Does it feel real? Well, whether it does or doesn’t, I woke up and checked the score again on Sunday, and it didn’t change.

The Wildcats took down West Georgia 59-0 at home in front of more than 9,000 fans at Wildcat Stadium in their Homecoming game.

It was the first regular-season shutout during Keith Patterson’s era. The only other time was a 24-0 win over Northern Arizona during the 2024 playoff run.

Considering this team was 0-3 to start the season and 1-4 through five games, it is hard to believe we’ve gotten to this point. And honestly, I’m thankful, for my sake, since I have to cover this team each week, that it didn’t get much worse than that.

The Wildcats have won their last four games, are undefeated in conference play, have a chance at the conference title and can end Tarleton’s perfect season for the second season in a row while opening up a chance at a three-peat of the conference title.

But head coach Keith Patterson will tell you he knew from the beginning that this team would rally back.

“I just go off my gut feeling a lot,” Patterson said. “And with this team, I knew, just get through the first five games … I think you’ve seen, we’ve been winners five of the last six, we went undefeated in the month of October, and now we have positioned ourselves. We are in control of our own destiny.”

Here are my top takeaways from the game:

Parks is better than we thought.

Tucker Parks, redshirt sophomore quarterback, came into the season with what seemed like little to no confidence, throwing multiple picks in multiple starts this season.

Two came in the home opener against Lamar and three in the horrendous loss to Mercer at home.

Now here’s the thing: Since then, he’s been lights out.

Parks has thrown for 877 yards, with nine touchdowns, 225 yards rushing and just one interception in four games.

And, by the way, he laid a guy out against West Georgia, so who doesn’t like to see that?

The defense seems to have found its groove.

In the past four games, it has allowed just over 12 points per game, compared with nearly 33 points per game allowed during the first five games of the season.

It is special the way the team is forcing turnovers, with three fumbles recovered and two interceptions against the Wolves that resulted in 31 points for the Wildcats.

It also helps when your offense can put you in better field position, but overall, the defense has been killing it.

Specifically, junior linebacker Santana Miller, junior cornerback Jacoby Davis and the overall defensive unit have been impressive.

Cristian Driver is, humbly, that guy.

Since coming back from injury, the offense has run so much more smoothly.

Driver caught one almost impossible-looking pass along the home sideline for a 26-yard touchdown in the first quarter and later added another touchdown on a 41-yarder to the crib.

He has led the team all year in reception yards and has changed this offense, allowing them to really check defenses with their ability to go deep, something they struggled with at the beginning of the season.

CRISTIAN DRIVER FOR THE DIVE

📺: ESPN+

#CDT | #GoWildcats https://t.co/9cb4iocqIu

— ACU Football (@ACUFootball) October 31, 2026

He has been impressive.

Bonus shoutout to the running back room because it seems like no matter who is in there, there isn’t any type of drop-off.

Moving forward, it’s no secret that the Wildcats have to go up against the No. 1 team in the nation.

I would like to remind you that ACU has beaten Tarleton the past two years.

Last season, it was a nail-biting Homecoming win that came down to a Brandon Perez field goal to win 31-28.

The other was in Stephenville two years ago for ACU’s first-ever United Athletic Conference title, coming via a two-minute drill by Maverick McIver that ended in a touchdown by running back Sam Hicks to win it 35-31.

Man, it feels really good to beat Tarleton, but head coach Keith Patterson says he is not even thinking about that and is instead thinking it’s the biggest game of the year for another reason.

“When you cross the white line, you’re not sitting here thinking, ‘Oh, it’s a rivalry game,’” Patterson said. “It’s the biggest game of the year because it’s the next one. If you win this game, then next week’s game is the biggest game of the year.”

I asked him if he put much stock into being able to take down Tarleton’s perfect season again, and he simply said no.

“If you worry about ruining their perfect record, then you’re not worried about the right things,” Patterson said. “I don’t care what their record is. I don’t care what their ranking is. If you’re focused on those things, then you’re focused on all the wrong things.”

So, yeah, he thinks it’s about ACU, the Wildcats and how they will prepare, and not what Tarleton will do or what Tarleton thinks.

Now, do the players believe that?

“We just really focus on ourselves more than anything,” graduate defensive lineman Kortlin Rausaw said. “I feel like we didn’t really focus on our opponent as much this week, more focused on ourselves because that’s who’s gonna beat us is ourselves at all times, honestly.”

And I guess that worked out for them.

You can’t take away from locking in within conference play, winning four straight games and positioning themselves after a slow start to the season to be in the same exact place they have been the last two seasons: positioning themselves to win a conference title.

It will be a big game in Stephenville on Saturday. And as much as I hate to say it, it will be a cool environment at Memorial Stadium. The rivalry has gotten a new name ahead of this week’s matchup.

Kickoff is set for 6 p.m. in the Hundred-Mile Showdown.