Wildcats Ready to Test Mean Green on Saturday

ABILENE – Abilene Christian heads to Denton this weekend for Saturday's 6 p.m. game at North Texas.
 
The Wildcats come into the contest at 2-2 after a 52-17 loss at Central Arkansas.
 
North Texas comes in at 1-2 after a bye week.
 
ACU Storylines
 
LARGE CHUNKS: Abilene Christian quarterback Maverick McIvor is second in the FCS and leads the United Athletic Conference in passing yards per completion at 16.31. He also ranks seventh in the FCS and leads the UAC with 9.18 yards per attempt. McIvor is 15th in the FCS and leads the UAC with a 151.4 passing efficiency mark. McIvor and second-team QB Quayde Hawkins have the Wildcats in eighth in the FCS in passing yards per completion as a team at 15.03.
 
ZONED OUT: The Wildcats are No. 15 in the FCS and lead the United Athletic Conference in Red Zone defense at .706. The Wildcats have allowed nine touchdowns and three field goals in 17 opponent trips into the Red Zone. Five of those touchdowns came last week at Central Arkansas.
 
BIG FOOT: Kyle Ramsey is five for five in field goals this season, obviously leading the FCS in field goal accuracy. But that's only part of the story. All five kicks have been at least 40 yards. His field goals this season are from 40 (Northern Colorado), 55 (Prairie View), 44 (Central Arkansas), 51 and 44 (Incarnate Word). He also is 13-13 on PAT kicks. Seventeen of his 19 kickoffs have gone for touchbacks.
 
GOING NOWHERE: The ACU punt coverage team has been super this season, ranking second in the FCS and first in the United Athletic Conference in net punting at 45.06 yards. The Cats are 16th in the FCS and first in the UAC in punt return defense, allowing two yards per return. Wildcat punter Grant Nickel averages 46.6 yards per punt this season with seven of his 14 punts going inside the 20. He has six punts over 50 yards with a long of 59. Only one of his punts has gone for a touchback and eight have ended in a fair catch.
 
BRING IT BACK: Marcayll Jones is ninth in the FCS and leads the United Athletic Conference with 29.8 yards per kickoff return. He has 149 yards on five returns with a long of 54 yards coming against Prairie View A&M.
 
BEHIND ENEMY LINES: Linebacker Cirby Coheley ranks second in the United Athletic Conference in both tackles for loss per game (1.1) and sacks per game (0.5) despite being shut out in both categories last week. He has 4.5 tackles for 25 yards in losses this season and his two sacks have been for a total of 16 yards. His best outing came at Prairie View when he had 2.5 TFL and one sack among his eight tackles in the game. Coheley also leads the Wildcats with three quarterback hurries this season.
 
JOLLY BREAKUPS: Cornerback Patrick Jolly broke up four passes last week at Central Arkansas. Jolly also has two interceptions this season. Both picks and one break-up have come in the end zone. His interceptions were at Prairie View and at home against Incarnate Word. Jolly also has forced and recovered a fumble this season.
 
KELLEY EVERYWHERE: ACU spur Izaiah Kelley leads the Wildcats with 30 tackles this season. He also has a forced fumble and has assisted on one tackle for loss from his hybrid position as a linebacker-safety (spur).
 
FROSH IMPACT: True freshman Jerry Lawson is having an impact this season and leads the ACU defensive line with 17 tackles this season. He has 1.5 tackles for loss, an assist on a sack and one quarterback hurry.

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History with UNT
UNT leads 8-16-1
Oct. 23, 1926 Abilene...W 13-10
Oct. 21, 1927 Denton..W 33-0
Oct. 24, 1930 Abilene..L 20-12
Oct. 23, 1931 Denton...L 6-0
Oct. 14, 1932 Denton...L 13-0
Oct. 13, 1933 Denton..W 6-0
Oct. 15, 1934 Denton...L 6-0
Oct. 11, 1935 Denton...T 13-13
Oct. 9, 1936 Denton...L 18-0
Oct. 8, 1937 Denton...L 22-14
Oct. 8, 1938 San Angelo...W 6-0
Sept. 23, 1939 Abilene..L 9-0
Sept. 21, 1940 Denton..W 19-13
Oct. 4, 1946 Abilene...W 6-0
Nov. 17, 1956 Denton...L 20-7
Oct. 12, 1957 Abilene...W 28-20
Nov. 2, 1963 Denton..W 20-6
Oct. 3, 1987 Denton...L 26-3
Sept. 9, 1989 Denton...L 35-19
Sept. 15, 1990 Denton...L 38-6
Sept. 7, 1991 Denton...L 24-0
Sept. 5, 1992 Denton...L 41-0
Sept. 25, 1993 Denton...L 33-13
Sept. 1, 1994 Denton...L 48-0
Aug. 31, 2019 Denton...L 31-51
Home: 3-2 Away: 4-14-1 Neutral: 1-0
 
Scouting the Mean Green
 
 • The combination of WRs Ja'Mori Maclin and Roderic Burns have combined to catch 30 passes for 452 yards and four touchdowns. Burns is third in the league averaging 6.3 catches per game while Maclin is tied for the AAC lead and ranks 16th nationally with four touchdown receptions.
• UNT senior DE Mazin Richards leads the defense and is coming off an impressive performance with five tackles, 3.0 TFLs and a sack in the win over LA Tech. Richards has 29.5 sacks in his career, the third-most among all active NCAA players and the most in Division I.
• UNT K Noah Rauschenberg earned AAC Special Teams Player of the Week after a perfect 4-for-4 perfor­mance against LA Tech, including hitting the game-winning FG. He is one of seven kickers in the nation with a perfect field goal percentage on six or more attempts (6-for-6, 1.000).
• Redshirt freshman linebacker Ethan Wesloski has 3.0 TFL over his first two starts, the most among true freshmen in the AAC.
• Junior RB Ayo Adeyi is coming off one of the best performances of his career with 148 yards on 19 carries with a pair of touchdowns against LA Tech. Adeyi leads UNT with 1,485 yards in his career.
• Defensively, UNT's two takeaways per game is tied for the third-most in the AAC.
• North Texas is the only FBS team in the country to have three running backs (Ayo Adeyi, Ikaika Ragsdale, Oscar Adaway III) who have rushed for over 1,200 yards in their collegiate career.
• Junior QB Chandler Rogers made his first start at UNT in the win over LA Tech, going 24 of 41 for 313 yards and three touchdowns while also rushing for 35 yards. With the win, he became the first UNT QB to win his first start over an FBS opponent since Riley Dodge beat Ball State to open the 2009 season.