After Saturday’s 34-17 loss to the No. 23 Mercer Bears, the ACU football team is 1-4 and officially off to its worst start since the 2020 season, when the team started 1-4.

Coming off a 41-39 win on the road at Idaho, the Wildcats seemed to be getting back on track with a solidified starting quarterback after the 0-3 start. However, with five turnovers and an hour-and-a-half-long weather delay, that was not the case.

The game looked promising for the Wildcats after scoring 17 unanswered points after Mercer scored a touchdown on the opening drive of the game.

Tucker Parks, redshirt sophomore quarterback from Spring, led the offense in his second consecutive start after being benched in the first game of the season. Parks was 9-of-12 while throwing for 154 yards in the first half and scoring on a 13-yard run.

In the middle of the second quarter, ACU was up 14-7, looking to take a two-touchdown lead in the red zone. After an overthrow from Parks intended for Dallas Dudley, senior wide receiver from Lewisville, ACU settled for a field goal.

Head coach Keith Patterson said this was a turning point in the game. The very next drive, the Wildcat defense forced a punt, but Dillon Williams, redshirt senior defensive back from Southaven, Mississippi, muffed the punt and Mercer recovered the ball in ACU territory.

Patterson said this is where the game began to unravel as Mercer scored a field goal to make it a seven-point game.

“The wheels fell completely off,” he said. “I think that it’s probably a little bit to do with a team that’s trying to find their identity and a little bit just there’s so many inexperienced people out there playing.”

The next offensive drive ended in a fumble for the Wildcats, giving Mercer another extra possession, on which they scored a touchdown.

After it looked like the Wildcats would go into halftime with a lead, they instead went in with the game tied.

On the first drive of the second half, ACU turned the ball over again; this time it was a Parks interception.

Shortly after, lightning in the area delayed the game for an hour and a half. ACU gave up 17 unanswered points after the lightning delay, and Parks went on to throw two more interceptions, bringing the ACU turnover total to five.

“We talked about, man, it’s going to come down if we can protect the ball and we take it away and we didn’t do it,” Patterson said. “I mean, we’re minus five in the turnover margin, and there’s nothing you can do to win a game like that.”

The game against Mercer was the first of a three-game homestand for the Wildcats as they prepare to face the No. 17 West Florida Argonauts, who are 3-1 in their first Division I season with two ranked wins. The matchup will be ACU’s fourth ranked matchup of the season.