Football will play its first of seven straight games against United Athletic Conference teams on Saturday when they take on the Utah Tech Trailblazers.
Facing off in St George, Utah, this matchup will be the third all-time between the Wildcats and the Trailblazers. The Wildcats will look to improve to 3-0 against Utah Tech.
The Wildcats will also look to improve to 2-0 in conference play. With a win, it will be the fourth time since the program’s move to Div. 1 in 2014 where it started 2-0 in conference play. After the loss to #4 Idaho last week, the Wildcats also will look to bounce back and get back to winning.
“Everyone tends to play a little bit better at home,” said Head Coach Keith Patterson. “We’ve got to go on the road, and we’ve got to have great preparation and focus and get back on the winning track.”
The Trailblazers are coming off their fourth straight loss to open the season, two of which came at home to Montana State University and Northern Arizona University, by a combined 52 points. Along with four rough losses, the Trailblazers have scored only seven touchdowns while giving up 22 to opponents so far.
They will face a Wildcat offense that struggled in week four versus Idaho but is averaging over 34 points per game. Quarterback Maverick McIvor, graduate student from San Angelo, has thrown for 1320 yards and nine touchdowns, and he has completed 63% of his attempted passes.
McIvor has not been the only beneficiary of the new air raid offense brought in by Offensive Coordinator Rick Bowie. The running backs, led by Isaiah Johnson, graduate student from Lubbock, and Sam Hicks, graduate student from Fort Worth, are averaging 128 yards per game while scoring nine touchdowns so far this season.
Johnson transferred from the University of North Texas this season, and he has been a vital piece of the running game so far for the Wildcats and has impressed Patterson since he was in high school.
“He’s doing exactly what he was doing then,” Patterson said. “He’s always been just a tough, hard-nosed football player. He just has an approach to the game that is very steady. He shows up and does his job.”
The defense will aim to tighten up after allowing 73 points in the last three weeks. Patterson said he believes 55 of those have come off penalties and the defense has almost 110 total penalty yards in those games.
“We’ve got to eliminate that,” Patterson said.
A win this weekend would do more than boost their record. It would give the Wildcats a chance to come home with a 2-0 conference record and host a quality opponent in the 7th-ranked University of Central Arkansas with momentum and a chance to cement themselves at the top of the UAC.
“I think if you can go on the road and get this one, now you’re 2-0 coming back home,” Patterson said. “And then out of our next four or five games, we’ve got three at home.”
The Wildcats were picked to finish fifth in the preseason poll but find themselves at 1-0 in conference play and tied for first place.
The Wildcats will take on Central Arkansas at home on Oct. 5, followed by a trip to the University of Northern Alabama before they play their final two home games of the season against Eastern Kentucky University and Southern Utah University. Finally, they will close out their conference play with games against Austin Peay University and Tarleton State University before playing Stephen F. Austin University as a non-conference game to end their 2024 regular season.
The team has a favorable schedule to end the year, playing three home games in four weeks before traveling to Austin Peay in Clarksville, Tennessee. After the distant away game, the team will take I-20 just 94.5 miles east to take on the Tarleton Texans in Stephenville. While Patterson said the team takes a “one game” approach, this game could serve as a high-stakes game and may decide the winner of the UAC with both teams being ranked in the FCS standings through four weeks, ACU ranked 20th and Tarleton at 16th.
Central Arkansas was picked to win the UAC in the same preseason poll that had placed ACU fifth. This could also be a game that is looked back on as one that decided the winner of the UAC when the playoffs come around in November.
Moving forward for the Wildcats, every conference game will be an important one to win, Patterson said.
“You’re playing for a trophy, you’re playing for something,” he said.
