With the ACU football team coming off a successful season with a disappointing result, head football coach Keith Patterson and the Wildcats will begin the new football season at 7 p.m. Thursday against the University of Northern Colorado at Wildcat Stadium.

In Patterson’s first season, the Wildcats finished up 2022 with a 7-4 record, barely missing out on a WAC championship after a three point loss to Stephen F. Austin in the final game of the year. Now, nearly nine months later, the Wildcats journey for the conference title starts next Thursday night.

This 2023 Wildcat team is highlighted by returning stars, such as junior quarterback Maverick Mclvor and junior running back Jeremiah Dobbins, as well as a handful of impactful newcomers, such as Memphis sophomore wide receiver transfer Marcayll Jones and Northwestern junior defensive line transfer Jordan Butler.

The Wildcats, facing a below average Northern Colorado team that has won only six games in their last two seasons, will look to try and adapt and adjust come Thursday night with what they are able to read and feel out on the field.

“We start off going into week one just trying to make sure we have a sound plan, sound simple adjustments and things that we can execute,” Patterson said. “So no matter what an opponent throws at us in that first game we can make sound adjustments on the sideline. You don’t have time to wait till halftime so we try to get it done between each series.”

One key thing to look for come Thursday and throughout the season is the chemistry between the quarterbacks and receivers. With Mclvor now in his second season in an ACU jersey, the junior quarterback will have all the targets he needs with guys like senior wide receivers Tristan Golighitly and Taelyn Williams lining up next to him.

“I really like the relationship we have with our quarterbacks and our wide receivers,” Patterson said. “Any time you bring in moving parts from the outside, it takes everyone a little bit to get on the same page, but I really like the returners we got in addition to those two or three wide receivers that we’ve brought into the fold. So I like where we are and I think we are probably a little bit further ahead this time of the year than I thought we were a year ago.”

Along with the additions of some new weapons on the offensive side of the ball, It will be interesting to see what sort of game plan new offensive coordinator Ryan Pugh rolls out come gametime. Pugh who was the offensive line coach last season was promoted to OC this past offseason and remains in charge of the O-line as well. The Wildcats have the talent to put up big numbers and facing a UNC team that allowed almost 38 points a game last year, look for the Wildcats to come out firing come kickoff on Thursday.

On the defensive side, defensive coordinator Skyler Cassity and his group  are looking to build off of some defensive success they found in the 2022 season where they ranked among the top in the WAC.   

This may be easier said than done as one area that may take the Wildcats a few games to lock down is the defensive line. After graduating basically six defensive lineman, look for some new faces such as Butler and senior defensive lineman Kayode Oladele to emerge amongst this new and young front line.

The one area where the Wildcats look to pick up right where they left last year comes with the defensive backs and safeties. With junior safety Elijah Moffett and senior defensive back Patrick Jolly both being selected to the preseason UAC All-Conference Team, as well as other key players like senior defensive back Anthony Egbo Jr. and Oklahoma sophomore defensive back transfer Jordan Mukes, the Wildcats aim to force many more turnovers this year.

“We’ve kinda referred to this season as year one 2.0 and it’s really almost like a reboot,” Patterson said. “We came in a year ago and everything was so new for everyone. New coaches, new staff, new schemes and we were trying to get to know and evaluate our players and see where they fit into our schemes. It felt like we were reacting to a lot of things a year ago to where I feel like this year we are more in command of where we are and where we are headed as a program.”

The Wildcats will begin the new season taking on the Bears at 7 p.m. on Thursday Aug. 31.