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Rams face tough test tonight in ACU
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The Angelo State University football hasn't played this well defensively since 1993.
That year, the Rams allowed only 253.3 yards per game. Through six games this season, ASU is surrendering only 255.8 yards per game.
But the Rams might be in for a wake-up call.
Tonight's contest against arch-rival Abilene Christian pits two of the Lone Star Conference's top three defenses against each other. Where the advantage goes, however, is the high-powered, high-scoring ACU offense, which averages 54 points and 540 yards of offense per game.
The Rams haven't faced a team like the Wildcats this season.
"They have had their quarterback on campus, this is his fourth year I guess," ASU head coach Dale Carr said. "This really has a confluence of a lot of good players. I think they are getting better every year. They are an impressive team this year - very impressive."
Abilene Christian moved up one spot in this week's American Football Coaches Association NCAA Division II poll, from No. 4 to No. 3, following a 66-7 thrashing of East Central last week.
But the Wildcats have been doing that for the past season and then some. They have scored 50 or more points in 10 of their past 15 games.
ACU is led by a pair of talented skill position players. Quarterback Billy Malone increased his LSC career records to 10,393 passing yards and 94 touchdown passes last Saturday against East Central. With 1,154 career attempts, Malone needs 52 to break the LSC career record of 1,205 set by former ASU quarterback Ned Cox.
Running back Bernard Scott is ahead of his 2007 pace that saw him rush for 2,165 yards and score 35 rushing touchdowns. Through five games in 2007, he had 731 rushing yards and eight touchdowns on 98 carries. Through five games in 2008, he has 734 yards and 10 touchdowns on 94 carries. With his four-touchdown performance against East Central, Scott has 14 touchdowns on the season to give him 53 for his career.
Last year against ASU, Malone passed for 383 yards and two touchdowns while Scott rushed for 231 yards and three touchdowns in the Wildcats' 52-28 victory.
This is where the ASU defense will need to back up its impressive numbers this season. No team has had much success slowing down the Wildcats' attack. But the Rams believe they have a chance.
ASU should have some momentum coming off one of its best defensive efforts of the season in which the Rams held Eastern New Mexico to minus-19 yards rushing.
"Usually when you prepare for Eastern, you prepare for a triple option, but they switched to the spread, so we just had to be ready for that and come out and execute," ASU defensive lineman Clint Coles said. "Thankfully, we were able to come out and do the things we needed to do in order to get stops."
The Rams also had a breakout game offensively against the Greyhounds. A trio of running backs helped the Rams to a 285-yard rushing total. Daniel Thomas rushed for 144 yards on just 11 carries. All but 40 of his yards came in the second quarter. Terrell Lee added 87 yards and Kobey Lewis 49.
They will be running against an ACU defense that is tops in the conference, allowing only 44.6 yards per game.
"I think the best thing to happen this past weekend was Kobey and Terrell getting more confident in what they are doing and getting more playing time," Carr said. "They are a very physical defense and we need to be able to roll those backs in there and keep them fresh."
Tonight's game will feature the top two rushers in the LSC. With his 144 yards, Thomas moved into second place in the conference behind Scott. While Scott leads in yards per game, Thomas leads in carries per game.
The Rams will have their hands full trying to slow down the Wildcats while trying to mount some offense of their own.
If you go
- What: Lone Star Conference South Division football game.
- When: 7 p.m. today.
- Where: Shotwell Stadium, Abilene.
- Records: ASU is 3-3 overall, 1-1 in the LSC South. ACU is 5-0, 1-0.
- Radio: 94.7-FM KIXY.
- TV: KSAN (Suddenlink Cable channel 3).
- Of note: ACU has won five of the past six meetings between the two teams.
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Comments are the sole responsibility of the person posting them. You agree not to post comments that are off topic, defamatory, obscene, abusive, threatening or an invasion of privacy. Violators may be banned. Click here for our full user agreement.