GET HYPED!
THE DETAILS
Abilene Christian (4-4, 3-3 Southland) at No. 15 Nicholls (4-3, 3-1 Southland)
Date: Saturday, Oct. 26
Kickoff: 3:05 p.m.
TV / Web:
ESPN+
Radio:
98.1 FM - The Ticket (
Grant Boone and Jim Reese)
Real-Time Stats
ABILENE -- If Abilene Christian football wants to push its win streak to three the Wildcats will have to knock off 15th-ranked Nicholls Saturday at John L. Guidry Stadium. The Colonels' Homecoming game is slated for a 3:05 p.m. kickoff on ESPN+.
Nicholls is one last year's Southland Conference regular-season champions, but its chance of repeating took a minor hit last weekend as the Colonels' were blanked 17-0 by Sam Houston State, which dropped them to 4-3 overall and 3-1 within the league behind 4-1 front runners UIW and SHSU. Nicholls was limited to a season-low 55 yards on the ground vs. the Bearkats, and were shutout for the first time since 2015 despite headed into the game averaging a Southland-best 207.5 rushing yards per game.
One week earlier in its 45-35 win over rival Northwestern State, the Colonels collected a season-high 349 yards rushing and crossed the goal line five times on the ground.
Nicholls' loss to Sam Houston was its first Southland Conference defeat in close to a year, as they hadn't dropped a league decision since Oct. 13, 2018 when they were dealt a 28-12 loss by the Wildcats at Anthony Field.
The Colonels came into that game ranked 11th in the nation, but ACU's defense held them to a pair of first half field goals and a 21-yard touchdown pass from quarterback Chase Fourcade. Nicholls was blanked after halftime and the Wildcats' essentially sealed the victory on a touchdown pass from
Luke Anthony to
Josh Fink with eight minutes left in regulation.
From there ACU's defense forced consecutive turnovers on downs, including a stop on 4th-and-1, and ACU ran out the final 2:25 thanks to 17 rushing yards from
Billy McCrary on the Wildcats' final possession.
Anthony also ran in for a score and chucked a 65-yard touchdown pass to
Kalin Sadler that made it a 14-6 game early in the second quarter.
"There are a lot of similarities between this year's and last year's game with Nicholls," said head coach
Adam Dorrel. "They're once again ranked and I feel we're playing some of our best football right now. The anticipation we're feeling is to take that next step as a program and beat a top-20 team this season on the road. It's going to be an extremely tough environment, but we're excited to capture that momentum and go into our bye week on a high note. We then come back home for our final two regular season conference games."
ACU went 3-2 at home in 2018, and clinched another winning home record (4-0) last Saturday after surviving Stephen F. Austin in double overtime, 31-24. Senior running back
Tracy James was one of the offensive stars, scoring three touchdowns that gave him 16 on the season, but the game-winner was Anthony's 22-yard touchdown pass to a wide open
Kobe Clark at the start of the second overtime.
SFA turned the ball over on downs to give ACU its first overtime victory since 2012. Looking at a 4th-and-7, SFA's quarterback Trae Self's final pass landed incomplete after being hurried by lineman
Temisan Kuyatsemi.
