ACU (0-1) faces the Louisiana College Wildcats (0-2) for its home opener this Saturday at Wildcat Stadium at 6 p.m. It will be the first time since November 16, 2019, that Wildcat Stadium will be at full capacity.
“One of our goals is to be undefeated at home,” head coach Adam Dorrel said. “We wanna win our home season opener. There’s nothing that brings fans back than having a good atmosphere and seeing some good football. If you want people to come, you gotta play good and show our fans an exciting brand of football.”
Last Saturday, the Wildcats faced a strong FBS program in SMU and lost 56-9 at Gerald J. Ford Stadium. This Saturday, the Wildcats face an NAIA program in Louisiana College.
“I was disappointed in the turnovers,” Dorrel said. “You’re not gonna beat a good team like that when you have four turnovers. When you face a defense that plays as much man coverage as SMU, you have to run good routes, and we didn’t. We have a lot to learn from, but we had a lot of guys play in their first collegiate game in a big environment.”
For Louisiana College, they’ve lost their first two games of the season to North American and Southwestern Assemblies of God University. Last Saturday, the Wildcats looked set for their first-ever Sooner Athletic Conference win against SAGU but lost to a late SAGU touchdown with five seconds left.
“They do what they do,” Dorrel said. “They like to run the football and have a spread option offense. Defensively they play man coverage almost every snap. They just challenge you, and they’re pretty good at what they do.”
ACU redshirt freshman quarterback Stone Earle makes his first home start against an arguably easier opponent compared to SMU.
“Overall, I thought he did some really good things,” Dorrel said. “I think he could improve on knowing when the play’s dead and getting rid of the football. He doesn’t need to make too much happen. I think he also took some shots when he ran the ball that he didn’t need to take.”
A full capacity stadium for the first time in two years greatly benefits ACU. Louisiana College could be in for a rough night at Wildcat Stadium; however, Dorrel wants his team to have competitive maturity heading into this matchup.
“We didn’t have competitive maturity against SMU,” Dorrel said. “I thought their eyes were too big and were caught up in the moment. We’re gonna attack this Saturday, just like last Saturday. We wanna see our guys execute at a high level.”
The home opener will begin at 6 p.m. on Saturday, with the game streaming live on ESPN+.
