Football | 9/21/2016 5:45:00 PM
Gameday Central
NACOGDOCHES, Texas – Winless after three games for the first time since 2002, the ACU Wildcats are back on the road this Saturday in East Texas looking for their first win of the season and trying to snap an eight-game road losing streak in the process.
The Wildcats will be in Nacogdoches this Saturday for a 6 p.m. kickoff against Stephen F. Austin in a Southland Conference contest for both teams. The game will be broadcast on ESPN3 and on 98.1 FM The Ticket from Homer Bryce Stadium. ACU is 10-6 all-time against the Lumberjacks, including 4-4 in Nacogdoches.
The Wildcats are 2-0 against the Lumberjacks since re-joining the Southland Conference in 2014 with a 37-35 road win on Nov. 15, 2014, and a 35-32 home win on Sept. 26, 2015. Both games went down to the final seconds of the game before a winner was decided.
ACU junior running back De'Andre Brown has had two big games against the Lumberjacks with 256 yards and three touchdowns on 22 carries as a redshirt freshman in 2014 and another 132 yards and three touchdowns on 16 carries as a sophomore in 2015.
Brown has been hampered the first three weeks by a pair of high ankle sprains that have limited him to just 20 yards on six carries on the season. All of those totals came in the Wildcats' first two games of the season before he sat out last Saturday night's overtime loss at Houston Baptist. Brown is expected to be back in the starting lineup against the Lumberjacks, hopefully giving the Wildcats a bit of a spark as they try to snap their current eight-game road losing streat that dates back to the beginning of the 2015 season. That losing skid is tied for the fourth-longest road losing streak in program history behind a 19-game winless streak from 1934-37 (0-16-3), a 14-game skid from 1990-92, a 10-gamne slide from 2000-02 and an eight-game streak from 1966-67.
The last time Wildcats started a season 0-3 was 2002, the same year they rallied to win six of their final seven games, finish 6-4 and win a share of the Lone Star Conference South Division title.
ACU sophomore quarterback Dallas Sealey leads the Southland Conference in passing yards (918), completions (73), points scored (30), rushing touchdowns (5), total offensive yards (1,080) and total offense per game (360.0 yards per game). He is tied for third in NCAA Division I FCS football in rushing touchdowns (5), fourth in total offensive yards and yards per game, seventh in passing yards (918), eighth in passing yards per game (305.7) and tied for 25th in passing touchdowns (5). ACU junior linebacker Sam Denmark is tied for third in the Southland Conference in both total tackles (31) and tackles per game (10.3).
SFA is 2-1 on the season after last Saturday night's 31-28 win at McNeese State, a win that came on a 4-yard touchdown pass from Hunter Taylor to Tamrick Pace with 3:35 to play. Starting QB Zach Conque threw for 262 yards and two touchdowns on his way to earning Southland Conference Offensive Player of the Week honors.
