The ACU football team concludes its last home game Saturday at 1 p.m. against Southeastern Louisiana. The Wildcats were undefeated at home until last Saturday, when they fell, 24-10, to Sam Houston State.
SLU’s junior quarterback Cole Kelley and sophomore defensive back Ferlando Jordan were some of the Southland Conference Football Players of the Week, after defeating Central Arkansas 34-0, last Saturday.
Kelley tied a single-game school record with four rushing touchdowns, while completing 20-0f-24 passes for 273 yards and a touchdown.
Jordan had two interceptions and broke up four other passes in the shutout with the Bears. This was SLU’s first shutout since 2009.
Senior quarterback Chason Virgil was one of the 34 student-athletes named to the first College Performance Awards midseason watch list for National Performer of the Year, which was released earlier this year.
Virgil is one of the reasons that the Lion’s total offense is ranked near the top of the nation (480.0 yards per game, 5th), scoring offense (37.9 ppg, 9th), passing offense (333.9 ypg, 4th), completion percentage (69.2, 1st) and red zone offense (91.9 percent, 7th).
Along with the offense, the defense is also making its presence known, averaging 3.2 sacks and 8.8 tackles for loss per game.
However, the Wildcats have have hit some milestones, despite the lost against Sam Houston State.
Junior quarterback Luke Anthony threw his 50th career touchdown pass and excelled in 6,000 career passing yards. He is only the eighth Wildcat to achieve this milestone. There is a strong possibility that Anthony may hit 1,000 career attempts on Saturday’s game.
Senior running back Tracy James moved to fourth place at ACU with 520 carries. James caught a single-game career high nine passes for 33 yards versus the Bearkats to reach 34 receptions and 270 yards.
James’ season touchdown total is second in the FCS and first in the Southland Conference. James is also No. 1 in Southland with 14 rushing touchdowns and No. 2 with 783 rushing yards.
Senior wide receiver Josh Fink emphasized Wednesday that this game means so much for the seniors.
“This week is emphasized on the seniors,” Fink said. “The senior class put in so much time, effort, passion and literally everything we have in this football program. We are all kinda playing for each other at this point, but at the same time, we are excited. This is our last home game and we want nothing more than to go out with a win.”
The Wildcats will honor 22 seniors on Saturday’s game, as it will be the last time they play on Anthony Field at Wildcat Stadium.
