ST. GEORGE, Utah – The ACU Wildcats finally got what they've been looking for throughout the season's first five weeks: a game that didn't come down to the final seconds or one or two plays to determine a winner.
Running back
Sam Hicks and quarterback
Maverick McIvor made sure it would happen Saturday night at Greater Zion Stadium as they led the 22nd-ranked Wildcats to a 55-30 win over Utah Tech in a United Athletic Conference game.
Hicks, a redshirt senior transfer from Central Michigan, had one of the best nights by a running back in ACU's NCAA Division I era (since 2013) with 203 yards and three scores on 12 carries, and McIvor threw for 286 yards and two scores to lead the rout. Wide receiver
Blayne Taylor recorded the third 100-yard receiving game of his career, and the big-play Wildcats scored from 76 yards, 53 yards, 35 yards, and 73 yards.
And for good measure, transfer placekicker
Ritse Vaes – who kicked a 54-yard game-winning on the final play of ACU's 24-22 win at Northern Colorado two weeks ago – hit a 52-yarder against the Trailblazers, and defensive end
Chris Wright scooped up a fumble and returned it 26 yards for ACU's first defensive score of the season.
While Utah Tech gained some yards (508) and 30 points, the Wildcats completely dominated the Game.
The teams traded touchdowns in the final 30 seconds of the first half, but ACU still led 27-16 at halftime. The Wildcats put the game away with 28 straight points in the first 19:03 of the second half.
On the second play of the half, McIvor hooked up with Nehemiah Martinez for a 73-yard scoring pass, and seven minutes later,
Isaiah Johnson capped an 11-play drive with a 9-yard scoring run and a 41-16 ACU lead. Early in the fourth quarter, Hicks – whose 203 yards are the third-most by an ACU running back in the Division I era (see note below for further information) – scored the team's final offensive touchdown on an 8-yard run to make it 48-16.
Just seconds later, Wright scooped up a loose ball at the Utah Tech 26-yard line and bulled his way into the end zone to make it a 55-16 game and turn the lights out on the Blazers. Utah Tech is now 0-5 on the season and 0-1 in UAC play and has lost 10 straight games going back to the 2023 season.
ACU is 3-2 overall and 2-0 in the UAC, with a massive game with conference title and playoff implications looming next Saturday against No. 7 Central Arkansas (4-1 and 1-0). The Bears and Wildcats will kick off at 3 p.m. at Anthony Field at Wildcat Stadium in the second straight home game featuring two nationally ranked teams. Tickets for the game can be purchased
here.
GAME SUMMARY
How They Scored
1Q (9:36) – The Trailblazers took their first lead of the season on a 7-yard touchdown run by Chris Street, capping a seven-play, 55-yard march that started after ACU's offense went three-and-out on its first possession. The drive's biggest play was a 23-yard pass from Deacon Hill to Shamar Garrett on third-and-6 that moved the ball to the ACU 17. Street scored three plays later for an early Blazers lead.
Scoring Play: Chris Street 7 run (Ilya Uvaydov kick)
Drive: 7 plays, 55 yards, 2:53
Utah Tech 7, ACU 0
1Q (8:16) – ACU answered quickly, striking for a 76-yard touchdown pass from
Maverick McIvor to
Blayne Taylor to tie the game. The touchdown pass came on third-and-10 from the ACU 24 after an offensive pass interference penalty took away a big play to running back
Sam Hicks on a screen pass. But McIvor and Taylor were able to hook up for the touchdown to knot the game.
Scoring Play: Blayne Taylor 76 pass from Maverick McIvor (Ritse Vaes kick)
Drive: 4 plays, 75 yards, 1:20
ACU 7, Utah Tech 7
1Q (2:56) – ACU grabbed its first lead on a long touchdown run by
Sam Hicks, making it a 14-7 game in favor of the Wildcats. After a big punt by Utah Tech pinned ACU at its 9-yard line, the Wildcats got out of the shadow of their end zone with a 15-yard completion from McIvor to Taylor on third-and-8, moving the ball to the 26. ACU converted another short third down on an
Isaiah Johnson run, and two plays later, Hicks burst through a hole on the right side and went right down the middle of the field for a 53-yard touchdown run.
Scoring Play: Sam Hicks 53 run (Ritse Vaes kick)
Drive: 8 plays, 91 yards, 3:19
ACU 14, Utah Tech 7
2Q (13:24) – ACU's
Grant Nickel was forced to punt from his end zone, and Shamar Garrett returned his punt to the Utah Tech 49 33 yards to the ACU 18. But the Wildcats' defense held, forcing a short field to maintain the lead in the game.
Scoring Play: Uvaydov 32 field goal
Drive: 4 plays, 4 yards, 1:22
ACU 14, Utah Tech 10
2Q (11:06) – ACU answered Utah Tech's field goal with one of its own to push the lead back to a touchdown. The drive was helped by runs of 19, 9, and 5 by
Sam Hicks and an 11-yard pass from
Maverick McIvor to
Blayne Taylor.
Ritse Vaes capped a seven-play drive with a 52-yard field goal.
Scoring Play: Ritse Vaes 52 field goal
Drive: 7 plays, 39 yards, 2:18
ACU 17, Utah Tech 10
2Q (3:26) – ACU pushed its lead to two scores on the second field goal of the night by Vaes, capping a short Wildcat drive. ACU's offense started with terrific field position, thanks to a 34-yard punt return by Nehemiah Martinez that gave the Wildcats the ball at the Utah Tech 26. A 14-yard run by
Sam Hicks moved the ball to the 14, but the Wildcats bogged down, getting just six more yards and bringing Vaes on for a 25-yard field goal.
Scoring Play: Ritse Vaes 25 field goal
Drive: 5 plays, 18 yards, 1:54
ACU 20, Utah Tech 10
2Q (0:27) – Utah Tech's Ilya Uvaydov missed a 41-yard field goal with 1:12 left in the first half, and the Wildcats made the Trailblazer pay for leaving them time on the clock, moving to another long touchdown run by
Sam Hicks to take a 17-point lead. Utah Tech helped early in the drive with a 15-yard personal foul penalty,
Maverick McIvor had a 16-yard run, and then he completed a 14-yard pass to
Hut Graham to the Utah Tech 35-yard line with 35 seconds left in the first half. Two plays later, Hicks went almost untouched from 35- yards away to give ACU a three-score lead.
Scoring Play: Sam Hicks 35 run (Vaes kick)
Drive: 7 plays, 77 yards, 0:45
ACU 27, Utah Tech 10
2Q (0:09) – Utah Tech only needed 18 seconds to answer ACU's touchdown with a touchdown of its own, moving down the field in just three plays – all passing plays - to a touchdown just before the end of the half. Deacon Hill completed a 19-yard pass on first down before backup quarterback Reggie Graff completed a 24-yard pass to the ACU 32, and then he hit Eric Olsen for a 32-yard catch-and-run touchdown.
Scoring Play: Eric Olsen 32 pass from Reggie Graff (kick failed)
Drive: 3 plays, 75 yards, 0:18
ACU 27, Utah Tech 16
3Q (14:11) – The Wildcats got the ball to start the second half and only needed two plays to get on the scoreboard. After a short run by
Isaiah Johnson on the first play of the half,
Maverick McIvor hit Nehemiah Martinez on a slant pass, and he took off across the field. He stepped out of a tackle attempt at the Utah Tech 45, cut back to the left, and outran the defense for a 73-yard touchdown catch-and-run.
Scoring Play: Nehemiah Martinez 73 pass from Maverick McIvor (Vaes kick)
Drive: 2 plays, 75 yards, 0:43
ACU 34, Utah Tech 16
3Q (7:21) – ACU pushed its lead to four scores on a touchdown run by
Isaiah Johnson. After ACU's defense forced a three-and-out on Utah Tech's first possession of the third quarter, the offense set out on an 11-play, 79-yard drive that pushed the Wildcats' lead to 25 points. Johnson had runs of 8, 2, 1, 8, and 9 yards on the drive. McIvor completed passes of 18 and eight yards to
Blayne Taylor and 23 yards to
Javon Gipson on the drive. Johnson capped the march with a 9-yard scoring run.
Scoring Play: Isaiah Johnson 9 run (Vaes kick)
Drive: 11 plays, 79 yards, 5:10
ACU 41, Utah Tech 16
4Q (11:11) –
Sam Hicks put the finishing touches on a terrific night with an 8-yard run, his third scoring run of the night. Earlier in the drive, he had a 38-yard run, followed by a 26-yard run by
Isaiah Johnson. Hicks then pounded over eight yards out to give ACU a 48-16 lead.
Scoring Play: Sam Hicks 8 run (Vaes kick)
Drive: 4 plays, 76 yards, 2:09
ACU 48, Utah Tech 16
4Q (10:57) – Just seconds after the Hicks touchdown run, the Wildcats scored again, this time on a defensive score. On second down, Chris Street was hit by Alex Bowman Jr., who dislodged the ball. It was picked by ACU defensive end
Chris Wright, who returned it 26 yards for a touchdown, the Wildcats' first defensive score of the season.
Scoring Play: Chris Wright 26 fumble return (Vaes kick)
ACU 55, Utah Tech 16
4Q (9:02) – The Trailblazers got on the board after a four-play drive that featured a 35-yard pass from Reggie Graff to Daniel Thomason and a 22-yard pass from Graff to Kona Crowell. ACU was called for roughing the passer on the 22-yard pass, tacking 15 yards to the end of the play and moving the ball to the ACU 9-yard line. Graff ended the drive with a nine-yard scoring run.
Scoring Play: Reggie Graff 9 run (Uvaydov kick)
Drive: 4 plays, 75 yards, 1:55
ACU 55, Utah Tech 23
4Q (3:46) – The Trailblazers closed out the scoring in the game with a short touchdown run by backup running back Bretton Stone, capping a 7-play, 70-yard drive against ACU's backup defenders. Reggie Graff had passes of 23 yards to Shamar Garrett on the drive's first play and added a 24-yard run to the ACU 10-yard line, setting up Bretton Stone's 10-yard scoring run.
Scoring Play: Bretton Stone 10 run (Uvaydov kick)
Drive: 7 plays, 70 yards, 3:07
ACU 55, Utah Tech 30
POST-GAME NOTES
• The 76-yard touchdown pass from
Maverick McIvor to
Blayne Taylor in the first quarter is tied for the fifth-longest touchdown pass and fifth-longest overall scoring play in ACU's NCAA Division I history. The longest TD passes in ACU's Division I history are 88 yards from John David Baker to Darian Hogg vs. Concordia in 2013, 87 yards from John David Baker to Hogg vs. New Mexico Highlands in 2013, 86 yards by Peyton Mansell to Kobe Clark vs. Jacksonville State in 2021, 80 yards by McIvor to Davion Johnson against Tarleton State in 2022, and 76 yards by Dallas Sealey to Tracy James against Air Force in 2016.
• McIvor has two touchdown passes of at least 75 yards in his career, the 76-yarder from Saturday joining his 80-yard touchdown pass to Davion Johnson at Tarleton State in 2022 on the list. McIvor, John David Baker, and Dallas Sealey have the most touchdown passes of at least 75 yards (two each) in ACU's NCAA Division I history.
• The 52-yard field by
Ritse Vaes in the second quarter made Vaes the fourth kicker in ACU history to have multiple 50-yard-plus field goals in a season, joining
Kyle Ramsey (four in 2023), Morgan Lineberry (three in 2009), and Eben Nelson (two in 2002) on the list. Vaes kicked a 54-yard game-winner on the final play of the game two weeks ago at Northern Colorado.
• Saturday night's loss dropped Utah Tech to 0-5 on the season and 0-1 in the United Athletic Conference. The Trailblazers have lost 10 straight games going back to the 2023 season. Utah Tech's last win was a 37-31 decision over Stephen F. Austin in St. George, Utah, on Oct. 7, 2023.
• ACU is 2-0 to start United Athletic Conference play, the fourth time in the program's NCAA Division I era (since 2013) that the Wildcats have started 2-0 in conference play. ACU started 2-0 in 2014 and 2015 in the Southland Conference and again in 2022 when ACU was in the Western Athletic Conference in football.
•
Sam Hicks finished with 203 yards and three touchdowns on only 12 carries, breaking off runs of 53, 19, 14, 35, 12, and 38 among his work on the night. He is the third running back in ACU's Division I era to rush for more than 200 yards in a game, following De'Andre Brown (256 yards at Stephen F. Austin in 2014) and Billy McCrary (222 yards at Southeastern Louisiana in 2018).
• Hicks is the 16th player in ACU history to rush for at least 200 yards in a game, a feat that has occurred 22 times in program history. 2008 Harlon Hill Award winner Bernard Scott had seven games in his career of at least 200 yards rushing.
•
Maverick McIvor's night helped him move up several rungs on ACU's career passing chart. He's now tied for fifth in touchdown passes (44), ninth in completions (467), and 10th in attempts (791) and yards (5,790). ACU Sports Hall of Fame member Jim Reese (1973-76) is ninth in career passing yards with 5,946. McIvor is also ninth in career passing games of 250 yards or more with nine, just one behind Parker McKenzie, who had 10 from 2014-16.
• The Wildcats racked up 609 yards of total offense against Utah Tech (323 rushing and 286 passing), the seventh-most yards by an ACU team in the program's NCAA Division I era (since 2013). Saturday night's offensive output marks the second time in five games this season that the Wildcats have tallied more than 600 yards, joining the 615-yard effort in the season-opener at Texas Tech.
• The top six offensive-output games by ACU in the NCAA Division I era are as follows: 703 yards vs. Arizona Christian in 2019, 692 yards at Prairie View A&M in 2013, 633 yards vs. Houston Baptist in 2014, 615 yards vs. Texas Tech in 2024, and 612 yards vs. Southeastern Louisiana in 2018 and vs. Concordia in 2013.
QUOTING ACU HEAD COACH KEITH PATTERSON
On the overall performance of his team: "We played better. We gave up the first touchdown after going three-and-out, but I was pleased with the rest of the first half until Utah Tech's last drive (scoring in 18 seconds to make the score 27-16 at halftime). I've never seen anything like that, and it set me off. But we addressed it at halftime, and our response in the second half was exactly what you want to see."
UP NEXT
The Wildcats will return to Anthony Field at Wildcat Stadium next Saturday for another contest between two Top 25 FCS teams. They will host Central Arkansas in a United Athletic Conference game. The Bears went into Saturday's home game against 19th-ranked Lamar ranked No. 7 in the country, and they knocked off the Cardinals 34-14. Kickoff between the Wildcats and Bears is set for 3 p.m. Tickets can be purchased
here.
