Football | 9/5/2014 10:41:00 AM
Gameday CentralABILENE – The ACU Wildcats open the 2014 home season at Shotwell Stadium Saturday against one of the top Football Championship Subdivision (FCS) teams in the nation.
The game is set for a 6 p.m. kickoff and can be heard on 98.1 FM The Ticket or viewed on acusports.com. The pre-game show will begin on the radio at 5:30 p.m.
Northern Arizona University – ranked No. 25 in the country – enter tonight's game at 0-1 after a 38-7 season-opening loss at San Diego State, but that doesn't diminish the fact that the Lumberjacks return 13 starters (eight on offense) from a team that went 9-3 last year and reached the FCS national playoffs.
The Wildcats are coming off a heartbreaking 38-37 defeat at the hands of Georgia State University last Wednesday in the Georgia Dome in Atlanta. The game, which was broadcast to a national television audience on ESPNU, came down to a 26-yard field goal by Will Lutz, who drilled it home with four seconds to play to give the Panthers the win, snapping a 16-game losing streak for the Football Bowl Subdivision squad.
Despite the loss, the ACU football program – a fixture in the NCAA Division II national poll from 2006-12 – garnered its first-ever votes (seven) in the FCS Coaches' Poll. Three-time defending national champion North Dakota State University – which opened its 2014 season with a 34-14 blowout of Iowa State University last Saturday – is No. 1 in the nation in both the FCS Coaches' and The Sports Network polls.
The Wildcats' 38-37 loss at Georgia State last Wednesday was their first season-opening loss since dropping a 27-17 game to the University of Central Oklahoma on Sept. 1, 2007. ACU hasn't started a season 0-2 since 2002 when the Wildcats were 0-3 before rallying to win six of their last seven games and claim a share of the Lone Star Conference South Division championship.
ACU redshirt sophomore quarterback
Parker McKenzie had the greatest starting debut by a quarterback in Wildcat football history last Wednesday night, throwing for 403 yards and four touchdowns against Georgia State. McKenzie connected on 30 of 40 passes, the most completions by a first-time ACU starting quarterback in program history.
Former Abilene High standout running back
Herschel Sims – playing his first game in 682 days after transferring from Lamar University and sitting out the 2013 season at ACU – was bottled up by the GSU defense. The Panthers limited him to just 37 yards on 14 carries and six yards on four receptions before he left the game with an ankle injury. Sims is expected to play tonight against the Lumberjacks.
Senior defensive end
Nick Richardson picked up a pair of sacks of GSU quarterback Nick Arbuckle to give him 25.5 for his career, leaving him 9 short of becoming ACU's all-time leader in the category. Reuben Mason recorded 34 for the Wildcats from 1976-78.
ACU will likely have to play tonight without senior safety
Angel Lopez, who suffered a concussion late in the loss against Georgia State. He'll be replaced in the starting lineup by
D.J. Arnold.
The Lumberjacks dropped a 38-7 decision to San Diego State in its season opener on the road. The loss snapped a three-game road win streak for NAU. Wide receiver Alex Holmes recorded a career single-game high 106 receiving yards. Freshman Elijah Marks returned four kickoffs for 103 yards and an average of 25.8 to rank first in the Big Sky Conference. The defense was led by senior Blake Bailey who recorded nine tackles, and junior Eddie Horn who had eight tackles and one interception.
