ACU (5-5, 3-3) lost in heartbreaking fashion on Saturday, as the Wildcats stumbled late in the game falling to Tarleton State (8-3, 4-2) in a final of 31-30. After having firm control of the game headed into the fourth quarter, the Wildcats looked like a completely different team, giving up 17-unanswered points to lose by one late in the game.
Heading into Saturday, ACU was coming off of a 24-7 win against Utah Tech the previous week and was looking to guarantee a winning record in the team’s final home and conference game of the 2023 season.
In their final game of the season, Tarleton was looking to extend a three-game win streak, which included a 42-point win in their previous game.
The Wildcats won the toss to begin the game and elected to defer their option to the second half giving the ball to the Texans to begin the half.
Tarleton would start off the game hot and drove down the field easily on their first offense possession. The Texans would find the endzone first, going 65 yards in just five plays to take an early 7-0 lead.
On the first Wildcat drive of the game, sophomore running back Jordan Vaughn would hit a left side gap and explode for a 36-yard gain, moving the ball quickly into Texan territory. A few plays later, junior quarterback Maverick McIvor would dump it to Vaughn for a 12-yard gain to set up a three yard rushing touchdown for the running back who accounted for 51-yards on the opening scoring drive.
After a big pickup on the first play, the ACU defense would hold TSU and force the first punt of the game, However, in similar fashion, the Wildcats would be forced to punt the ball right back to the Texans after only a short second possession.
Nine straight positive yard plays would lead to the Texans scoring their second touchdown of the day and retake the lead at 14-7. The Wildcats moved their way down the field consistently going into the second quarter, but after making their way into the Tarleton redzone, ACU would be forced to try a field goal, where sophomore kicker Kyle Ramsey would knock down his 13th kick of the season.
“Once we got past the first drive of the game I thought we settled in on both sides of the ball,” head coach Keith Patterson said. “We were doing some great things and it felt like we were in total command of the game.”
After a 19 and 21 yard pickup from the Texans, in what looked like it could be another productive scoring drive, junior linebacker Izaiah Kelley came up with a huge interception for the Wildcats and returned the pick back 37 yards completely shifting the momentum in ACU’s favor.
McIvor would then throw a jump ball up to junior wide receiver Blayne Taylor who adjusted mid-air to make the catch for his seventh touchdown of the season. In his first missed kick of the season, Ramsey would hit the left post on the PAT and the Wildcats would lead by two, 16-14.
After three-and-out forced by the defense, ACU would get the ball back with just under two minutes remaining in the game and quickly move down the field with help from a 23-yard reception from Taylor to set up ACU within the seven. MCIvor would eventually take it in himself for a score and extend the Wildcat lead 23-14 heading into the second half.
With the Wildcats receiving the ball to begin the second half, the offense was slowly able to make their way into TSU territory, However, a costly penalty on a fourth down which looked as if ACU would go for, moved the Wildcats back and forced a punt on the opening drive of the half.
The Texans would miss wide left on a field goal attempt on their next drive and back-to-back fumbles recovered by ACU on the Wildcats next drive led to the second ACU punt of the quarter.
Deep in Tarleton territory, The Wildcats would grab their second takeaway of the game, this time from senior defensive back Anthony Egbo Jr. who would take the interception back 17-yards setting the Wildcat offense up in the red zone. On the first play of the fourth quarter, Vaughn would run it up the gun for his second touchdown of the day and extend the Wildcat lead to 30-14.
At that point things turned completely upside down for the Wildcats.
“You are better off not looking at the scoreboard and just keep playing,” Patterson said. “Just keep doing what we had done to get to that point, that is the biggest challenge.”
The Texans would go down the field and knock down a field goal to cut into the Wildcat lead and after a forced three-and-out, would go 67-yards on one play and score a touchdown on the next to make it 30-24 and a one score game just like that.
It wouldn’t be long before the Texans got the ball back as on the next ACU drive, McIvor would fumble the ball on the ACU 16 and TSU would recover. On the first play of the possession, Tarleton running back Kayvon Britten would take it out on the right side for the touchdown and after being up 17 only eight minutes ago, ACU found themselves down one with seven minutes remaining.
Yet another stagnant offensive drive led to a punt from the Wildcats after a loss of a yard on third down forced Patterson to give the ball away. With 5:44 left in the game, ACU would not be able to stop the TSU run game and Tarleton would hold onto the ball to end the game and take the one-point victory.
“Hats off to Tarleton,” Patterson said. “They are a good football team and they have exemplified that all year long. We just have to continue to build where we can win games when things get hard and today it got hard.”
McIvor finished the game 18-for-26 passing with 172 yards and a touchdown and Vaughn finished with 14 carries for 82 yards and two touchdowns. Taylor led ACU receivers with 6 receptions for 79 yards.
The Wildcats face their final and toughest challenge of the season next week when they head to College Station to take on the Texas A&M Aggies at 11 a.m. on Saturday at Kyle Field with the game streaming live on ESPN+.
