Wildcats close out season Saturday at Northern Colorado

Football | 11/19/2015 11:41:00 PM

Gameday Central

GREELEY, Colo. – After snapping a six-game losing streak last Saturday with a win over Southeastern Louisiana, the ACU Wildcats will wrap up the 2015 season Saturday with a non-conference game against Northern Colorado at Nottingham Field.

The Wildcats lead the all-time series against the Bears, 10-4-1, although Northern Colorado has won four straight games in the series. The last time the teams met was Sept. 14, 1991, when the Bears won a 20-0 decision in Greeley, Colo. The last time ACU beat Northern Colorado in Greeley was Sept. 14, 1985, when the Wildcats won a 45-23 decision.

Saturday's kickoff is set for 12 p.m. MST  (1 p.m. Abilene time), and the game can be heard locally on 98.1 FM The Ticket. The Wildcats are 3-7 going into the game, while the Bears of the Big Sky Conference are 5-5 overall and looking for their first winning season since the 2003 season when they finished 9-2. Since then the Bears are 29-103 with four one-win seasons and one winless season.

The Wildcats, on the other hand, haven't lost eight games in a season since 2001 when they finished 3-8. The next season the Wildcats finished 6-4, beginning a stretch of 12 of 13 seasons of at least .500 records. The 2015 season marks the first losing season for the ACU program since the 2005 team finished 4-6 under first-year head coach Chris Thomsen, whose offensive coordinator was current head coach Ken Collums.

Last Saturday, ACU snapped a six-game losing streak on a 1-yard touchdown reception by Jamie Walker on fourth-and-goal with 22 seconds left. That touchdown catch by Walker gave the Wildcats a 21-17 win over Southeastern Louisiana. Walker caught the pass from quarterback Parker McKenzie, who came off the bench after having not played in either of the previous two games.

McKenzie – who will return to the starting lineup Saturday against Northern Colorado – completed 21 of 28 passes for 219 yards and two touchdowns, directing the Wildcats to 14 fourth-quarter points and the victory, despite bing sacked five times by the Lions' defense. He threw fourth-quarter touchdown passes to Monte Green-Avery to make it 17-14 about midway through the quarter before hitting Walker from one yard out for the game-winner.