Football | 10/6/2016 11:31:00 PM
Gameday Central
ABILENE -- The ACU Wildcats return home to Shotwell Stadium Saturday night for a Southland Conference contest against Lamar, which will bring one of the top running backs in the country to the stadium.
Lamar is 1-3 overall and 1-1 in the league, while the Wildcats are 0-5 and 0-3. Kickoff is set for 6 p.m. as the Wildcats narrow down their number of games left to play at Shotwell Stadium before moving into Wildcat Stadium on campus next season.
ACU could be without its starting quarterback for the game after redshirt sophomore
Dallas Sealey left last Saturday's loss to Central Arkansas in the first quarter after suffering a concussion. In his place, senior
Parker McKenzie – who will start against Lamar if Sealey can't play – completed 14 of 31 passes for 155 yards and one interception, while also throwing two interceptions against the Bears.
ACU junior running back
De'Andre Brown is still working back into game shape after missing most of the first three games of the season with a high ankle sprain, and enters Saturday night's game with just 92 yards and one touchdown on 31 carries. Senior
Adrian Duncan leads the team in rushing with 259 yards and one TD on 61 carries.
The Wildcat defense is led by junior linebacker
Sam Denmark, who has 49 tackles through five games and ranks third in the league in both tackles (49) and tackles per game (9.8).
The Cardinals' offensive attack features senior running back Kade Harrington, who has rushed for a combined 490 yards in two games against ACU, including going for a Southland Conference single-game record 347 yards in the Cardinals' 44-28 win last season in Beaumont.
Harrington enters Saturday night's game averaging 112.2 yards per game (11th in FCS football) and with 449 total rushing yards (19th in FCS football) on 91 carries. He opened the season with a 207-yard effort in a loss against nationally ranked Coastal Carolina, but then was held below 100 yards – combined – in losses to Houston and Sam Houston State. However, Harrington bounced back last Saturday with 143 yards and one touchdown on 23 carries in Lamar's 38-14 win over Southeastern Louisiana.
In 2015, Harrington was the STATS FCS National Offensive Player of the Year (FCS Heisman) runner-up and the American Sports Network Player of the Year. A consensus first team all-America selection, he became just the seventh player in NCAA Division I history to rush for at least 2,000 yards in just 10 games.
Harrington ended the 2015 season as the nation's leader in rushing yards (2,092), rush yards per game (190.2 pg), all-purpose yards (213.4 ypg), rushing
touchdowns (21) and was second nationally in scoring (12.5 ppg) and third in yards per carry (7.86 pc).
The Cardinals' offensive attack is largely predicated on Harrington as Lamar ranks just 10th in the league in total offense at just 316.8 yards per game. The Wildcats are 10th in the Southland Conference in total defense, allowing 534.2 yards per game entering Saturday night's game, and having allowed all but one of their first five opponents to rack up at least 500 yards of offense.
Â
