NACOGDOCHES – ACU's potent offense, which entered Saturday night's game averaging better than 525 yards per game, was limited to just 337 yards by Stephen F. Austin as the Lumberjacks snapped ACU's two-game winning streak with a 24-21 win at Homer Bryce Stadium.
The Wildcats – who ran for 335 yards last week against Houston Baptist and were averaging 234 yards per game on the ground – had just 54 yards on the ground against the Lumberjacks. Their inability to run the ball was one of a myriad of issues that cost the Wildcats in the contest.
Quarterback
Luke Anthony was picked off once and a fumble into the end zone was fallen on by SFA defender Trenton Gordon for a touchdown. ACU placekickers
Oscar Hernandez and
Taylor Williamson – who hadn't missed a kick of any kind all season – combined to miss three in the game, one by Hernandez and a pair by Williamson.
The Wildcats trailed 17-7 late in the third quarter when SFA scored on the fumble into the end zone, putting the Wildcats in a fourth-quarter hole from which they couldn't recover. After ACU failed to mount much of a drive late in the third quarter, SFA got the ball back and went 77 yards on 10 plays and used 4 minutes, 56 seconds off the clock and went ahead 24-14 on an 8-yard touchdown run by backup quarterback Josh Covey, who scored on an option play to the left.
The Wildcats were forced to punt on each of their next two possessions as they failed to put together any kind of offensive rhythm. After SFA punted with 3:40 left in the game, the Wildcats took over at their 40 and quickly moved deep into SFA territory on a 32-yard pass from Anthony to
Kobe Clark and a a couple of penalties on SFA.
But once ACU got inside the 10-yard line, the offense stalled as the clock continued to run. Finally on fourth down, Anthony threw a 2-yard touchdown pass to
Josh Fink in the back of the end zone to cut the SFA lead to 24-21 with 1:24 left in the contest. The Wildcats had a chance to recover the onside kick as the kick by Hernandez banged off the hands of one of SFA's players on the front line. But Cody Williams fell on the loose ball and SFA was able to run out the clock on the win.
PLAYS THAT MATTERED
• 1Q – On second-and-2 from the ACU 47,
Luke Anthony found tight end
Cody Ennis all alone for a 31-yard gain to the SFA 22-yard line. Three plays later, however, the Wildcats were forced to try a 36-yard FG, which was missed by
Oscar Hernandez, ACU's first missed kick of any kind this season.
•
2Q – After the missed field goal, SFA moved the ball to the ACU 26-yard line where the Lumberjacks went for it on fourth-and-5. But safety
Bolu Onifade forced an incompletion to give the ball back to the offense.
•
2Q – After ACU went three and out,
Simon Laryea uncorked a 61-yard punt, pinning the Lumberjacks back at their 10-yard line.
•
2Q – ACU got the ball back early in the second quarter with a short field, but moved just 12 yards to the SFA 31-yard line before the drive stalled.
Taylor Williamson – who made a 49-yard field goal last year – missed from 49 yards out with 9:20 left in the half, ACU's second missed field goal of the first half.
•
2Q – Two SFA drives after the missed field goal, ACU got the ball back when
Adonis Davis picked off a pass by Jake Blumrick and he returned the pick 12 yards to the SFA 38-yard line.
•
2Q – On the first play after the interception,
Tracy James ripped off his best run of the night as went 15 yards right up the middle, moving the ball to the SFA 23-yard line.
•
2Q – Five plays after the James run,
Billy McCrary gave ACU a 7-3 lead with 1:32 left in the first half on a 6-yard scoring run, his third touchdown run of the season.
•
2Q – After a pooch kick and 9-yard return, SFA took over on its 41-yard line and moved quickly into scoring range, thanks to a 22-yard pass from Blumrick to Remi Simmons.
•
2Q – Two plays after the 22-yard pass from Blumrick to Simmons, that connection clicked again for a 17-yard touchdown pass to give SFA a 10-7 lead with 32 seconds left in the first half.
•
2Q – With little time left, but three timeouts, the Wildcats got a 23-yard pass from
Luke Anthony to James to move the ball to the SFA 48-yard line with 11 seconds left. Two more passes – one for 12 yards to
Josh Fink and one for seven yards to Ennis – moved the ball to the SFA 29-yard line with less than four seconds left in the first half. But Williamson missed wide right from 46 yards on the final play of the half and ACU went to halftime trailing 10-7.
•
3Q – On its second possession of the second half, ACU moved briskly to the SFA 31-yard line where the Wildcats faced fourth-and-2 to try and keep the drive alive. But James was stuffed on fourth down as the Lumberjacks turned the Wildcats away and gave the ball back to its offense.
•
3Q – After the ACU defense forced a couple of punts, the Wildcats took over on their own 15-yard line. On second down, Anthony rolled right to throw, but the ball slipped out of his hand at the 5-yard line and Trenton Gordon fell on it in the end zone to give SFA a 17-7 lead with 3:35 left in the third quarter.
•
3Q – The Wildcats moved the ball from their own 11-yard line to the SFA 12-yard line – thanks in part to 40 yards worth of penalties on the Lumberjacks – before McCrary capped the 89-yard drive with a 12-yard touchdown run to cut the SFA lead to 17-14 with 1:34 left in the quarter.
•
3Q – On the final play of the third quarter, Blumrick scrambled away from pressure and found Josh McGowen for 20 yares to the SFA 44-yard line on third-and-9, keeping the ball away from the Wildcats.
•
4Q – That drive continued inside ACU territory before backup quarterback Josh Covey took as a running option, and he scored from eight yards out on a third-down play to give the Lumberjacks a 24-14 lead with 11:31 left in the fourth quarter.
•
4Q – On third-and-1 with 10:15 left in the fourth quarter, James dropped a pass from Anthony that would have picked up the first down and more. The dropped pass forced the Wildcats to punt, and SFA took over on its own 26-yard line after just a 32-yard punt by Laryea.
•
4Q – On third-and-12 with less than nine minutes left in the game, Blumrick completed a 12-yard pass to Tamrick Pace to keep SFA's drive alive and keep the ACU offense off the field.
•
4Q – Trailing 24-14 with five minutes to play, James dropped a pass on third-and-9 that could have given ACU a makeable fourth down play. The Wildcats lined up to go for it on fourth down, but were whistled for delay of game and were forced to punt, giving the ball back to SFA with less than five minutes to play.
NOTABLE
• The Wildcats entered the game averaging 234 yards rushing through the first three games of the season, which ranked in the top 25 in the country. However, SFA's defense held ACU to just 54 yards on 22 attempts, low totals in each category for ACU this season.
• ACU's offense – which entered the game 10
th in the country in third-down conversions having converted 26 of 53 third downs entering the game – converted just 2 of 12 third-down plays in the game. And the defense – which was tied for 20
th in the country in third down conversion defense having allowed just 10 of 36 plays to be converted into first downs – gave up 7 of 17 third down conversions.
QUOTABLE
"Our energy was lacking all night, and I'm not sure of the reason for that. We didn't handle their blitz very well, and that's something we worked on and prepared for all week in practice. We've got to go back to the drawing board and get ready for a good Incarnate Word team."
--- ACU head coach Adam Dorrel
NEXT UP
The Wildcats will be back at home next Saturday for just the second time this season as they host Incarnate Word in a game set for a 6:05 p.m. kickoff. The game will be broadcast on ESPN+ and on 98.1 FM.
