In what could be the team’s highest scoring game of the season so far, the Wildcats will take on the Southern Utah University Thunderbirds on Saturday.
The Wildcats scored 30 points in their last game, while also possessing the ball for 38 minutes and 59 seconds of Saturday’s victory.
According to Stone Earle, senior quarterback from Fort Worth, the team is just getting started.
“I think we’ve grown a ton,” Earle said. “There are still a lot of things we can clean up. Whether it’s taking care of the football or those three-and-out drives, we have to eliminate those.”
In the win over the University of West Georgia, the offense scored in every quarter while also possessing the ball for 10 minutes and 29 seconds on a single, 19-play, 94-yard touchdown drive in the second half.
“We’ve done that all year long, really,” Head Coach Keith Patterson said. “I think the biggest thing is the last four or five games, we’ve scored in the red zone.”
Scoring in the red zone has been a key for Patterson and the Wildcats for the last several seasons. It will continue to be a key for this weekend’s matchup with the Thunderbirds.
SUU has scored 37 points per game through six contests so far this season, but carries just a 1-5 record into week seven. The offense has been there, scoring a total of 222 points in 24 quarters. However, the defense is allowing nearly 40 a game, coming in at 39.17, good for 113th at the FCS level and eighth in the United Athletic Conference.
“We just have to take it one drive at a time,” Earle said. “We have to control what we can control. I know whenever we’re playing good, the defense plays good, so I just have to make sure I lead the offense down the field and put points on the board.
The Thunderbirds have used a balanced style of offense, built on star running back Joshua Dye, who rushes for 130 yards per game and has 783 on the season. In addition to Dye and the run game, quarterback Barron Bronson has thrown for 1,339 yards and 10 touchdowns in his five games, though he did not appear in the team’s loss to Tarleton State University on Oct. 4. The Thunderbirds had a bye week last week.
Dye’s 13 rushing touchdowns are the most in the FCS this season. He also trails only Tarleton’s Tre Page III in yards per carry, among backs with at least 40 carries.
When it comes to stopping Dye, Patterson is confident in the team’s defensive approach, one that has forced 12 turnovers this season.
“We’re pretty stout to run the ball against,” Patterson said. “We’re unorthodox in what we do defensively, so we’re going to load the box and try and make someone else beat us.
That someone for the Thunderbirds could be either of the two receivers for the team who have amassed over 350 yards so far this season. Gabe Nunez enters with three touchdowns and 76 yards a game, while Shane Carr enters with three touchdowns and 58 yards per game.
However, the Cats have continued to grow and develop offensively, evolving into an offense that will crawl down the field and milk the clock at an unheard-of pace.
“At the end of the day, we’ve just got to make plays,” Earle said.
The game is set to kick off at 7:30 p.m. CST in Eccles Coliseum in Cedar City, Utah.
