THE DETAILS
Abilene Christian (5-4, 4-3 Southland) vs. Sam Houston State (5-4, 4-2 Southland)
Date: Saturday, Nov. 9
Kickoff: 3:05 p.m.
GameDay Program (.pdf) and on
issuu.com
TV / Web:
ESPN+
Radio:
98.1 FM - The Ticket
Real-Time Stats
PROMOTION
ABILENE -- The Wildcats and Sam Houston State Bearkats enter Saturday's game at Anthony Field well rested as both received an identical open date on Nov. 2.
For Abilene Christian, its bye week followed consecutive overtime wins over Stephen F. Austin and Nicholls, while the Bearkats finished October 2-2, alternating wins and losses against SFA, Lamar, and nationally ranked sides from No. 9 Nicholls and No. 12 Central Arkansas.
A week after being stunned at home in triple overtime by the Cardinals, 20-17, the Bearkats responded with a thoroughly dominant 17-0 triumph vs. the Colonels on their homecoming. Sam Houston State then went to Conway, where it was handed a 29-25 defeat by the first-place Central Arkansas Bears. UCA scored all its points in the second half, rallying from a 16-point deficit.
SHSU's defeat dropped them into a three-way tie for second place at 4-2 -- one game behind the 5-1 Bears -- with Nicholls and Southeastern Louisiana, which visits Abilene on Nov. 16 in the Wildcats' home regular-season finale.
"Statistically, they're the best defensive team in our league," said head coach
Adam Dorrel, "so what we'll have here our No. 1 rush offense vs. their No. 1 rush defense. They have great athletes on the back end and will play a lot of man-to-man, and they rotate eight players on their d-line, where they're very diverse. Some are there to rush the passer and others to plug up the run."
Dorrel also had high praise for Sam Houston's talented wide receiver Nathan Stewart, who has six touchdowns, 751 yards receiving and 17.5 yards per catch.
"He has speed, good body control and a tremendous football IQ. He knows how to sell the post and go. We also have to prepare to see him on special teams, and figure out ways to neutralize him in that position."
ACU's rivalry with the Bearkats is one of the oldest on the books. The first meeting took place in 1926, but it wasn't until the early 1970's when the Wildcats experienced their first taste of sustained success against their southeastern neighbors.
From 1973-84, ACU won 10 of 12 meetings leading into a 30-year series hiatus. But after the Wildcats joined the FCS ranks of the Southland Conference in 2014, the Bearkats won the first four meetings by an average score of 44-24.
The Wildcats, however, flipped the script last November in Huntsville, holding the Bearkats to 10 points for the first time since 1984.
The Wildcats gave up 375 yards of offense to the Bearkats, but 142 of those came on two passes, one for 88 on a pass from Ty Brock to Nathan Stewart and another a 54-yard pass from Brock to Dewaylon Ingram. Outside of those two plays, the Bearkats had just 233 yards on 63 plays and put up just 13 first downs. ACU came up with multiple huge third down and fourth down stops in the second half, including twice turning the Bearkats away on fourth down in the red zone.
Sophomore linebacker
Jack Gibbens sealed the game with an interception at the Sam Houston State 31 with 2:15 left in the game.
ACU led 7-3 at halftime, trailed 10-7 midway through the third quarter and then regained a 14-10 lead with 5:29 left in the third quarter on a 13-yard touchdown pass from
Luke Anthony to
Cody Ennis.
Oscar Hernandez tacked on the final points of the game with a 41-yard field goal with 12:13 left in the game to give the Wildcats a 17-10 lead.
Armed with the lead, the Wildcats turned the game over to their running game and defense. For the second straight season
Tracy James ran for more than 100 yards against the Bearkats (142 last season) and backup quarterback
Sema'J Davis played a huge role as he ran the ball nine times for 81 yards.
In all, the Wildcats ran the ball 48 times for 189 yards against the Bearkats' defense, which went a long way toward putting up the 28 first downs and 34 minutes, 46 seconds of possession time they accrued.
