ACU (4-4, 2-2) looks to turn things around this Saturday when they take on Utah Tech (2-6, 1-2), as they begin the final stretch of the 2023 season.
With three games remaining in the season, the Wildcats find themselves at home this weekend and next before hitting the road to College Station to take on Texas A&M for the final game of the season.
ACU had a more than disappointing outing last week, as the Wildcats fell to Southern Utah in a blowout 52-14 loss. The Wildcats struggled to get anything going in the game, especially in the second half where the Wildcats had only 67 yards of offense.
“It’s hard to explain honestly,” head coach Keith Patterson said. “We didn’t do a good job of getting our guys ready for what to expect from those guys. I take full responsibility for it. Everything we did the previous two weeks we didn’t do last week.”
Utah Tech comes in on a two-game losing streak after falling to Eastern Kentucky 34-30 in the Trailblazers Homecoming game last weekend.
The Wildcats come into Saturday facing a Utah Tech team that has faced struggles all season and the Wildcats are looking to respond in a positive way in order to build consistency within the program.
“I just want to see our guys respond,” Patterson said. “They’re embarrassed and they know they didn’t play well. All you can really do is grow from it and just make sure that it doesn’t happen again.”
The defense will look to have a key bounce back performance to regain some confidence as Utah Tech ranks among the bottom in the UAC in scoring and offensive efficiency. Where the Traillblazers make up some ground is in the passing game where they rank second in the UAC in passing yards per game.
However, the Wildcats have the weapons they need in order to stop the Utah Tech air attack. Junior safety Elijah Moffett leads the Wildcat defense with seven tackles for loss and 40 solo tackles and is first in the UAC with two fumble recoveries.Senior defensive back Patrick Jolly not only leads the Wildcats, but is tied for first in the FCS with four interceptions on the season.
On the offensive side, the Wildcats have struggled moving the ball downfield at points this season but the ability to jump out quickly and put on a lot of points very quickly.
Three different running backs, junior Jermiah Dobbins, sophomore Jay’Veon Sunday and sophomore Jordan Vaughn have all had 100+ yard rushing games this season. Junior quarterback Maverick McIvor ranks 13th in the FCS in yards per completion and with wide receivers such as junior Blayne Taylor and senior Tristan Golightly, the Wildcats will look to put up a lot of points against a subpar Trailblazer defense.
“We’ve got to be more consistent in our performance,” Patterson said. “That just comes with consistency in how you do everything throughout the course of the week and into your life and we are stressing those things.”
The Wildcats will look to become more consistent and regain a winning record as they take on the Trailblazers at 2 p.m. on Saturday at Anthony Field at Wildcat Stadium with the game streaming live on ESPN+.
