After a tough 26-7 loss to Stephen F. Austin on Saturday, the Wildcats find themselves on the wrong side of the history books.

For the first time in 30 weeks, dating back to 2024, ACU enters a game unranked. In addition, the loss marks the first 0-3 start since 2020 and the Wildcats’ first loss at Wildcat Stadium since 2024, dropping them to 0-1 at home, 0-3 overall this season and 0-1 in their special new blackout uniforms ahead of Saturday’s trip to Idaho.

Against SFA, the Wildcats did not necessarily start slow.

In fact, ACU’s defense kept the Lumberjacks scoreless on their first three possessions of the game, forcing a punt, a turnover on downs and another punt.

Unlike previous weeks, the offense actually scored its first first-quarter touchdown of the season with a 91-yard drive that ended with a 6-yard touchdown pass from John David Black to Itty Henry, making the score 7-0.

Then everything changed.

In the second quarter, SFA scored 20 unanswered points, starting with Gavin Rutherford’s 69-yard touchdown pass to Bugs Mortimer just 41 seconds into the quarter. The Lumberjacks took a 20-7 lead into halftime.

In the second half, ACU kept SFA to just two field goals, but the offense could not get anything going.

“That was one of the most uncharacteristic football games I’ve ever experienced in my tenure here,” head coach Keith Patterson said. “We’ve got to create an identity.”

One of the biggest aspects of that on the final stat sheet was one major category: rushing.

The Wildcats rushed for 33 yards to SFA’s 216. ACU starting running back Alex Broome, a senior from Nashville, Tennessee, was out with an unnamed injury, and running back Rovaughn Banks Jr., a redshirt senior from Tulsa, Oklahoma, who was out for a noninjury reason, is expected to be back this week.

Furthermore, there’s Dallas Dudley, senior wide receiver from Lewisville, who hasn’t played a full game for the Wildcats this year but was a UAC preseason honoree.

“The game is won and lost up front,” Patterson said. “To have less than 100 yards of rushing and for them to have 200 yards of rushing tells you that it was complete domination on their part.”

In other words, Patterson put it simply: “It should’ve been a blowout instead of a blackout.”

But Patterson is still excited about the future. He said this week of practice will be the best all season, saying, “We’re going to streamline and quit playing as many people unless they earn their way out there.”

He also said the quarterback position is still being evaluated this week.

“No way is that game going to define who we are,” Patterson said. “It’s a long season. We have basically nine more opportunities to go out and continue to improve.”

They have a unique chance to do that against an Idaho team that also sits at 0-3. The Wildcats are hoping for their first win of the season and hoping to avoid an 0-4 start for the first time since 2016.