GAME THREE
#20ACU34,TARLETONSTATE31 Saturday, September 15 • Cowboys Stadium • Arlington, Texas
Second-half rally sends No. 20 Wildcats to big conference win over Tarleton State ARLINGTON – At halftime, deep inside the bowels of Cowboys Stadium, ACU head coach Ken Collums stood in front of his team and told them what was about to transpire in the second half against Tarleton State. “I told them that we were going to go up and down the field on them offensively and that our defense was going to get stops,” Collums said. Pretty bold talk from a coach who had just watched his team sputter throughout the first half and was trailing 20-10 at the break. e defense had been on the field for almost 17 minutes and had allowed 327 yards, while the offense once again struggled and had just 147 yards. But the Wildcats’ first-year head coach turned out to be prophetic as he watched his team completely turn around its fortunes and perhaps walk away with a 34-31 win over the Texans. e 20th-ranked Wildcats improve to 2-1 overall and 1-1 in the Lone Star Conference with the win, while the Texans fall to 1-1 overall and in the LSC. After completing just 12 of 22 passes for 122 yards in the first half, ACU senior quarterback Mitchell Gale reverted to his normal self in the game’s final 30 minutes by completing 15 of 20 passes for 157 yards and two scores, both to junior wideout Taylor Gabriel. Trailing 20-10 at the break, ACU took its second possession of the third quarter 36 yards on five plays, taking just 1:56 off the clock before freshman running back Travis Tarver scored on a 7-yard run to cut the TSU lead to 20-17. e short field was set up by ACU wide receiver Darian Hogg, who got a hand on Isaac Arellano’s punt, the first in a series of game-changing plays by several different Wildcats in the second half. After Tarleton went three-and-out on its next series, Gabriel made his first big play of the second half with a 54-yard punt return down to the TSU 15.
Score By Quarter Tarleton State Abilene Christian
1 14 7
2 6 3
3 0 14
4 11 10
– – –
Final 31 34
Scoring Summary 1st Quarter ACU (8:38) – Charcandrick West 1 yd run (Morgan Lineberry kick) TSU (5:26) – Jerome Regal 16 yd pass from Aaron Doyle (Blake Barnes kick) TSU (0:27) – Vaughn Smith 10 yd pass from Doyle (Barnes kick) 2nd Quarter TSU (12:17) – Barnes 28 yd field goal TSU (4:24) – Barnes 41 yd field goal ACU (1:53) – Lineberry 27 yd field goal 3rd Quarter ACU (8:29) – Travis Tarver 7 run (Lineberry kick) ACU (4:03) – Taylor Gabriel 6 yd pass from Mitchell Gale (Lineberry kick) 4th Quarter ACU (12:00) – Lineberry 30 yd field goal TSU (9:35) – Barnes 25 yd field goal ACU (3:12) – Gabriel 16 yd pass from Gale (Lineberry kick) TSU (1:02) – Doyle 1 yd run (Will McLane pass from Doyle)
ACU 7, Tarleton 0 ACU 7, Tarleton 7 ACU 7, Tarleton 14 ACU 7, Tarleton 17 ACU 7, Tarleton 20 ACU 10, Tarleton 20 ACU 17, Tarleton 20 ACU 24, Tarleton 20 ACU 27, Tarleton 20 ACU 27, Tarleton 23 ACU 34, Tarleton 23 ACU 34, Tarleton 31
Team Statistics TSU ACU First Downs . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 30 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .21 Rushes-Yards . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .30-179 . . . . . . . . . . . .28-55 Passing Yards . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 377 . . . . . . . . . . . . . .279 Passes Comp-Att-Int. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 39-52-1 . . . . . . . . . .27-42-0 Total Plays-Yards . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 82-556 . . . . . . . . . . .70-334 Fumble Returns-Yards . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0-0 . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0-0
ACU needed just four plays and 2 minutes, 10 seconds to cover the 25 yards, scoring on a 6-yard pass from Gale to Gabriel to give the Wildcats a 24-20 lead with 4:03 to play in the third quarter. e teams traded field goals by Morgan Lineberry and Blake Barnes to make it a 27-23 ACU lead with 9:35 left before the Wildcats began what would turn out to be the game-clinching drive. ACU methodically moved 79 yards in 14 plays and took 6:23 off the clock before scoring on a 16-yard pass from Gale to Gabriel. e Wildcats were 4 for 4 on third-down plays on the drive, converting a third-and-10 on the drive’s third play with a 14-yard pass from Gale to Hogg. On third-and-2 from the TSU 42, Gale scrambled up the middle for three yards. On third-and-18 from the 47, Gale lofted a deep pass to DeMarcus ompson, who hauled it in on the sideline for a first down at the TSU 13yard line. After a rush for no gain and a sack of Gale back to the 16-yard line, Gale found Taylor over the middle and let him go to work. Gabriel tried to cut back, but slipped and looked as if he were going to go down short of the goal line. But he dropped his hand down to keep his balance, popped up and leapt into the end zone for a 34-23 ACU lead with 3:12 to play. Tarleton came right back down the field, moving 85 yards on 10 plays to an Aaron Doyle 1-yard touchdown run with 1:02 to play. Doyle then completed a 2-point conversion pass to Will McLane to make it 34-31 and setting up an onside kick. But ACU’s or Woerner recovered the kick – his second big recovery on a kickoff in the game – and the Wildcats were able to run the clock out on a big come-from-behind win.
Punt Returns-Yards . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2-11 Kickoff Returns-Yards . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 6-106 Interception Returns-Yards . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0-0 Punts (Number-Avg) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3-29.3 Fumbles-Lost . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0-0 Penalties-Yards . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 11-110 Possession Time . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 28:09 Third-Down Conversions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 9 of 16 Fourth-Down Conversions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0 of 1 Red-Zone Scores-Chances . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5-6 Sacks By: Number-Yards . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4-20
. . . . . . . . . . . . .1-54 . . . . . . . . . . . . .4-75 . . . . . . . . . . . . 1-16 . . . . . . . . . . .4-41.5 . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0-0 . . . . . . . . . . . . .7-50 . . . . . . . . . . . .31:51 . . . . . . . . . . .7 of 15 . . . . . . . . . . . .1 of 1 . . . . . . . . . . . . . 6-6 . . . . . . . . . . . . . .0-0
Individual Statistics RUSHING Tarleton State – Jerome Regal 13-103; Aaron Doyle 9-34; Vaughn Smith 7-21; Zach Henshaw 1-21. Abilene Christian – Travis Tarver 6-29; Mitchell Gale 11-18; Charcandrick West 3-10; Marcel Threat 2-6; Darrell Cantu-Harkless 2-0; Team 4-minus 8. PASSING Tarleton State – Aaron Doyle 39-52-1-377. Abilene Christian – Mitchell Gale 27-42-0-279. RECEIVING Tarleton State – Jeken Frye 10-92; Clifton Rhodes III 9-106; Jerome Regal 5-62; Vaughn Smith 5-24; Arthur Buckingham 4-35; Cordell Valentine 2-16; Will McLane 1-18; Devon Gray 1-14; Jamal Mays 15; Courtney Osunde 1-5. Abilene Christian – Darian Hogg 8-67; Taylor Gabriel 5-50; DeMarcus Thompson 4-57; Travis Tarver 4-56; Darrell Cantu-Harkle 3-21; Elton Crochran 2-21; Marcel Threat 1-7. INTERCEPTIONS Tarleton State – None. Abilene Christian – Thor Woerner 1-16.
2013 ACU WILDCAT FOOTBALL
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