ABILENE – Mistake-prone and No. 7-ranked McNeese State University survived an inspired defensive performance by Abilene Christian University to escape an upset bid, prevailing 15-13 in a Southland Conference game Saturday at Shotwell Stadium.
The undefeated Cowboys (8-0 overall and 7-0 in the Southland) turned a muffed punt return into a fourth-quarter lead, earning the win with placekicker Trent Manuel's third field goal of the game. ACU (2-5, 2-4) lost its fifth straight, the football program's longest such stretch since 2001.
The Wildcats travel to Natchitoches, La., to play Southland rival Northwestern State next Saturday at 6 p.m.
The banged-up Wildcats – with 17 players out for the season, or injured and questionable for the game – started redshirt freshman
Dallas Sealey at quarterback and nearly mustered the win by forcing five turnovers in a contest televised nationally by American Sports Network. Freshman defensive back
Jabari Butler had two of ACU's three interceptions of McNeese quarterback Michael Sams.
After being outscored 101-17 in the first half of its last four games, the Wildcats held the Cowboys to six points at halftime, and well below their 34.4-points-per-game average overall.
ACU turned the tables on McNeese, the nation's No. 3 defense in points and yards allowed, holding the Cowboys to one first down and 60 yards of offense in the first quarter while forcing turnovers on two of the visitors' first four drives of the half. McNeese limited ACU to seven first downs and 130 yards of offense in the first two quarters but the Wildcats were just as stingy, allowing six and 148.
McNeese, however, took its opening drive of the second half 69 yards for a touchdown with Sams scoring on a 2-yard run on fourth-and-1. The PAT was blocked by
Josh Bloom – his second blocked PAT in as many weeks – and the McNeese lead was 12-6. The teams battled back and forth the rest of the third quarter with ACU getting turnovers on three straight possessions.
The McNeese defense, though, lived up to its reputation by not allowing the Wildcats to score off any of the takeaways. The Cowboy defense, in fact, has allowed just three points on drives after 15 turnovers by its offense this season.
With a little more than eight minutes to play in the game, the ACU defense forced a punt. But
ACU's
Byron Proctor fumbled the return deep in Wildcat territory, giving the Cowboys the ball back at the 15-yard line with 8:07 left.
ACU stiffened its defense, forcing McNeese into a fourth-and-goal at the Wildcat 1-yard line, where the Cowboys incurred a delay of game penalty to give Trent Manuel more real estate from which to attempt a 23-yard field goal, his third of the game. The kick was good, pushing the McNeese lead to 15-6 with 4:31 to go.
Sealey answered by rallying his team on a stunning two-play, 75-yard, 37-second drive, completing passes of 51 yards to Gilbert and 24 to
Carl Whitley.
Zach Lehr's first successful PAT kick of the day pulled the Wildcats to within two, 15-13, with 3:54 still on the clock.
Sams was sacked by linebacker
Sam Denmark on third-and-8 from the McNeese 31 with 2:31 left. The punt by Jean Breaux traveled 73 yards when Wildcat returner
Jonathan Epps chose to let the ball roll to ACU's 1-yard line.
The Cowboys forced ACU into a fourth-and-4 from the 21 but Sealey's intended pass to Whitley sailed high and right with 1:16 left, and McNeese ran out the clock.
"At times I thought we played really well, and at times we didn't play very well," ACU head coach
Ken Collums said. "Now, McNeese had something to do with that. Those guys are very hard to handle, but for the most part we were able to do that."
The Wildcat defense – which entered the contest reeling a bit from its four previous games – played one of the best games an ACU defense has played in several seasons. The Wildcats allowed just one touchdown and 306 yards of total offense while creating five turnovers. ACU also held McNeese to just 5 of 18 on third downs, which had been a big problem for the Wildcats in their four previous games.
"I'm really proud of our defense," Collums said. "They fought their tails off (Saturday) and did a great job against the quarterback (Sams). We were able to get really good pressure on him and get him off his spot and make him take his eyes off his receivers and look at the rush coming at him. We were more disciplined in our rush lines, and when you do that – combined with making the quarterback feel some pressure – you're going to have some success."
Sealey, making his first collegiate start, completed his first pass of the game but the second was tipped and intercepted at the ACU 35-yard line less than two minutes after kickoff. McNeese converted a fourth-and-6 at the ACU 31 but the Wildcat defense stiffened and Manuel's 28-yard field goal with 9:25 left put the Cowboys on top, 3-0.
Two possessions later, on third-and-8 from the ACU 43-yard line, Sealey scrambled for 26 yards to the McNeese 21. The Wildcats eventually advanced to the 11 but Lehr missed a 28-yard field goal with 1:43 left in the quarter.
Just 11 seconds later, Wildcat linebacker
Gavin Burford forced Brent Spikes to fumble and
Junior Henderson recovered at the McNeese 29. ACU could not convert on the turnover, however.
A
Cody Ennis punt pinned the Cowboys at their own 1-yard line with 10:57 left in the first half. On third-and-14, the Wildcats pressured Sams into heaving a deep pass with 8:20 left that Butler snagged at midfield and returned 33 yards to the McNeese 17-yard line.
Five snaps later,
Herschel Sims took a pitch from Sealey then threw back to him for a 9-yard touchdown pass with 6:18 left – Sims' first scoring pass and Sealey's first TD reception of their respective careers. Lehr's PAT kick was blocked, leaving ACU ahead 6-3.
On the ensuing drive, a scrambling Sams hit wide receiver Tavarious Battiste with a 38-yard pass to the ACU 10-yard-line with 13 seconds left, but the Wildcats held their ground when Sams' third-down pass to Kent Shelby at the goal line fell incomplete and Manuel hit a 27-yard field goal as the first half expired.
After the Cowboys opened the third quarter with the touchdown drive, Sealey hit wide receiver
Cedric Gilbert with a 53-yard pass to the Cowboys' 23-yard line on ACU's first play. But a personal foul set the Wildcats back to the 38 and ACU proceeded to turn the ball over on downs.
ACU forced its third takeaway of the game on McNeese's ensuing drive when Sams scrambled around left end, his pass landing in the arms of linebacker
Lynn Grady at the Wildcat 39-yard line. But the Cowboy defense stiffened, knocking down Sealey's fourth-down pass at their 35.
The turnover bug bit McNeese again on its next drive when Allen and Grady sacked Sams and Bloom recovered the quarterback's fumble with 44 seconds left in the third quarter, giving ACU the ball at its own 31-yard line. But McNeese again flexed its defensive muscles, sacking Sealey for a 16-yard loss and forcing the Wildcats to punt.
ACU was not daunted, however. A leaping Butler intercepted an under-thrown flea flicker pass from Sams at the ACU 38-yard line and returned it 28 yards to the McNeese 33, the Cowboys' third straight turnover of the half and fifth of the game.
Sealey led the Wildcats in passing (22 of 42 for 284 yards and one TD) and rushing (9 carries for 29 yards). Gilbert caught 3 passes for 122 yards and Whitley snagged eight for 100.
Sams completed 12 passes for 138 yards but was intercepted three times, and ran 20 times for 58 yards. Ryan Ross was McNeese's leading rusher with 17 carries for 99 yards. Battiste caught two passes for 53 yards.
Butler's two interceptions (and 61 return yards) and Denmark's 13 tackles led the Wildcats on defense. Butler now has six interceptions on the season, the most by a Wildcat in a season since Danieal Manning had six in 2003.
