Wildcats Cruise to 31-11 Win in Opener

ABILENE – Loaded with five returning starters on the offensive line, three tight ends who can all play, and four running backs with size and speed, the ACU Wildcats' intention in Thursday night's season-opener against Northern Colorado was to set an early tone that they would be the more physical team.
 
The Wildcats sent that message early and often as they pounded out 268 yards on the ground and three rushing touchdowns in a 31-11 win over the Bears in front of 6,164 fans at Anthony Field at Wildcat Stadium.
 
"We knew going in that our offensive line would be a strength of this team," ACU head coach Keith Patterson said. "All five returning starters are bigger and stronger than one year ago. With those guys back, along with our running backs and tight ends, I thought we could control the line of scrimmage pretty effectively."
 
The victory for the Wildcats gives them back-to-back season-opening wins under Patterson, who is now 8-4 overall in his second season as the ACU head coach. 
 
Thursday night's game was never in doubt as ACU's offensive line and running game set the tone, punishing the Bears' defensive line for 148 total yards in the first quarter, with 101 of those coming on the ground. The Wildcats took a 14-0 lead in the first quarter on a 12-yard pass from Maverick McIvor to Rovaughn Banks and a 2-yard run by Xavier Wishert, a redshirt freshman running back from Jim Ned, who also scored on an 18-yard run in the third quarter.
 
ACU pushed the lead to 21-0 in the second quarter on a Jay'Veon Sunday 12-yard run before the Bears finally got on the board, thanks to a 31-yard field goal by Hunter Green late in the first half. The Wildcats put the game away with 83 third-quarter rushing yards and 10 points, pushing their lead to 31-3 at the end of three quarters. 
 
Six Wildcats carried the ball, totaling 268 yards and three scores on the ground on 41 carries. Perhaps most impressively, only one run – a third-quarter carry by Sunday – resulted in lost yards for the Wildcats (three yards). Dobbins had 83 yards on 10 carries, Sunday had 79 yards on 14 carries, and Wishert 58 yards on 10 carries.
 
McIvor was an efficient 16 of 25 passing for 219 yards and one score. Blayne Taylor led the Wildcats with four catches for 75 yards, while Banks had four catches out of the backfield for 38 yards and one score.
 
GAME SUMMARY
How They Scored
1Q (10:14) – After the defense forced a punt on the game's opening possession, ACU's offense quickly went to work, and the Wildcats did so on the ground. Their All-Western Athletic Conference running back from 2022, Jermiah Dobbins, picked up where he left off, carrying the ball on the first two plays for 16 and 7 yards and later added a 13-yard run on the drive. On third-and-10 from the 12, ACU quarterback Maverick McIvor found running back Rovaughn Banks in the front corner of the end zone for the season's first touchdown.
          Scoring Play: Rovaughn Banks 12 pass from Maverick McIvor (Kyle Ramsey PAT)
          Drive:  9 plays, 66 yards, 3:42 TOP   
          ACU 7, Northern Colorado 0
 
1Q (2:45) – The Wildcats overcame a penalty on the punt return that drove them back to their 13-yard line and a third-and-9 near the UNC 40 halfway through the drive to take a 14-0 lead in the first quarter. ACU dug out of the early hole, thanks in part to a 15-yard personal foul penalty on UNC's Tama Tiutele, and then saw McIvor convert a third-and-9 situation with a 10-yard down to the Bears' 29-yard line. The Wildcats converted a short third-and-2 on a 15-yard run by Banks, and from the 6-yard line, Jim Ned redshirt freshman Xavier Wishert carried twice – the first two carries of his collegiate career – for the final six yards, including a 2-yard TD run to cap the drive.
          Scoring Play: Xavier Wishert 2 run (Kyle Ramsey PAT)
          Drive: 14 plays, 87 yards, 6:17 TOP   
          ACU 14, Northern Colorado 0
 
2Q (8:08) – McIvor took over this drive with his arm, completing passes of 22 yards to Tristan Golightly, 13 yards to Blayne Taylor, and 24 yards to Jed Castles to get the Wildcats in position to score. Backup running back Jay'Veon Sunday – a transfer from Washington – finished the drive with a run of eight yards to the 12 and then a 12-yard touchdown run to give ACU a three-touchdown lead.
          Scoring Play: Jay'Veon Sunday 12 run (Kyle Ramsey PAT)
          Drive: 6 plays, 87 yards, 3:20 TOP   
          ACU 21, Northern Colorado 0
 
2Q (0:24) – The Bears converted on three third downs and one fourth down on their lone scoring drive of the first half. On the drive's biggest play, UNC quarterback Jacob Simon converted a fourth-and-6 from the ACU 27 by connecting with Ty Arrington for a 13-yard completion down to the ACU 14. The drive stalled there, however, forcing the Bears to settle for a 31-yard field goal by Hunter Green.
          Scoring Play: Hunter Green 31 field goal
          Drive: 16 plays, 61 yards, 7:44 TOP   
          ACU 21, Northern Colorado 3
 
3Q (11:44) – The Wildcats moved smartly with the second half's opening drive, capping the seven-play drive with a 40-yard field goal by placekicker Kyle Ramsey, a sophomore transfer from Houston. The drive's biggest play was an acrobatic 38-yard catch by Taelyn Williams on a play that fell under review after it was originally ruled incomplete. But after looking at the replay, the officials saw the ball bounce off Williams' back foot into the area and then come to rest in his lap at the UNC 20-yard line. ACU moved backward from there and was forced to settle for the 40-yard field goal to make it a 24-3 game. 
          Scoring Play: Kyle Ramsey 40 field goal
          Drive: 7 plays, 52 yards, 3:16 TOP   
          ACU 24, Northern Colorado 3
 
3Q (6:32) – After the defense forced another punt, the Wildcats returned to work. After a short pass to Tristan Golightly and an 11-yard run by Dobbins moved the ball to the ACU 47, McIvor hit Taylor with a 32-yard pass down to the UNC 21-yard line. Three plays later, Wishert scored his second touchdown of the night, blasting through a massive hole on the right side of the line for an 18-yard scoring run.
          Scoring Play: Wishert 18 run (Ramsey PAT)
          Drive: 6 plays, 71 yards, 3:09 TOP   
          ACU 31, Northern Colorado 3
 
4Q (7:57) – The Bears embarked on their second-longest scoring drive of the night (by plays), and this time punctuated it with their first touchdown of the season. The Bears – who had a 16-play goal to a field goal in the first half – covered 85 yards in 15 plays on this scoring drive, which spanned the third and fourth quarters. Quarterback Jacob Sirmon hit Alec Pell for a 17-yard completion to the ACU 45, and the Wildcats were flagged for pass interference on the next play, moving the ball to the 30. Four plays later, the Bears converted a fourth-and-2 with a seven-yard pass from Sirmon to Blake Haggerty to move the ball to the ACU 15. Four plays later, Sirmon hit Pell in the back of the end zone for a touchdown. The Bears converted a 2-point try on a pass from Sirmon to Jordan Riles.
          Scoring Play: Alec Pell 4 pass from Jacob Sirmon (Jordan Riles pass from  Sirmon)
          Drive: 15 plays, 85 yards, 7:33 TOP   
          ACU 31, Northern Colorado 11
 
KEY STAT
The Wildcats were able to sustain drives Thursday night and stop Northern Colorado drives on third downs. Offensively, the Wildcats converted 6 of 11 third-down plays into first downs, while the defense held UNC to just 5 of 15 on third-down conversion opportunities. That led to ACU holding a time-of-possession advantage of 33:06 to 26:54 and ACU rushing for 268 yards to just 84 for the Bears.
 
TURNING POINT
The game turned on the first drive of the season as ACU established its physical dominance of the line of scrimmage. Dobbins carried the ball on the first two plays for 16 and 7 yards, adding a 13-yard run on the drive. The Bears never could stop the Wildcats' ground game, which churned out 41 carries for 268 yards, averaging 6.5 yards per carry.
 
POST-GAME NOTES
• With the win, the Wildcats are now 47-51 all-time in 98 season-opening games. ACU – which beat Lamar at home in the 2022 season-opener – has won two straight season-openers for the first time since 2012 and 2013 when it beat McMurry and Concordia (Ala.), respectively.
• The win snaps ACU's six-game losing streak against Northern Colorado that went back to 1987. ACU went 10-0-1 in the first 11 games of the series that began in 1970 before the Bears ripped off those six straight wins. UNC won the first two games between the teams after they each went NCAA Division I FCS with a 40-36 win in 2015 in Greeley, Colo., and a 55-52 win in Abilene in 2016.
• Keith Patterson is the sixth head coach in ACU football history to win his first two season-openers, joining Tonto Coleman (1942 and 1946), Wally Bullington (1968, 1969), Dewitt Jones (1977, 1978), John Payne (1985, 1986), and Ken Collums (2012, 2013) on the list.
• With the victory, Patterson is 8-4 in his first 12 games as the ACU head coach, tying him with Jack Kiser and Collums for the third-most wins by an ACU head football coach through 12 games. Garvin Beauchamp has the most wins through 12 games with 11, followed by Vic Payne, Tonto Coleman, and Dewitt Jones with 10 apiece.
 
QUOTING HEAD COACH KEITH PATTERSON
 
On ACU's physical running game: "(Offensive coordinator and offensive line coach) Ryan Pugh does an incredible job; he's a great technician with those guys up front. The Northern Colorado coaches were commenting on the offensive line and how fundamentally sound they were even before the game started. With our running backs, tight ends, and offensive line – and our cohesiveness with that entire group – we felt like we could control the line of scrimmage."
 
On the defensive team speed: "Going into the summer of 2022, we ran 'Flying 10s,' and had only one kid who ran it in under one second. This summer, we had 26, so I knew we would be faster and more explosive. There were some violent collisions in the first half with our swarming defense."
 
On Xavier Wishert: "He's no surprise to me. Anytime you rush for the number of yards he ran for in high school and lead your team to an undefeated state championship in Texas, I don't care if it's Class 2A or 3A. That's impressive. Since we recruited him, I've been telling everyone that this guy is a football player, and I think he got to show a little bit of that tonight."
 
UP NEXT
The Wildcats (1-0) will be on the road to Prairie View next week to take on Prairie View A&M at Panther Stadium. Kickoff is set for 6 p.m. The Wildcats lead the series 3-0 with wins in 1995 (35-0 in Abilene), 1996 (30-14 in Prairie View), and 2013 (65-45 in Prairie View).