By Joel Weckerly, Sports Editor

A summer isn’t complete for ACU football players until they hit the gridiron for full-contact play at the Purple-White game, which the Wildcats completed Saturday to cap off 14 two-a-day summer practices.

No point system was used in the game, which coach Gary Gaines labeled a “controlled scrimmage.”

The tired Wildcats ran about 90 plays in the game, with the defense (Purple) taking a slight edge over the offense (White).

“I thought the defense was the highlight of the workout,” Gaines said. “They pretty well dominated it.

“Everyone was real dead-legged, and that’s what they should be after two-a-days.”

Gaines said the game is a good way to help coaches make final decisions regarding the role younger players will have on the squad this season.

Over the past two years, about 95 percent of our freshmen have redshirted,” Gaines said, “but there’s four or five guys we’re looking at this year who we’re looking at to be true freshmen for us. We’re looking to make wise decisions as to what’s best for the team.”

The Purple/White game wraps up a string of two-a-day practices which Gaines said the players were looking forward to concluding.

“If anyone says they enjoy two-a-days,” Gaines said, “I think they’re lying. There’s not too much that’s fun about them, but they help to get the guys game-ready.”

Junior linebacker Cliff Compton echoed these thoughts.

“It’s always good to look forward to a game that ends two-a-days,” he said. “No matter what anyone says, they’re horrible.”

However, he said, they are a huge benefit to the players in the end.

“They teach us everything we’ll possibly need to know in two weeks,” said Compton. “That way it makes it easier to learn things week-by-week during the season.”

About 25 practices remain before the opening game on Sept. 7, and Gaines said his players are by no means ready to take the field.

“We’ve still got a ways to go,” he said. “We’re not a polished team by any means, but we have seen progress in every area. Position by position, everyone has improved after getting back into the swing of things.”

Junior offensive lineman Britt Lively agreed.

“We’re about 100 times better this year than we were at this point last year,” he said. “We’ve had some high output in these practices; we’ve worked so hard this offseason.”

A big part of the practice output hinges on attitude, something Compton said has changed this season.

“The usual attitude we’ve had in the past is ‘let’s get these over with, let’s get through these,'” Compton said, “but this year it’s more like, ‘let’s get better through these and win some games because of it.'”

Gaines said he has all but decided who his starters are going to be, but said he is having a harder time deciding who the second- and third-string players are.

“There are some pretty big gaps in between some of our starters and backups,” Gaines said, “and we need to close those in a pretty short period of time. If someone hurts an ankle, someone else becomes the starter, so those spots are important to us.

“The preseason is a long process,” Gaines said. “We have to build on it. We’re not ready for the first game yet, but we’re excited.”