No. 23 ACU Drops Game to Top 10 Opponent

Saturday, September 12

Abilene

7 p.m.

Abilene Christian

0-3 , 0-0

Stephen F. Austin

3-0 , 2-0

Team	1st	2nd	3rd	4th	Final F
SFA	0	20	0	6	26
Abilene Christian	7	0	0	0	7

Darius Moore and Javeon Wilcox celebrate after a play against Stephen F. Austin on Sept. 12, 2026

Photo by: Ella Kelso

9/12/2026 11:55:00 PM | Football

Box Score

By: Evan Nemec

ABILENE - The No. 23 Abilene Christian Wildcats scored first, but struggled to get in gear in a 26-7 loss to No. 9 Stephen F. Austin on Saturday night at Anthony Field at Wildcat Stadium.

After ACU's defense forced a 3-and-out, the Wildcats marched 91 yards in 10 plays ending with a 6-yard touchdown pass from John David Black to Itty Henry with 0:16 remaining in the first quarter. Black used play-action and dumped the ball quickly to the right to Henry who made one Lumberjack miss before pushing past another to reach the pylon. It was Henry's first touchdown catch of the season and the sixth of his career.

During the drive, which was the Wildcats' longest of 2026, Black moved the chains three times on throws to true freshman Romelo Boykin for a total of 56 yards. The pair connected for 12 yards on 4th and 2 at SFA's 38 to keep the possession going. Boykin finished with six catches for 77 yards, both team-highs.

Let's get to work Itty 👏

📺: https://t.co/o5VnreIglf #CDT | #GoWildcats pic.twitter.com/CSWUrDpH3c
— ACU Football (@ACUFootball) September 13, 2026

However, ACU's next four drives ended in punts and only one of its final eight possessions traveled more than 50 yards.

SFA, which entered 2-0 on the season, rattled off 20 points in the 2nd quarter to secure the halftime lead as ACU could not find its footing running the ball. The Wildcats finished with 33 yards on the ground.

Hudson Page, another true freshman, was the star of ACU's defense with a game-high nine tackles. 2.0 tackles for loss and a strip-sack which was recovered by captain Kortlin Rausaw who also had nine stops.

Kortlin got us covered ‼️

📺: https://t.co/o5VnreIglf #CDT | #GoWildcats pic.twitter.com/FxSk1HfcNO
— ACU Football (@ACUFootball) September 13, 2026

Gabe Brown and Javeon Wilcox each had six tackles a piece while Darius Moore, Dillon Williams and Deangeo Ponder all recorded six tackles.

Cristian Driver had five receptions for 75 yards and third-year Wildcat Raydrian Baltrip made his return from injury with 50 receiving yards on three grabs.

Black was 21-of-38 passing for a career-high 267 yards, one touchdown and one interception.

The loss snapped a 10-game home winning streak, which tied for the third longest in ACU history. The last loss at Wildcat Stadium was on Sept. 21, 2024 against Idaho, another a top 10 opponent.

UP NEXT

ACU makes a lengthy trip to face those same Idaho Vandals in Moscow, Idaho on Saturday, Sept. 19. Both the Wildcats and Vandals enter with 0-3 records. Kickoff is at 3 p.m. CT / 1 p.m. PT on ESPN+ and the ACU Sports Network.

POSTGAME PRESS CONFERENCE