Gameday
FRISCO -- The ACU Wildcats and Tarleton State Texans meet on the football field Saturday at Toyota Stadium in a game that could bring the curtain down on a rivalry that dates back to 1920.
The game will kick off at 4 p.m. and can be heard locally on KTLT 98.1 FM The Ticket. It can also be heard in the Dallas-Fort Worth metroplex on KBXD 1480 AM. For more information on how to view or listen to the game, click on ACU Gameday. The game will be preceeded by a concert by ACU alum and rising country music star Aaron Watson, who will hit the stage inside the stadium at 2 p.m. Tickets purchased to the game will also get fans into the pre-game concert.
The Wildcats – now an independent member of NCAA?Division I?FCS – will play a full Southland Conference schedule next season and have already filled their two open dates on the schedule with games against FBS?opponents.
ACU?enters today's game coming off its first defeat of the season, a 31-17 loss last Saturday in Normal, Ill., against the Redbirds of Illinois State University. The game was tied 10-10 in the second quarter before the Redbirds scored 14 straight points, including on a 62-yard punt return for a touchdown on the final play of the first half.
The Wildcats' defense, however, held Illinois State to just 20 yards of total offense in the third quarter, allowing ACU?to get back into the game with a third-quarter touchdown pass from John David Baker to Darian Hogg, cutting the Redbirds' lead to 24-17 with 3:26 left in the third quarter.
ACU?pinned the Redbirds deep in their own end of the field early in the fourth quarter, but Illinois State responded with a 13-play, 91-yard drive that took 6:53 off the clock and was capped with a 3-yard run by Collin Keoshian to push the lead back to 31-17 with 7:37 left in the game.
The Wildcats are now 3-1 on the season and have scored more points (213) than any other team in the nation. Ohio State is second in points scored (210), followed by Baylor and Sam Houston State with 209 apiece. Texas A&M?(201)?and Henderson State (201) are the only other teams to have scored at least 200 points this early in the season. The Wildcats, Buckeyes, Bears and Bearkats (Sam Houston State)?also lead the nation in touchdowns scored with 29 apiece.
To put ACU's current scoring proficiency in better perspective, teams in 50 of the Wildcats' previous 90 seasons didn't score as many points the entire year as head coach Ken Collums' team has through its four games in 2013.
Last Saturday's game against Illinois State began a three-game stretch in which the strength of ACU's opposition figures to increase significantly. Illinois State, Tarleton State (today's opponent) and Pittsburg State (next week's opponent) were 22-11 overall in 201 and already are a combined 6-2 this season.
The last two games between the Wildcats and Texans have gone down to the wire. ACU?rallied for a 27-24 win in Stephenville in 2011, needing a Nate Bailey interception in the end zone on the game's final play to preserve the win Last season, the Wildcats?outscored the Texans 24-11 in the second half to pull out a 34-31 win in the second annual Lone Star Football Festival at AT&T?Stadium (formerly known as Cowboys Stadium).
ACU leads the all-time series 19-10-4, but the Wildcats only have a 9-8 advantage since 1995, when the two teams began playing one another each year. Abilene Christian's 2007 win in Stephenville (70-63 in one of the greatest regular-season games in Lone Star Conference history) was vacated because of NCAA?violations.
The Texans enter today's game with a 2-0 record after season-opening victories over Midwestern State (27-24) and Angelo State (38-34) and are ranked No. 25 in this week's American Football Coaches' Association NCAA?Division II?poll.
Jake Fenske (274 yards and four TDs)?and Aaron Doyle (246 yards and two TDs) have split time at quarterback, while Zach Henshaw leads the team in rushing with 122 yards. Middle linebacker Marc Martinez leads TSU with 18 tackles, followed by Marquis Wadley with 17.
