The Wildcats suffered their first home loss of the season on Saturday as they fell to No. 4 University of Idaho 27-24. After struggling in the first half the Wildcats fought back to get within one possession but could not complete the comeback.

The first half has been a common struggle for the Wildcats in multiple games this season. Because of first-half mistakes, ACU had to play from behind against Texas Tech and Northern Colorado.

“I don’t know what the secret is to get them to play with that chip on their shoulder early in the games,” Head Coach Keith Patterson said. “I really do believe it’s just a confidence in yourself and I try to instill that in them and we’re gonna keep doing and no one’s gonna hang their head.”

The ACU offense put up 104 total yards on offense and only scored three points in the first half. Maverick McIvor, graduate quarterback from San Angelo, struggled only throwing for 70 yards and one interception.

The interception was McIvor’s first in 225 attempts with his last interception being in week eight of last season against Southern Utah.

The Wildcat defense was not much better, allowing two big touchdowns in the first quarter on 22- and 44-yard touchdown receptions. In the second quarter, the defense gave up two field goals to make the score 20-3 at halftime.

“I told our team at halftime, we gotta shut them out in the second half, we’re gonna score three times on offense and we’re gonna win the game,” Patterson said. “If we’d done that, we would’ve won the game 21-20. So, we didn’t do the things that it took to win the game.”

The second half started unsuccessfully for ACU as Idaho scored a touchdown on its first drive, going 75 yards in four plays.

The Wildcats offense started moving the ball in the first drive of the second half and made it to the Idaho 25-yard line. The drive was stopped by Idaho’s defense as they were able to intercept another one of McIvor’s passes.

Late in the third quarter ACU was able to score its first touchdown of the game with a five-yard touchdown reception by J.J. Henry, redshirt junior wide receiver from McKinney. The Wildcats completed a two-point conversion, making the score 27-11.

On Idaho’s next offensive possession, the Wildcat defense came up big with a fourth down stop. A deep pass attempt to the endzone on fourth down was broken up by Tyson Williams, sophomore defensive back from Bixby, Oklahoma.

The game’s momentum seemed to shift as ACU got the ball back on its own 20-yard line. ACU drove 80 yards to score its second touchdown of the game but failed to convert a two-point conversion, making the score 27-17.

The Wildcat defense forced a three-and-out to give the offense the ball back. The ACU offense was able to score on a one-yard rush from Isaiah Johnson, redshirt senior running back from Lubbock, making it a one-possession game, 27-24.

ACU’s offense looked completely different from the first half as McIvor had doubled his passing yards and the offense had 393 total yards.

The ACU defense forced Idaho to punt which gave the ACU offense the ball on its own 25-yard line with 57 seconds left.

The first play of the drive was a sack for a loss of five yards and the next play was a dropped pass. The third play was a 21-yard reception by Hut Graham, redshirt sophomore wide receiver from Gunter. An additional 15 yards was added to the end of the play after a late hit from Idaho.

The penalty moved ACU to the Idaho 49-yard line, which meant they were almost in field goal range. On the very next play, McIvor scrambled out of the pocket and as he was tackled fumbled the ball, leading to an Idaho recovery.

“That’s just one play, we shouldn’t have been in that situation at the end of the day,” Patterson said. “I love the grit of this football team, we’re never out of the fight.”

ACU will look to improve its conference record to 2-0 next game as it will face a conference opponent, Utah Tech, on the road.