By: acusports.com

ABILENE (acusports.com) – Loaded with five returning starters on the offensive line, three tight ends who can all play, and four running backs with size and speed, the ACU Wildcats' intention in Thursday night's season-opener against Northern Colorado was to set an early tone that they would be the more physical team.
 
The Wildcats sent that message early and often as they pounded out 268 yards on the ground and three rushing touchdowns in a 31-11 win over the Bears in front of 6,164 fans at Anthony Field at Wildcat Stadium.
 
"We knew going in that our offensive line would be a strength of this team," ACU head coach Keith Patterson said. "All five returning starters are bigger and stronger than one year ago. With those guys back, along with our running backs and tight ends, I thought we could control the line of scrimmage pretty effectively."
 
The victory for the Wildcats gives them back-to-back season-opening wins under Patterson, who is now 8-4 overall in his second season as the ACU head coach. 
 
Thursday night's game was never in doubt as ACU's offensive line and running game set the tone, punishing the Bears' defensive line for 148 total yards in the first quarter, with 101 of those coming on the ground. The Wildcats took a 14-0 lead in the first quarter on a 12-yard pass from Maverick McIvor to Rovaughn Banks and a 2-yard run by Xavier Wishert, a redshirt freshman running back from Jim Ned, who also scored on an 18-yard run in the third quarter.
 
ACU pushed the lead to 21-0 in the second quarter on a Jay'Veon Sunday 12-yard run before the Bears finally got on the board, thanks to a 31-yard field goal by Hunter Green late in the first half. The Wildcats put the game away with 83 third-quarter rushing yards and 10 points, pushing their lead to 31-3 at the end of three quarters. 
 
Six Wildcats carried the ball, totaling 268 yards and three scores on the ground on 41 carries. Perhaps most impressively, only one run – a third-quarter carry by Sunday – resulted in lost yards for the Wildcats (three yards). Dobbins had 83 yards on 10 carries, Sunday had 79 yards on 14 carries, and Wishert 58 yards on 10 carries.
 
McIvor was an efficient 16 of 25 passing for 219 yards and one score. Blayne Taylor led the Wildcats with four catches for 75 yards, while Banks had four catches out of the backfield for 38 yards and one score.
 
KEY STAT
The Wildcats were able to sustain drives Thursday night and stop Northern Colorado drives on third downs. Offensively, the Wildcats converted 6 of 11 third-down plays into first downs, while the defense held UNC to just 5 of 15 on third-down conversion opportunities. That led to ACU holding a time-of-possession advantage of 33:06 to 26:54 and ACU rushing for 268 yards to just 84 for the Bears.
 
TURNING POINT
The game turned on the first drive of the season as ACU established its physical dominance of the line of scrimmage. Dobbins carried the ball on the first two plays for 16 and 7 yards, adding a 13-yard run on the drive. The Bears never could stop the Wildcats' ground game, which churned out 41 carries for 268 yards, averaging 6.5 yards per carry.
 
POST-GAME NOTES
• With the win, the Wildcats are now 47-51 all-time in 98 season-opening games. ACU – which beat Lamar at home in the 2022 season-opener – has won two straight season-openers for the first time since 2012 and 2013 when it beat McMurry and Concordia (Ala.), respectively.
• The win snaps ACU's six-game losing streak against Northern Colorado that went back to 1987. ACU went 10-0-1 in the first 11 games of the series that began in 1970 before the Bears ripped off those six straight wins. UNC won the first two games between the teams after they each went NCAA Division I FCS with a 40-36 win in 2015 in Greeley, Colo., and a 55-52 win in Abilene in 2016.
• Keith Patterson is the sixth head coach in ACU football history to win his first two season-openers, joining Tonto Coleman (1942 and 1946), Wally Bullington (1968, 1969), Dewitt Jones (1977, 1978), John Payne (1985, 1986), and Ken Collums (2012, 2013) on the list.
• With the victory, Patterson is 8-4 in his first 12 games as the ACU head coach, tying him with Jack Kiser and Collums for the third-most wins by an ACU head football coach through 12 games. Garvin Beauchamp has the most wins through 12 games with 11, followed by Vic Payne, Tonto Coleman, and Dewitt Jones with 10 apiece.
 
QUOTING HEAD COACH KEITH PATTERSON
 
On ACU's physical running game: "(Offensive coordinator and offensive line coach) Ryan Pugh does an incredible job; he's a great technician with those guys up front. The Northern Colorado coaches were commenting on the offensive line and how fundamentally sound they were even before the game started. With our running backs, tight ends, and offensive line – and our cohesiveness with that entire group – we felt like we could control the line of scrimmage."
 
On the defensive team speed: "Going into the summer of 2022, we ran 'Flying 10s,' and had only one kid who ran it in under one second. This summer, we had 26, so I knew we would be faster and more explosive. There were some violent collisions in the first half with our swarming defense."
 
On Xavier Wishert: "He's no surprise to me. Anytime you rush for the number of yards he ran for in high school and lead your team to an undefeated state championship in Texas, I don't care if it's Class 2A or 3A. That's impressive. Since we recruited him, I've been telling everyone that this guy is a football player, and I think he got to show a little bit of that tonight."
 
UP NEXT
The Wildcats (1-0) will be on the road to Prairie View next week to take on Prairie View A&M at Panther Stadium. Kickoff is set for 6 p.m. The Wildcats lead the series 3-0 with wins in 1995 (35-0 in Abilene), 1996 (30-14 in Prairie View), and 2013 (65-45 in Prairie View).