ACU Opens Season Saturday at Texas Tech - Abilene Christian University Athletics (2024)

ACU at Texas Tech
Lubbock, TX | Jones AT&T Stadium
Saturday, Aug. 31 at 6:30 p.m.

GAME LINKS

• Watch on ESPN+ | Listen on 106.3 The Raider | Live Stats |Weekly Football Press Conference | ACU Game Notes (PDF)

ABILENE - The ACU football team makes its long-awaited return to the gridiron on Saturday with a match-up against nearby Big 12 opponent Texas Tech in Lubbock.

This will be the tenth meeting all-time between the Wildcats and Red Raiders, but the first since the season opener in 1949 when Texas Tech came out with a 20-0 victory.

Kick-off is scheduled for 6:30 p.m. at Jones AT&T Stadium. Fans can watch the game on the ESPN+ streaming platform(requires paid subscription), and also listen to the radio call on 106.3 The Raider.

SERIES HISTORY

• Texas Tech leads the series with ACU, 6-3. The first game was played in 1925. ACU, or Abilene Christian College as it was known then, won three straight over the Red Raiders from 1927-29.
• Texas Tech then won the next four, including the most recent meeting which was the 1949 season opener.
• The Wildcats finished that year 3-6, but had several key freshmen such as Wally Bullington and Ted Sitton, both future ACU coaches, who went on to lead the program to its only undefeated, untied season in 1950 when ACC finished 11-0.

ABOUT THE WILDCATS

• Five Wildcats were named to the Preseason All-UAC teams -- OL Alan Hatten, LB Cirby Coheley, LB Darius Moore, DB Elijah Moffett and P Grant Nickel.
• That total issecond only to Central Arkansas, which was picked as the favorite to win the UAC in the preseason coaches poll.
• ACU returns 21 players (10 on offense, 11 on defense) who started at least one game in 2023.
• Guards Alan Hatten and Jacob Thielen, and center Tay Yanta anchor the offensive line with each starting all 11 games last season.
• LinebackerCirby Coheley,and defensive backs Izaiah Kelley and Elijah Moffett are experienced leaders on defense.

NEW OFFENSIVE ATTACK

• Rick Bowie was hired as ACU's offensive coordinator in January, bringing his Air Raid style to Abilene.
• Bowie spent the pasttwo years as the OC at Division II power Valdosta State.
• In 2022, the Blazers were the only team to rank in the top 25 in passing and rushing yards in Division II.
• In 2023, Valdosta State reached the Division II quarterfinals with a Bowie-led offense that averaged 37 points per game.

BACK FOR MORE

• QB Maverick McIvor is entering his third season as ACU's starter. In 2023, he threw just 5 interceptions in 194 attempts -- a rate of 1.7%.
• As a team, the Wildcats had 7 passes picked off last season, which was T-23rd fewest in FCS.

ALL ROADS LEAD FROM LUBBOCK TO ABILENE

• Several current ACU players and coaches have ties to Texas Tech and Lubbock.
• All seven ACU players who transferred from Texas Tech are in the Wildcats' starting line-up: QB Maverick McIvor, WRs Hut Graham, Nehemiah Martinez and Trey Cleveland, C Tay Yanta, TE Jed Castles and P Grant Nickel.
• A total of four ACU players went to high school in the Lubbock area: Martinez (New Deal & Lubbock-Cooper), starting RB Isaiah Johnson (Lubbock-Cooper), starting DB Izaiah Kelley (Coronado), and back-up OL Colter Lynch (Lubbock-Cooper).
• HC Keith Patterson was Tech's defensive coordinator from 2019-2021. He was introduced as ACU's head football coach in Dec. 2021, and returned to Lubbock to coach the Red Raiders in the Liberty Bowl later that month. Tech beat Mississippi State 34-7.
• LB coach Conor Dubin was a defensive quality control assistant at Texas Tech. He has followed Patterson since 2015 from Arizona State to Utah State to Tech and now ACU.
• Associate HC & co-DC Nick Holt served as a defensive analyst with Patterson at Texas Tech during the 2021 season.

THE KITTLEY FAMILY

• ACU is no stranger to Tech OC Zach Kittley. After graduating from Wolfforth Frenship H.S. in 2011, Kittley walked-on to the Wildcats basketball team. He changed his mind and transferred to Texas Tech to work with the Red Raiders' football program.
• Kittley was born in Abilene in 1991 when his father, ACU Hall of Famer Wes Kittley, was the Wildcats' track and field coach. Wes Kittley's track program won 29 national championships in his 15 years at ACU.
• He was hired by Texas Tech in 2000 and has led the Red Raiders to an outdoor and indoor national title.
• Zach Kittley was the OC at Houston Baptist from 2018-2020 when the Huskies and ACU were both in the Southland Conference.
• HBU and ACU played twice in that span with the Wildcats winning both times (2018 - ACU 38-13 in Houston; 2019 - ACU 45-20 in Abilene).

UP NEXT

• ACU plays its first home game of the season on Saturday, Sept. 7 with a7 p.m. kick-off.
• The Wildcats will welcome in new conference foe West Georgia for the first-ever meeting between the two schools.

Season tickets and individual tickets are still on sale! Click here to secure your seat at Wildcat Stadium.