Football | 10/15/2015 4:09:00 PM
ABILENE – The ACU Wildcats will try to snap a two-game Southland Conference losing streak Saturday afternoon in the annual Homecoming contest, but the task won't be an easy one as they welcome an old rival back to Shotwell Stadium.
Pre-season conference favorite Sam Houston State will be in Abilene for the game, which is set for a 2:30 p.m. kickoff and will be broadcast on the American Sports Network. The game can be seen in Abilene on KIDZ (MyNetwork), which is channel 15.2 over the air, channel 116 on Suddenlink and channel 42 on DirecTV.
Sam Houston State hasn't played in Abilene since Nov. 3, 1984, when the Bearkats knocked off ACU 10-6 when both teams were members of the Lone Star Conference. The last time ACU beat the Bearkats in Abilene was Nov. 6, 1982, when the Wildcats won 36-10.
The Wildcats enter Saturday's game having lost their last two games: 42-14 at Central Arkansas (Oct. 3) and 44-28 at Lamar (Oct. 10). ACU has been outscored by a combined 56-7 in the first half of the last two games, taking the Wildcats out of each game in the first 30 minutes of each contest.
ACU has also been hurt by its run defense, which last week gave up 347 yards to Lamar's Kade Harrington, who set a record for rushing yards in a single game by an ACU opponent. The Cardinals ran for 391 yards in the game on 47 carries, averaging 8.3 yards per carry. ACU is now allowing 279.0 yards per game on the ground, which is 10
th in the league, just ahead of Northwestern State, which is last in the league allowing 312.0 yards per game on the ground.
After posting just 65 yards of offense and zero points in the first half last week, the Wildcat offense found a rhythm in the second half and put up 28 points and put up 284 yards of total offense with most of that coming through the air. ACU quarterback
Parker McKenzie was 19 for 26 for 290 yards and three touchdowns in the second half as he finished the game 24 for 36 For 316 yards and three scores.
McKenzie now has seven 300-yard passing games in his career, which is fifth in ACU history behind Billy Malone's 20 games, Mitchel Gale's 18, Jim Lindsey's 14 and Rex Lamberti's 11. Saturday's 316-yard effort was his first 300-yard effort of the 2015 and is the fifth-best game of his career.
The Bearkats are 3-2 overall and 3-1 in the league after beating Incarnate Word, 59-7, last week in Huntsville. Junior quarterback Jared Johnson is tied for fourth in the league (along with McKenzie) in total offense per game at 216.2 ypg, while directing an offense that leads the league in total offense (590.0 ypg), pass offense (341.2 ypg) and scoring offense (49.4 ppg).
