Wildcats Crush No. 17 Argonauts in UAC Opener

Saturday, October 3

Abilene

7 p.m.

Abilene Christian

2-4 , 1-0

West Florida

3-2 , 1-2

Team	1st	2nd	3rd	4th	Final F
West Florida	0	0	0	7	7
Abilene Christian	7	21	0	7	35

Seth Weller celebrates with Keonde Henry after a play against West Florida on Oct. 3, 2026.

Photo by: Kevan Albright

Wildcats Crush No. 17 Argonauts in UAC Opener

10/3/2026 11:45:00 PM | Football

Box Score

By: Evan Nemec

ABILENE – The Abilene Christian football team pulled out their most dominant performance of the 2026 season in the most important game thus far. The Wildcats smothered No. 17 West Florida in their United Athletic Conference opener 35-7 on Saturday night for Youth Day presented by Buffalo Wild Wings at Anthony Field at Wildcat Stadium.

ACU (2-4, 1-0) kept the Argonauts off the scoreboard until 5:17 remaining in the game. The Wildcats stopped West Florida four times on 4th down and induced four 3-and-outs. Santana Miller recovered a fumble with 1:15 left to put the final nail in the coffin.

Quarterback Tucker Parks was nearly perfect through the air, completing 16-of-17 passes for 155 yards and three touchdowns. He also led ACU with 97 rushing yards, including a 57-yard carry for the team's longest play from scrimmage in 2026.

After trading punts, ACU started the scoring as Parks hit freshman JC French-Love on an underneath route at the 25-yard line. French-Love sprinted past the Argonaut defense down the right sideline for his first career score with 0:28 left in the 1st quarter. The drive began a run of four consecutive Wildcat touchdowns.

ACU needed just six plays to march 73 yards downfield with the final 46 coming on three straight carries by Rovaughn Banks Jr. The fifth-year running back faced little resistance on the 30-yard TD rush to cap the possession and put the Cats ahead 14-0 with 10:56 left in the opening half.

The defense forced its third 3-and-out in a row, giving the offense the ball at its own 49. A roughing the passer penalty extended the drive and Deonte Dean ran to his right to find paydirt from 14 yards out. West Florida responded by driving to ACU's 25, but a 4th and 1 run was stuffed for a loss of two yards by Miller. Two plays later, Parks had the 57-yard run on a designed quarterback draw. Great blocking by Banks and Jayden York created a seam up the middle and Parks used his speed to bounce to his right before running out of bounds at the West Florida 11. Parks and York connected in the endzone for the tight end's first career touchdown and gave ACU a commanding 28-0 halftime lead.

It was the Wildcats' first time to shut out an opponent in a 1st half since skunking Northern Arizona in round one of the 2024 FCS Playoffs.

ACU tacked on a final score with Parks hitting Itty Henry for a 9-yard touchdown at the 1:33 mark of the 4th quarter.

STAT PACK

The Wildcats are now 9-3 in conference openers since joining the FCS, and are 4-1 in league lid-lifters under head coach Keith Patterson.
Rovaughn Banks Jr. had his third straight game with at least 80 rushing yards: 99 at Idaho, 93 vs. Mercer and 80 vs. West Florida. He scored his first touchdown of the season with a 30-yard run on Saturday.
Tucker Parks' 16-of-17 (94.1%) passing performance is the highest completion percentage with at least 15 attempts since Stone Earle was 18/19 (94.7%) against Louisiana College in 2021.
Dillon Williams led ACU with 12 tackles, marking the fifth time in his six games he has been the team's leading tackler. He entered Saturday ranked 2nd in the UAC and 13th in the FCS in tackles per game with a 9.8 average.
Combined with other results from around the UAC, the Wildcats are now in 1st place in the league by conference record. ACU's 1-0 record matches Austin Peay and North Alabama.
ACU improves to 21-9 under head coach Keith Patterson in the months of October and November.
Patterson's record jumps to 12-2 in home conference games, including nine straight wins dating back to the start of the 2024 season.
The Argonauts entered at No. 17 in the FCS Stats Perform Top 25, making them the eighth nationally-ranked team ACU has defeated at Wildcat Stadium in the past three seasons.

UP NEXT

ACU finishes its 3-game homestand by hosting Central Arkansas on Saturday, Oct. 10 for Big Country Day presented by Hendrick Clinic Bone and Joint. Kickoff is at 7 p.m. Tickets are on sale now.

POSTGAME PRESS CONFERENCE