ACU (1-0,0-0) took down the University of Northern Colorado (0-1,0-0) Thursday night in a final score of 31-11.
The Wildcats began the 2023 season on the right foot in Thursday night’s season opener vs. the Lions. Heading into the game, the Wildcats, led by head coach Keith Patterson, now in his second year with the program, had high expectations after last year’s disappointing end to the season.
With the Lions starting off with the ball to begin the game, the ACU defense quickly forced a three and out and a punt from the Lions only a minute into the game.
The Wildcat offense, led by junior quarterback Maverick McIvor and junior running back Jermiah Dobbins, set the tone from the jump. Seven straight positive yardage plays for the Wildcats got the offense down to the UNC 12 yard line leading to McIvor finding sophomore running back Rovaughn Banks Jr. for a 12-yard touchdown and the first score of the season for the Wildcats.
After another three and out forced by the defense, McIvor and the offense got the ball back and picked up right where they left off. The Wildcats continued to push the ball down the field against the Northern Colorado defense. The run game was working on all levels for ACU and a near seven minute drive resulted in a two-yard touchdown run from redshirt freshman running back Xavier Wishert.
The Wildcats held a 10-1 first down advantage after the first quarter and quickly got the ball back on offense to begin the second.
Two stalled drives from both offenses led the Wildcats to take over from their own 13 with 11:28 left in the first half. McIvor showed off his arm a little more this drive, throwing for 62 yards and putting the Wildcats in the red zone. Back to back rushes from sophomore running back Jay’Veon Sunday got the Wildcats into the endzone for the third time. Sunday would finish the game with 14 carries for 79 yards.
However, the Lions were able to take the zero off the board towards the end of the second after a few costly penalties from the Wildcat defense got the Lions in field goal range for an easy 31-yarder.
After the first 30 minutes of play the Wildcats held a lead of 21-3.
“I knew we were gonna be really fast and explosive,” Patterson said. There were some violent collisions there in the first half because of the swarming defense and I’m very proud of them. I really thought we executed really well defensively in the first half as well as offensively.”
The Wildcats got the ball to begin the second half and on a 38 yard pass to senior wide receiver Taelyn Williams, which was originally ruled as incomplete, the Wildcats were set up in field goal range. Sophomore kicker Kyle Ramsey was able to put his first kick of the season through the uprights for a 40-yard field goal adding to the Wildcat lead.
A quick three and out got the ball back to the Wildcats again leading to Wishert scoring his second touchdown of the night on an 18-yard run. Wishert finished the game with 10 carries for 58 yards and two touchdowns in his very first collegiate game played.
“He’s not a surprise to me,” Patterson said. “I’ve been telling everyone since we recruited him, this guy right here is a football player, and I think he got to show a little bit of that tonight.”
Unfortunately for the Wildcats however, that would be the last time they added onto their lead Thursday night. A failed fourth down conversion from the UNC 15 to close out the third led to a long drive from the Bears in the first half of the 4th leading to a UNC touchdown and two-point conversion.
Back-to-back failed fourth down conversions from the offenses led to the Wildcats getting the ball back with about five minutes remaining and although threatened to score once more, would ultimately close out the game with a 20-point win taking down the Lions in a final of 31-11.
“I was very pleased with the performance of our players,” Patterson said. “I liked the mentality. I could tell even all the way back to yesterday that they were ready to play.”
The Wildcat defense finished the game allowing only 190 yards of offense forcing 6 punts from the Lions as well. The defense was led by junior linebacker Darius Moore and sophomore safety Dorian Plumley. Moore and Plumpley both led the team with seven total tackles with Moore having six of those solo.
“Our mentality was a little different,” Moore said. “We still have a little bitter taste in our mouths from SFA last year. We just put an emphasis on getting hats to the ball, playing hard and just care discipline and toughness is all coach KP. That’s what he says to us all the time and we just try to live it out.”
The highlight of the Wildcat offense comes in the running back room where the backs accounted for 268 rushing yards led by Dobbins with 83. McIvor had a very under the radar yet very effective performance going 16 for 25 and throwing 219 yards and one touchdown.
The one area to keep an eye on for the Wildcats this whole season comes with the penalty flags. Although it did not hurt them too much on Thursday, ACU got called for eleven penalties for 85 yards in their first matchup of the season.
The Wildcats will head on the road next week to take on Prairie View A&M. The game will be at 6 p.m. on Sept. 9 at Panther Stadium.
