ABILENE, TEXAS – In a rare scheduling quirk the University of the Incarnate Word and Abilene Christian University will be playing twice on the football field this year against each other.  The first matchup takes place on Saturday at Shotwell Stadium with kickoff set for 2 p.m.

The Cardinals (3-3) are coming off a bye week and will be looking for their first road victory of the season.  UIW is averaging 42 points per game in their three wins and only 10.3 points per game in their three losses.  The Wildcats (4-3) have scored an outrageous 265 points in their four victories and are still averaging 20.3 points per game in their three losses.

The Cardinals will have to figure out a way to slow down the Wildcats offense that features three of the top nine all-purpose yards players in school history.  Darrell Cantu-Harkless, Taylor Gabriel and Charcandrick West each have over 3,000 career all-purpose yards.  Add in another big play wide receiver in Darian Hogg and it is easy to see why the Wildcats are so explosive. 

The UIW defense is giving up 354.2 yards per game with 219 coming through the air and 135 on the ground.  Senior defensive tackle Robby Horton (Beeville/Jones HS) leads the team with 3.0 sacks and will need to provide a strong pass rush.  An injury to a starting defensive back puts even more pressure on senior safety Devin Haywood (San Antonio/Roosevelt HS) to put the team into the correct coverage.  Haywood leads the team with 28 tackles and also has two fumble recoveries.

Freshman quarterback Trent Brittain (Eastland/Eastland HS) runs the Cardinals offense and will need to have a big game for the visitors.  He is completing 54.6 percent of his passes for 195 yards per game.  He has also contributed 205 rushing yards on the season.  His favorite target has been junior Casey Jennings (Fremont, CA/Washington HS) who has 29 receptions for 438 yards.

The Cardinals have three freshmen seeing time at running back.  Junior Sessions (Mesquite/Mesquite HS) leads the crew with 312 yards on 5.0 yards per carry for the season.  John Oglesby (Katy/Seven Lakes HS) and Broderick Reeves (Mexia/Mexia HS) each chip in 4.1 yards per carry.

This is the fourth all-time meeting between the Cardinals and Wilcats with ACU winning all three previous games.  Last year, Abilene Christian defeated the Cardinals, 24-12 in San Antonio in the final game of the year.
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