys on top 31-28, and their defense was able to do the rest in pulling out the win.
Quarterback Emmanuel Lewis completed 15 of 27 passes for 182 yards and one score, and Ricky Mavray caught six passes for 100 yards for the Cowboys. Defensively, the Cowboys forced three takeaways (two fumbles and one interception) in the win over the Greyhounds.
