Hot off a 52-23 victory over the University of North Alabama, the No. 19 Wildcats will make their first long-distance trip as they take on the No. 21 Wolves of the University of West Georgia in Carrollton, Georgia, on Saturday at 1 p.m. CT.
Despite a 3-3 record, the Wildcats remain unbeaten in United Athletic Conference play through the first weekend in October. However, in six contests, the team has yet to win or lose two games consecutively, a trend that Head Coach Keith Patterson attributes to the team’s strength of schedule so far.
“There aren’t many teams that have played two FBS programs within the first six games of the season,” Patterson said.
Patterson also noted that the team had only won one more game at this point in the season last year, entering week seven with a 4-2 record in 2024.
Ahead of the week seven clash with UWG, Patterson has recognized that the Wildcats have not played a full game yet in 2025.
“I don’t think we’ve played a 60-minute game yet,” Patterson said. “If we can do that, we’ll continue to get better. I’m just looking for consistency over the next six weeks.”
When it comes to the game at hand, the Wildcats will need to be sharp defensively when defending both the Wolves rushing attack, averaging over 200 yards a game, and the passing game, averaging 166 yards a game through six contests.
“They’re explosive,” Rashon Myles, Jr. said. “You stop explosiveness by getting after people. You get after people with your relentless effort and then you can shut down certain aspects of the game.”
Myles, Jr., junior linebacker from Brownsburg, Indiana, has totalled 21 solo tackles, 35 assisted tackles, a tackle for loss, an interception and four fumble recoveries through six games as a Wildcat this season.
On the other side of getting after people, UWG quarterback David Wydner has been sacked a total of eight times through six games this season, while only taking 12 all year in 2024, playing in 10 games as the team’s quarterback as a sophomore.
Wydner, a dual-threat signal caller, averages 47 yards per game on the ground while throwing for just over 150. In addition to Wydner, running backs Latrelle Murrell and TJ Lester have combined for over 900 yards and seven touchdowns on the ground this season.
“The goal for us is to shut down the run game early,” Myles, Jr. said. “If we can make them one-dimensional it’s going to be easier to stop it.”
Defensively, the Wildcats will be without starting safety Harold West, senior from Arlington, after he was ejected in the second half vs UNA last week after receiving a targeting penalty. West is unable to play the first half of the game as a suspension because the penalty occurred in the second half.
“We just know we gotta go even harder for that half,” Myles, Jr. said. “When he gets the chance to come back, we’ll be even better.”
While the defense has been dominant in UAC play so far, the Wildcat offense through six games has scored 160 total points, good for just over 26 per game while rushing for 998 yards and throwing for 1,419.
The duality of the offense, led by quarterback Stone Earle, redshirt senior from Fort Worth, and first-year offensive coordinator Graham Harrell, has forced the opposing defense to pick what they want to defend. Earle and the offense have excelled in adjusting and taking what the defense has given them, according to Patterson.
To be successful on Saturday, Patterson believes the team needs to protect the football offensively and take it away defensively. In three games on the road this season, the defense has forced just one takeaway, an interception of TCU’s Ken Seals late in the game on Sept. 13.
Patterson also has an emphasis placed on scoring and defending the red zone in Saturday’s game.
“Right now we’re scoring at a pretty high clip,” Patterson said. “We’re scoring 67% of the available points in the red zone. Our goal is 70%.”
