The football team travels to Louisiana for the second time this season, as it faces Northwestern State after getting last weekend off, but it remains unclear who will man the offensive huddle when they take the field.
Redshirt freshman quarterback Luke Anthony could get the nod to start over junior quarterback Dallas Sealey. However, head coach Adam Dorrel said the coaching team hasn’t made a decision yet.
“I can’t answer that yet, we have a whole week of practice to evaluate that,” Dorrel said. “We’re going to put the best guy on the field that’s going to help us win.”
Anthony has thrown for four touchdowns this season, two fewer than than Sealey has thrown for. He’s also completed 14 of 20 passes and thrown for 134 yards.
The Wildcats are tied for seventh with Northwestern State and have the same exact record at 2-6 overall and 2-4 in conference
ACU sits at ninth in the conference in total offensive yards with 2600. The team is also tenth in rushing yards with 702, and third in passing yards with 1898.
Sealey has thrown for 1720 of those yards and senior wide receiver Troy Grant has emerged as the leader in receiving yards with 361. Also, sophomore running back Tracy James is the leader for the team in rushing with 409 yards.
Defensively, the Wildcats are sixth in the Southland in yards given up with 3135. The defense ranks first in passing yards with 1552, and ninth in rushing yards with 1583.
The leaders of the defense remains the impressive safety duo of sophomore Bolu Onifade with 62 tackles and junior Brandon Richmond with 50 tackles.
For Northwestern State, senior J.D. Almond leads the team at quarterback and has thrown for 936 yards and five touchdowns on the season. His leading receiver is junior Jaylen Watson who has caught for 370 yards and three touchdowns this year. Senior running back Chris Jones has had an impressive year out of the backfield for the Demons with 503 yards and four touchdowns.
Defensively for Northwestern, senior linebacker Nick Pierotti has had a big year making 70 tackles and five tackles for a loss. Junior defensive end Obinna Iheoma has also performed well this year with six total sacks.
Dorrel said he wants his team to overcome the negativity of the season this Saturday.
“I think Saturday is a really important game for our football program,” Dorrel said. “We need to get on track, I want to play good and I want to be unselfish. It starts with that stuff right there, because you want to finish the season feeling good, not on a down note.”
Kickoff has been moved from the original time to 4 p.m. to accommodate Northwestern State fans in attending the game and also being able to watch LSU, who’s head coach Ed Orgeron is a former NSU standout player and assistant coach, take on Alabama at 7 p.m. ACU and NSU game coverage can be heard on 98.1 FM.
