No. 16 ACUÂ (0-0, 0-0 UAC) at Tulsa (0-0, 0-0 American)
Tulsa, OK | H.A. Chapman Stadium
Saturday, Aug. 30 at 7:00 p.m.
GAME LINKS
TULSA, Okla. - The ACU football team begins what may its most anticipated season in 15 years when it faces the Tulsa Golden Hurricane on Saturday at 7 p.m.
The Wildcats are coming off their best season of the Division I era with a 9-5 record, including a 7-1 run through the United Athletic Conference on their way to the championship, a 24-0 win in round one of the FCS Playoffs, and were only knocked out by the eventual national champion North Dakota State in round two.
The last time ACU won its conference was in 2010 when the Wildcats run through the Lone Star Conference during their Division II days. Before this past year, the last playoff victory came in 2008.
Saturday serves as the ACU debut for new offensive coordinator
Graham Harrell who has spent the past decade as an OC at the FBS level (North Texas, USC, West Virginia, and Purdue). Harrell became a West Texas legend as Texas Tech's quarterback, throwing a final second pass to Michael Crabtree to defeat No. 1 Texas in 2008. Harrell's brother, Clark ('11), played football at ACU and his parents, Sam ('79) and Kathy ('80), also graduated from ACU. Sam Harrell will be inducted into the ACU Sports Hall of Fame as a Lifetime Achievement Award recipient on Oct. 31.
The Wildcats have never played Tulsa in their previous 102 seasons, but head coach
Keith Patterson has a long list of ties to the Golden Hurricane. Patterson made the jump from high school to college coaching when he joined the Tulsa staff in 2003. He spent eight seasons there, including the final five as co-defensive coordinator. Patterson has a nephew who played for Tulsa, a niece who was a cheerleader, and a daughter who married a former Golden Hurricane player. In 2008, Patterson married his wife, Melissa, at Sharp Chapel on the TU campus.
Stone Earle was named the starting quarterback on Monday. Earle returned to ACU in January after spending three seasons at the FBS level. He played for the Wildcats from 2020-21, and started the first seven games of 2021. Earle finished that season with 1,216 passing yards, 13 touchdowns and just four interceptions.
FCS Stats Perform Opta Analyst has ranked ACU as
the FCS team most likely to defeat its FBS opponent this weekend. The Wildcats must replace their quarterback, running back, top two receivers and all five offensive linemen. However, Tulsa went 3-9 in 2024 and has a new coaching staff led by Tre Lamb who was the head coach at East Tennessee State. In his only season with the Buccaneers, ETSU went 7-5 -- winning four more games than the previous year. FCS teams went a combined 6-115 against FBS opponents in 2024. Dating back to 1978, FCS (called Div. I-AA at the time) teams have pulled off the upset 13.8% of the time, though they have become more rare over the past 15 or so years.
In a broadcasting note, starting this academic year audio broadcasts are solely available for road games, and exclusively streaming at
ACUSports.com. This change will provide easier access for listeners to find the Wildcats online, and also allow ACU Athletics to strengthen its ESPN+ presentation at home games. Andy Penney and ACU Sports Hall of Famer Jim Reese have the call from Tulsa.
FROM THE SOONER STATE
- Along with Patterson, 11 ACU players are from Oklahoma including three starters in the defensive backfield: Jordan Mukes (Choctaw, OK); Dorian Plumley (El Reno, OK); and Tyson Williams (Bixby, OK). RB Rovaughn Banks, Jr. attended Union HIgh School in Tulsa.
- Saturday will be ACU's first game in the state of Oklahoma since Sept. 11, 2010 when the Wildcats beat Northeastern State in Tahlequah, 43-13. ACU made regular trips to Oklahoma as members of the Lone Star Conference.
IN THE TOP 25
- ACU starts the season ranked No. 16 in both the AFCA Coaches Poll and Stats Perform FCS Top 25.
- It's the first time ACU has been preseason ranked since 2011 during the Division II era.
- The Wildcats finished the 2024 season ranked No. 14 in FCS.
NUMBERS TO KNOW
- 2 - ACU has two players named Preseason All-America. LB Will Shaffer is on the First Team by Stats Perform FCS & FCS Football Central. DL Kaghen Roach is on the Third Team from both media publications.
- 5 - Defensive players returning who started all 14 games of last season. A sixth player -- Dorian Plumley -- started 12 games.
- 25 - Amount of transfers ACU brought in from FBS programs this offseason. Four came from Texas Tech, and one each from Oklahoma and Oklahoma State.
AN ACU WIN WOULD...
- Be the second win over an FBS program (ACU beat Troy, 38-35, on Sept. 13, 2014 in  the team's second season in Division I FCS).
- Make head coach Keith Patterson 3-1 in season openers (2022: W vs. Lamar; 2023: W vs. Northern Colorado; 2024: L at Texas Tech)
- Push the Wildcats to a 10-11 record on the road and 1-4 vs. FBS teams in the Patterson era.
- Be Tulsa's first loss to an FCS team since the NCAA split Division I into two subdivisions in 1978.
