The American Football Coaches Association’s preseason football rankings are out, and once again, the Wildcats are one of the favorites. ACU will have to prove they belong up top early on as they will face 10th-ranked Washburn the first week of the season.
7th is a great way to start the season, but the Wildcats aren’t taking to much stock in the rankings before the season begins.
“To be honest, preseason rankings don’t really mean that much,” said quarterback Mitchell Gale. “I don’t pay too much attention to it because we haven’t done anything yet.”
The Wildcats have a history with top ten opponents. The last two seasons ACU has opened with a top ten-ranked team. Both times the purple and white have come away with victories.
In 2008, ACU played no.3 Northwest Missouri State and won in comeback fashion, 44-27. The following year ACU beat no.2 NW Missouri St. 19-14 in a rematch of the same game.
With big game experience under his belt, senior linebacker Courtney Lane is looking to the Washburn game as an opportunity.
“We think it’s a good deal to see how our team is going to be this season,” said Lane. “Everyone is excited about playing Washburn in our first game.”
This year the Wildcats are fortunate not to play the defending champions, the Bearcats, again to start the year as they begin the season ranked first.
Two other Lone Star Conference teams made the preseason top 25. Perennial powerhouse and rival West Texas A&M will start the year at 11th, while Texas A&M Kingsville is 16th.
Several other Lone Star Conference teams got votes to be in the top 25, including Texas A&M Commerce who just missed making the ranks as they were the first team out of the top 25. Other LSC vote recipients were Angelo State and Southeastern Oklahoma.
ACU’s schedule is packed with ranked teams. With their most prominent opponent likely to be Washburn straight off, the Wildcats will face a lot of good competition throughout conference play.
They will have to face Washburn, Texas A&M Kingsville, and West Texas all on the road. ACU does have the luxury of playing those 3 games at night as well as the first five games of the season, so they wont have to deal with the heat.
Though the rankings look favorable for ACU, they still have something to prove.
“It is nice to be ranked and all that,” said Gale. “But we know that we can’t take the cheese and get caught up in all that.”
