ABILENE – Jon Copeland threw for 258 yards and two touchdowns and caught another himself as University of the Incarnate Word broke open a tight game at the half to defeat Abilene Christian University 44-34 Saturday night in Wildcat Stadium.
UIW improved to 2-2 overall and 1-1 in the Southland Conference, and ACU fell to 2-3 overall and 1-2 in the league. The two teams entered FCS together in 2013 when they moved from Division II and the Lone Star Conference to Division I.
Each team scored four TDs in the first half, but ACU led 28-27, with only a blocked PAT kick keeping the Cardinals from tying the home team. Two of the Wildcat scores followed UIW turnovers.
Two of the Southland's top offensive teams traded punches – and four touchdowns apiece – in the first half, UIW with quick-strike drives and ACU with mostly methodical ones. A blocked PAT kick by ACU's
Jamar Mack was the only thing separating the opponents on the scoreboard.
ACU scored first on a 31-yard run by
Billy McCrary. UIW came back with a 58-yard pass from Copeland to Kody Edwards. The Wildcats answered with a 22-yard pass from
Luke Anthony to
Tyrese White, and the Cardinals responded with Copeland's second TD pass of the quarter, a, 8-yarder to Lamont Johnson.
The two teams traded TDs again in the second quarter: a 1-yard run by ACU's
Tracy James, Ra'Quanne Dickens' 1-yarder for UIW, a 4-yard pass from Anthony to
Torin Justice for the Wildcats, and a back-breaking TD run by the Cardinals' Dickens with just seconds left before half.
Dickens, the league's leading rusher and fourth-best in FCS, was held in check by the Wildcats until that 66-yarder pulled UIW to within a point of ACU.
Incarnate Word then took control in the third quarter, beginning with a trick play deep in Wildcat territory that concluded with Copeland catching an 8-yard TD pass from wide receiver Kam Williams. The Cardinals padded their lead with a Rhett Marshall 48-yard field goal and a 21-yard pass from Copeland to Phillip Baptiste.
UIW's 24-0 run was snapped when
Tyrese White scored his second TD of the night to pull ACU to within 10 points, the game's final margin.
ACU's
Luke Anthony completed 35 of 55 passes for 345 yards and three TDs, and
Billy McCrary rushed for 126 yards and one score.
Josh Fink caught seven passes for 117 yards for the Wildcats. Dickens ran for 118 yards and two TDs for UIW, while Kody Edwards had five catches for 133 yards and a score.
The Wildcats play McNeese in a 6 p.m. game next Saturday in Lake Charles, Louisiana. The Cardinals host Southeastern Louisiana at 4 p.m. in San Antonio.
PLAYS THAT MATTERED
- 1Q – ACU linebacker Jeremiah Chambers separated Ra'Quanne Dickens from the ball on a resounding tackle. His teammate, defensive end Corey Smith, returned the fumble 12 yards to the UIW 11-yard line. Following a 15-yard penalty, Billy McCrary raced 31 yards for a touchdown and ACU's first points on the night. Oscar Hernandez' successful PAT put the Wildcats on top, 7-0, with 5:26 left.
- 1Q – Barely more than a minute later, Jon Copeland tossed a 58-yard scoring pass to Kody Edwards. Cody Siedel's PAT evened the score at 7-7 with 4:23 left.
- 1Q – On ACU's next possession, Tyrese White caught a pass from Luke Anthony and raced 22 yards for a TD. Hernandez' PAT put the Wildcats ahead, 14-7 with 1:43 remaining.
- 1Q – Lamont Johnson caught a tipped pass from Copeland in the end zone, completing an 8-yard scoring play for UIW with 10 seconds left. The Siedel PAT kick tied the game at 14-14.
- 2Q – ACU Erik Kuhn interecepted a Copeland pass in the end zone for a touchback, stopping a UIW drive with 13:28 left. The Wildcats drove 60 yards the other way, capped by a Tracy James 1-yard run with 9:39 left. Hernandez' PAT kick put ACU back on top, 21-14.
- 2Q – UIW appeared to even the game on its next drive. Dickens ran 1-yard for the TD but the PAT kick was blocked by Jamar Mack, leaving ACU in the lead, 21-20 with 8:13 left.
- 2Q – ACU pulled ahead 28-20 when Torin Justice caught a 4-yard TD pass from Anthony with 1:59 left, capping a 13-play drive, at 6:14, its longest of the night.
- 2Q – With nine seconds left in the half, Dickens sprinted around right end for 66 yards and a TD. The PAT kick by Seidel pulled UIW to within a point, 28-27.
- 3Q – A 40-yard pass from Copeland to Phillip Baptiste set up the Cardinals on their second drive of the second half. UIW regained the lead, 34-28, when Cam Williams threw an 8-yard TD pass to Copeland, thanks to a trick play that left the Cardinals' quarterback alone in the end zone with 3:30 left.
- 3Q – On the Wildcats' ensuing drive, Anthony was intercepted by Jamarkese Williams at the ACU 45-yard line. UIW made ACU pay for its first turnover of the night when Rhett Marshall kicked a 48-yard field goal to put the Cardinals up 37-28 with 57 seconds left.
- 4Q – UIW extended its run of 24 straight points with a 21-yard TD pass from Copeland to Baptiste with 13:39 left, taking a 44-28 lead.
- 4Q – ACU's Reese scored his second TD of the game on a 2-yard pass from Anthony, whose 2-point conversion pass fell incomplete in the end zone. The score, however, pulled ACU closer: 44-34 with 9:59 left.
- 4Q – ACU's Remington Lutz fumbled at the UIW 6-yard line after catching a pass from Anthony. Mar'kel Cooks returned the ball 27 yards to the UIW 34-yard line.
THREE THINGS YOU NEED TO KNOW
- Ra'Quanne Dickens entered the game averaging 11.1 yards per carry. ACU held him to 16 yards on six carries in the first quarter, just 2.7 yards per attempt. A 66-yard TD run late in the second half brought his average per carry for the game up to 8.4. He has TD runs of 50 or more yards in each of his four games this season.
- UIW's four scoring drives of the first half were quick strikes: four plays in 1:03, five plays in 1:33, five plays in 1:17 and two plays in 16 seconds.
- The Cardinals outscored the Wildcats 24-0 from late in the second quarter to early in the fourth.
STAT CORNER
- Jamar Mack's blocked PAT kick following a UIW touchdown in the third quarter was ACU's first in two years, and the first on Anthony Field at Wildcat Stadium. The last was by Josh Bloom in ACU's Nov. 5, 2016, win over Northwestern State – the Wildcats' final game in Shotwell Stadium.
QUOTABLE
- "I was disappointed in the turnovers and the penalties; those were the difference in the game. We turned it over too many times in the second half (three) and the penalties were a problem all night long. We played with a lot of energy and played hard, but at times we just didn't play very smart football."
--- ACU head coach Adam Dorrel
- "That was obviously a huge play and took some momentum away from us going into halftime. I was hoping we'd be able to sustain the momentum we got from the scoring drive just before halftime and come out and get another score to start the second half, but that didn't happen."
--- Dorrel on the 66-yard touchdown run by Ra'Quanne Dickens in the final seconds of the first half
NOTABLE
- Incarnate Word joined the Southland Conference in 2013 with ACU; both universities moved from the Lone Star Conference and Division II at the same time. UIW is the Southland's only other church-affiliated university (Catholic, founded in 1881 by the Sisters of Charity of the Incarnate Word).
- UIW had never won a football game in Abilene before Saturday night. The Cardinals were 0-4 in games against ACU in Shotwell Stadium. ACU is now 7-3 against UIW overall.
- The Cardinals are in their 10th season playing football. ACU's second year in Wildcat Stadium is the university's 97th. The Wildcats should be playing their 100th season but didn't field a team from 1943-45 because of World War II.
- The Cardinals' first-year head coach, Eric Morris, was offensive coordinator the previous five seasons for Texas Tech's high-octane attack.
- ACU entered the game as the Southland's top-ranked offense, averaging 478.5 yards per game. UIW was fourth (438.3) in total offense but second in rushing offense (217.7) behind Ra'Quanne Dickens' 11.17 yards per carry – best in FCS. He is tops in the Southland in rushing and No. 4 in the nation (156.3 per game). The Wildcats were third in team passing offense (289.5) and in rushing offense (189).
