NATCHITOCHES, La. – ACU redshirt freshman quarterback
Luke Anthony threw for 345 yards and two touchdowns in his first career start Saturday night, but the Wildcats couldn't overcome shortcomings in their kicking game as they dropped a gut-wrenching 26-23 overtime decision to Northwestern State at Turpin Stadium.
Senior placekicker
Nik Grau – who made field goals of 28, 19 and 30 yards – missed from 53, 44, 48 and 34 yards in the contest, while Northwestern State kicker Eric Piccione was 4 for 4, hitting from 43, 45, 43 and 39 yards. Grau missed a 48-yarder with 13 seconds left in regulation that would have given ACU a 26-23 lead, and then missed a potential game-tying 34-yard field goal in overtime to give the Demons the victory.
The teams went back and forth in the second half after ACU took a 17-13 lead into halftime behind two touchdown passes from Anthony to
Carl Whitley, one from six yards and another from 34 yards. The Demons regained the lead with a touchdown on their opening drive of the second half, but ACU responded with a drive that stalled at the NSU 13-yard line before Grau booted a 30-yarder to tie the game 20-20 with 8:06 left in the third quarter.
On their first possession of the fourth quarter, the Wildcats moved smartly from their own 49 to the NSU 1-yard line behind a 30-yard pass from Anthony to
Trevor Crain and a 14-yard rush by backup quarterback
Kade Munden. But Anthony threw incomplete on first down from the 1-yard line and then NSU's defense stuffed Anthony on a pair of quarterback sneaks, forcing ACU to settle for a 19-yard field goal from Grau and a 23-20 lead with 11:23 left in regulation.
Northwestern State then drove to the game-tying 43-yard field goal by Piccione, setting up the final nine minutes.
ACU drove again deep into the Northwestern State end of the field, but stalled at the 27-yard line. Grau missed from 44 yards with 5:26 left, giving the ball back to the Demons. But ACU's defense stood up and after a sack by
Sam Denmark, the Demons were forced to punt.
ACU took over on its own 27-yard line with 2:55 to play and moved down to the 31-yard line behind a 14-yard pass from Anthony to
De'Andre Brown and a 16-yard pass from Anthony to
Troy Grant. But three straight incompletions forced Grau to try and make the potential game-winner from 48 yards away. The field goal attempt leaked to the right and was no good with 13 seconds to play and the game eventually went to overtime.
ACU won the coin toss and went on defense first, and forced a field goal attempt, which was good by Piccione from 39 yards to give the Demons a 26-23 lead. Anthony hit
Tracy James for eight yards on ACU's first play and then it appeared that he hit Whitely from 17 yards out for the game-winner. But Whitley was called for pass interference, wiping out the touchdown and pushing the ball back to the 32-yard line.
Anthony completed back-to-back passes to James for 5 and 10 yards to get the ball to the 17, but Grau's 34-yard attempt to tie the game and send it to a second overtime was pushed left and the game ended with the Demons storming the field.
Anthony's 345-yard effort is the third-highest yardage total by an ACU starting quarterback in his debut behind the record 403-yard effort by
Parker McKenzie against Georgia State (Aug. 27, 2014), and a 387-yard effort by Greg Wiggins against Southeastern Oklahoma State on Oct. 6, 2001.
PLAYS THAT MATTERED
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1Q – After ACU opened the scoring with a field goal on its first drive, the Demons answered with a touchdown drive that was sparked by a 36-yard run by Chris Jones that pushed the ball to the ACU 22-yard line.
•
1Q – Seven plays after the long run by Jones, he finished off the drive with a 1-yard touchdown run on fourth-and-goal to give the Demons a 7-3 lead.
•
1Q – On ACU's ensuing drive,
Luke Anthony fumbled after a big third-down sack by Lionel Williams. The ball was recovered by Peyton Guidry at the ACU 26, setting the Demons up deep inside ACU territory.
•
1Q – The Wildcats stuffed the drive three plays later when Devondric Meadows and
Corey Smith combined to sack Clay Holgorsen on third-and-5, forcing the Demons to settle for a 43-yard field goal from Eric Piccione and a 10-3 lead with 2:01 left in the quarter.
•
2Q – On the second play of the second quarter, ACU freshman linebacker
Jack Gibbens made the biggest play of his young career when he picked off a Holgorsen pass and returned it 13 yards to the 50-yard line to set up the ACU offense.
•
2Q – The Wildcats responded as
Tracy James scampered up the middle for 36 yards on third-and-2 from the 42 to set up the Wildcats with first-and-goal from the 6-yard line.
•
2Q – On first down, Anthony hit
Carl Whitley from six yards out for a touchdown pass as the Wildcats tied the game at 10 apiece with 12:45 left in the half.
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2Q – After the ACU defense forced a punt, the Wildcat offense got the ball back on its own 42 and moved to the NSU 34-yard line where it faced fourth-and-three. Head coach
Adam Dorrel rolled the dice and Anthony made the gamble pay off when he dropped a perfect pass over Whitley's shoulder for a 34-yard touchdown pass and a 17-10 ACU lead with 9:03 left in the first half.
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2Q – On NSU's ensuing possession, the Demons moved deep into ACU territory where they faced third-and-three from the ACU 24. But
Bryson Gates dropped Kaleb Fletcher for a four-yard loss and NSU settled for a 45-yard field goal from Piccione and the Wildcats still led 17-13.
•
2Q – The Wildcats went three-and-out on its next possession and the Demons then moved smartly, taking the ball all the way down to the ACU 2-yard line. On fourth-and-goal from the 2,
Jamar Mack knocked away a pass intended for Cameron Lazare and the Wildcats took over.
•
2Q – After ACU was forced to punt, Holgorsen was sacked by
Dante Hibbert and his fumble was recovered by
Corey Smith at the 49-yard line with 23 seconds left in the half. ACU moved to the NSU 36, but
Nik Grau's career-long attempt from 53 yards was no good to the right and the teams went to the locker room with ACU leading 17-13.
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3Q – Northwestern State gashed the Wildcats with three big plays on a five-play scoring drive to open the second half. Kaleb Fletcher hit Bryson Bourque for 21 yards, Jones had a 21-yard run, and Fletcher capped the drive with a 14-yard touchdown run to give the Demons a 20-17 lead.
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3Q – ACU answered with a field goal drive that was sparked by a 24-yard pass from Anthony to Whitely on third-and-10 from the NSU 39-yard line. Grau capped the drive with a 30-yard field goal to tie the game, 20-20, with 8:06 left in the quarter.
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4Q – On their first drive of the fourth quarter, the Wildcats moved the ball briskly to a first-and-goal at the 1-yard line after a 30-yard pass from Anthony to
Trevor Crain and a 14-yard run by
Kade Munden. But the Demons stuffed the Wildcats on three straight plays – the last two sneak attempts by Anthony – forcing the Wildcats to settle for a 19-yard field goal from Grau to give ACU a 23-20 lead with 11:23 left in the fourth quarter.
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4Q – NSU tied the game on its ensuing possession, but a big third-down sack by
Bryson Gates forced the Demons to attempt a field goal. Eric Piccione's 43-yard attempt was good and the game was tied 23-23 with 8:56 left.
THREE THINGS YOU NEED TO KNOW
• The Wildcats had one other starting lineup change Saturday besides
Luke Anthony in place of
Dallas Sealey at quarterback.
Dakota Laws swung inside from right tackle to right guard and
Emoree Giddens made his first career start on the offensive line at right tackle. Laws was injured in the first quarter and replaced for the rest of the game by freshman
Kade Parmelly. Also,
Anietie Etuk, who has been an offensive lineman since he arrived at ACU last summer, played defensive tackle late in the first half for the Wildcats.
•
Nik Grau – who had a career-long 46-yard field goal last week against Southeastern Louisiana – had a career-long attempt from 53 yards leak off to the right near the end of the first half. All three of his attempts from 50-plus yards in his career have come this season.
STAT CORNER
•
De'Andre Brown had a nine-yard run early in the game to pass Charcandrick West for 10
th place on ACU's all-time rushing list. But he went backwards from there and finished with seven carries for zero yards and goes into the final two games of the season still needing eight yards to pass West, who ran for 2,058 yards from 2010-13. Brown has 2,051 rushing yards and is one of only seven Wildcats in history to have 2,000-plus career rushing yards and 3,000-plus all-purpose yards.
• ACU has now lost 12 straight games in the state of Louisiana after Saturday night's overtime defeat. The last time ACU won in Louisiana was Nov. 6, 1971, when it beat Southeastern Louisiana, 28-7, in Hammond, La.
• Senior MLB
Sam Denmark continued his inexorable march toward the ACU all-time tackles record with five more stops against Northwestern State. Denmark now has 379 career tackles and is just 10 short of breaking the career record of 388 held by Ryan Boozer, who starred for the Wildcats from 1998-2001.
UP NEXT
The Wildcats will close out the home portion of their schedule next Saturday (Nov. 11) when they host nationally ranked Sam Houston State at 6 p.m. The game is scheduled to be broadcast nationally on ESPN3.
