NCAAF 2020 Week 08 Abilene Christian vs Stephen F. Austin

[Music] this is the southland conference on espn football at a baseball stadium that's how we do it in 2020 in a great matchup in fact the only southland matchup in 2020 fits the abilene christian wildcats against the stephen f austin lumberjacks at globelive park in arlington and welcome in i'm john little with former texas a m wide receiver shea walker it's great to have you here and shay this becomes the unofficial championship game for the southland conference in 2020 well it is and what a crazy season has been so far of course only four teams from the southland conference playing football in the fall the other seven are scheduled for the spring so it's been definitely an odd scenario but it's great to have a southland conference matchup it certainly is an abilene christian is loving what they're getting out of peyton manziel lately especially his second half against army well the iowa transfer has come down and now started to settle into this offense for acu and coach doyle couldn't be more happy with his play and he is actually getting i said settle down settlement and he's really doing well and he's playing at a high level right now brave self on the other side can sling it for stephen f austin second year as a starter well at 61 in his completion ratio and with targets like xavier gibson trey self has got a powerful offense good run game guys catch the ball out of the backfield they like to run the two receivers on each side of the field so they're they're aggressive passing attack and trace hill is a trigger man big play offense for sfa and that included some big plays to gibson last week we've got a great matchup coming up for you here on espn abilene christian stephen f austin maddie morris joins us the third member of our crew next plus kickoff here on espn [Music] xavier gibson had a huge game last week three big touchdowns against angelo state he chops the wood to start this game and we start this game by checking in with the third member of our crew mattie morris as you mentioned john we are playing football in a baseball stadium here at globe life park formerly the home of the texas rangers from 1994 to 2019 after they finished the season last year they turned this into a multi-purpose field the dallas renegades actually were playing here with the xfl for a couple games before the season had to be canceled because of covid but we are making history here today by playing the first ncaa college football game here at globe life park and we are here for it we are so fortunate to be here and also these are two very evenly matched teams there are some keys to the game brought to you by levy recognition we want to get to before a kick shay walker what do you think the keys to this one are well when you think about what has to happen for acu it's gonna be their front five the offensive line has got to be able to protect peyton manziel the quarterback who is catching fire right now and for the lumberjacks it's very important for them john that they're secondary they settle down that back four because they have rotated more than four to five to six almost seven players have gone through the position in the second area sfa and it'll be important for them to have some continuity to slow down the passing attack from acu keys to the game brought to you by levy recognition and it's rolled down to harmon at the nine yard line changing direction up the sideline for acu and pretty good field position on that 18-yard return by brendan harmon to start it out for the acu wildcats and our first chance to see the wildcats on offense led by quarterback peyton manziel and his head coach adam doral reminded him just profit on plays check down slicers that's all okay you don't have to have the big home run every single time [Applause] they're a team that likes to run and then go off play action and on first down a handoff to kobe clark lots of room for kobe clark on first down and a good chunk to start this game right at about the sticks there is a flag down our referee is dan lewis here at globe live park in arlington texas offside defense number 54. that penalty's declined results to the play he's a first down abilene christian has a lot of different players that can get the ball in jet sweep situations like that well they do and when you look at just the handful of guys lj mcconnell's one of those kobe clark as you just mentioned on that first carry picks up a first down and play action for manzel after the first down he'll tuck it and run he shows good elusiveness a five-yard pickup by peyton manziel he's a guy that can sling it on the run as well we'll see that as the game goes on he made a really good decision there john because his wide receiver wasn't open there wasn't enough separation and he decided to tuck the ball and run pick up positive yards versus risking an interception on that throw peyton manziel and the acu offense had a tough first half last week or last time out against army but three second half touchdowns for manziel on second and five a toss out to tyrese whites and white has the first down stays on his feet tyrese white giving punishment and taken down on the sideline after a 20-yard pickup first down for adeline christian well check out the fancy footwork here by tyrese white as he comes down the line and he's setting up the blockers downfield great job of staying in bounds power running and finishing off that run miles heard there at the end a safety that just came back from injury for sfa good start to this drive at the 39 of sfa for abilene christian another chance for white but it's out and it's easily recovered by b.j thompson the first big break of the game goes to the lumberjacks wow a promising drive on the first play of the game or first drive of the game and tyrese white just runs into the back of the offensive lineman not protecting the football like grevin randle made the hit white trying to cut it back up into the middle of the line of scrimmage and puts the ball on the carpet steven f austin has a chance with the football at a rip-off of a run but another turnover right off the bat daley on ward puts it on the deck and it's recovered by acu's jordan pop the transfer out of nebraska gets it back near midfield for acu a wild start well the snap started off slow but [Applause] deleon ward not able to hang on to the football my goodness two turnovers back to back stephen f austin struggled with giveaways last year early this season they've done a pretty nice job even in the turnover margin but acu's defense creates a turnover the wildcats have it right back just shy of midfield another chance for manziel and the offense timeout called by stephen f austin to get set on defense and stephen f austin and head coach colby carthel who was out of last week's game second season at the helm at stephen f austin and kobe carthal back on the sideline after contracting covid about 11 days ago and let's look at the fumble and whether it was or not shay trying to find out where the knee is down the and the right hand also is down looks like the ball is still relatively secure in that left arm officials are going to make their money on this call daily on board trying to hang on to it right until the end it was a bang bang call for sure the call on the field ends up being a turnover after a really nice run by daley on ward to start the game off but it doesn't look like replay officials are going to take a look at it or at least they have not decided to as of yet after the quick timeout by sfa maybe part of that is for the lumberjacks to give the replay officials time to look at it but abilene christian does have the football and cade parmalee rocks out of his stance the big left guard is going to cost abilene christian five yards ball start 69 offense five yard penalty remains first down for abilene christian they haven't played in quite a few weeks not since the third of october against army so they've had three weeks off they're trying to rock back into things well they started off great on that first drive tyrese white fumbles the football but now they're back in good field position after creating the turnover abilene christian in the white and another pre-snap penalty looks like it's coming against the wildcats once more such a great start for acu but dan lewis tells us it's going backwards number 61 offense five-yard penalty remains first down this time it's mitchell melrose at the left tackle spot so we've had two fumbles so far three penalties just plenty going on here at globe live park so far great series between these two teams all time really tight this is the 21st meeting acu leads it 11-9 couple games have been really tight manziel throws against the sideline lj mcconnell who has great speed but he's not able to make it to the edge just a gain of a couple on the play second down 18. good job by b.j thompson to get out there the right defensive end it's a long guy rangy at six foot six well one of the guys that have come in to the sfa defense this season along with a couple of other guys jd coleman from arizona transfer you mentioned or we mentioned brevin uh randall excuse me earlier here's a give to tyrese white he had the 20-yard carry on the first drive then the fumble he picks up eight here and now it's a third down and ten is abilene christians back to the original line of scrimmage well they're checking into the line of scrimmage uh for acu brandon hohenstein had a 61-yard touchdown against army big target at the tight end spot manziel takes a look sees hohenstein right slot right against the right tackle and now a timeout is taken by abilene christian so each team has spent a time out on the early growing adam doral doesn't look too excited about the way his team has started an uneven start from arlington so far welcome back into southland football abilene christian stephen f austin scoreless so far each team has turned it over once in this one after the acu timeout peyton manziel on the offense trying to figure out a way to pick up a third and ten motion on the play and play action manziel to the edge looking downfield has a man and it's caught for the first down jordan brooks west sits down at the 40 makes the grab and gains 14. first down for acu give a lot of credit to peyton manziel for stringing that play along he knows he's going to get a little bit of a bump when he releases the football but looking back across the field he throws a dart down to jordan brooks weiss and that's the first down that they're looking for pretty impressive to come back from that second down excuse me first down and 20. no doubt about it and a first give to jeremiah dobbins dobbins the true freshman out of lubbock estacado loses one on the play abilene christian coming off a very tough last three weeks and right at the center of that samaj davis their junior quarterback from midland who played a big role on the team one of their captains involved in a car crash and he's currently in icu in fort worth at a hospital had to be airlifted from abilene out to fort worth because of the injury sustained a lot of concern for him and certainly abilene christian dedicating the rest of this season to him a give to brendan harmon harmon racing toward the edge and hartman is bumped out of bounds far sideline out at the 34-yard line for a pickup of four [Music] [Applause] when you talk about samajeh harris but also the role that he plays on that offense davis excuse me absolutely can you come in four different positions exactly can play quarterback can you play a little wide receiver for you as well a little bit of running back holds for you i mean a versatile guy and a team captain as well here's third down manziel to put it in the air again plenty of time hits kobe clerk coming over the middle oh his favorite target makes the grab down to the 20-yard line 13-yard pickup manziel on the money yeah the 6-2 210-pound junior mansell just throws the c in between three defenders great job of locating his receiver worked through the progression and that ball had to be on a rope or that would not have been another would not have been a completion two defenders were closing in on it but the ball had too much velocity on it gotten down to the receiver just outside the red zone harmon in motion again and a stoppage before the play is another false start coming against abilene christian they're third ball start 76 offense five-yard penalty remains first down coach droll told us on the conference call that we had with him earlier this week john that game speed is different than you can practice and he said we tried our best to get it but these are the kind of penalties that you see when you start talking about game speed is this false start offsides penalties those types of things are really indicative of not having a bunch of reps at real time speed no games the last three weeks on the roll manziel able to hit his tight end a catch by remington lutz who played at belton high school with peyton manziel back in their glory days an eight-yard catch sets up third down yeah loot's a big target at six six 240 pounds he can create a little bit of space around the body comes up with the nice reception there on the first down plate second down and six pardon me after the nine yard pickup abilene christian able to stay on schedule after the false start [Applause] manziel tosses it out to jeremiah dobbins dobbins breaks back inside dobbins twisting inside the 10 and has a first and goal down at the seven yard line jeremiah dobbins with a nifty run another great job of a running back tiptoeing along the sideline and he's going to take a shot but he keeps the forward momentum going [Applause] another time out taken here early [Applause] and a stoppage thanks to sfa here as abilene christian has come up with a big third down conversion a couple of them on this drive they continue to move the ball down the field john little here with shay walker matty morris as well back to arlington in a moment here on espn park in arlington you see the right field stands that home run porch 25 years the home of the texas rangers that's where abilene christian is moving into that end zone on the right side for a first and goal from the seven yard line peyton manziel running a nice second drive of the game for he and the wildcats [Music] a give to tyrese white white buries the head and keeps pushing along behind his center nico russolio a four-yard pickup second and goal well a nice job of following the block by russo leo got down to that second level picked off the linebacker created just a little bit more space we're gonna look right here lucille 53 you see him getting down the field and that's a great effort by the center to get down and take that block on and move the sticks [Applause] another give to tyrese white white stretching for the end zone touchdown tyrese white finds paydirt for the first time this season and abilene christian has the early lead in arlington a little power run game offensive line for the wildcats offensive coordinator josh lamberson choosing to just go power on this getting it down into the end zone that was an impressive job there by tyreese white following the blocking making the cut back to get into the end zone blair zepeda who pumped a couple up he upright against army is on for the extra point kicking into those outfield seats and zepeda makes it seven to nothing as abilene christian uses the running game well you see the push again russell leo is down there but the offensive line on the left-hand side parmalee doing a really good job of clearing and paving the way tyrese white very patient on that run sees the blocking down there takes the cut back out gets it into the end zone remember the last time acu was on the field it was against army and maybe that game got away from them a little bit but what adam doral saw from his team offensively was just a consistent effort on the offensive side to be really nasty for lack of a better word in the blocking game he saw it from his offensive lineman he saw it from his receivers he thought they really got after it against a physical army team well adam durrell he certainly knows what that's like but you know what we talk about him and and both coaches colby carthel for sfa i mean if i would have had a year of eligibility or two years of eligibility left i would have chosen to go play one of them with adam doral and one of them with colby cartel i mean those guys they're they're positive they know what they want they recruit the kind of kids that they want in their system and both of these teams are on they're definitely on the uptick in the southland conference no doubt about that you would have run through two brick walls zepeda puts it into the end zone remy simmons decides to take a knee stephen f austin had a positive start to their first drive of the game but remember daily on ward put it on the ground that's the only time the lumberjacks have had the football here in the first quarter we haven't even gotten to see trey self who colby karthel says we've seen some real growth in him he was off a little bit versus angelo state only hit on 41 of his passes but the junior from here in the dfw area really is capable well he definitely passes the eye test he's got a strong arm at six 490 pounds he can also run the football but he is actually a very good passer another chance for deleon ward a controversial fumble on his first carry picks up three moving behind the right guard the freshman justice guillory on first down deleon ward a senior from here in dallas went to skyline high school spent three years at texas tech and actually led the team as a freshman 428 yards and three touchdowns on second down self to the air dumps it underneath to his tight end awning across the 30-yard line and auntie taken down after a gain of five for the red shirt freshman out of denton geir high school tristan anderson in on the tackle of the big chad awning six foot four 221 pounds first third down attempt for the lumberjacks offense see if they go back to the big boy awnie see if they put it on the ground [Music] option and look at self keeping it himself and he dives forward right on the 35 yard line right at the sticks looks like a first down yeah a lot of times you'll see the quarterback make that pitch early and you can't really make the pitch until you force the defender to take a position jack gibbons went out to cover the running back trey self takes the ball nudges it just forward enough to get the first down is exactly it's a very well executed play colby carthall an offensive coordinator matt storm they've started to call some more design runs for trey self and he hasn't been running for his life as much as he did during his first season at the helm last year on the field of the first down is under review take a look at this spot see if there's any kind of conclusive evidence that would leave self short of that first down i i know self knew where he wanted to get the question is did he get there it looked like it was he needed about two and a half yards it looked like and let's see if we can determine where the ball is when the knee is down it's right there on the line that'd be tough to overturn in my opinion but i'm a salary level just below the replay officials just below oh look at that look at that right knee i was watching the left knee jay but look at the right knee that might be short looking where the ball is from this angle yeah it is stuck from this angle but if you can piece it together and know the right knee was down at a certain moment might leave him about a half yard short but with the naked eye it did look like it was a first down remember in college football you don't have to be touched down in order to pee down that knee down stops your progress and so big third down conversion for stephen f austin trying to get some things started early in this game after their first drive ended up in a fumble it's all going to come down to this one more look that we have here shay what do you see well again i think we're we're talking about angles and things that's a very good angle there there's a knee down where is the ball it's very difficult to tell if it's at or across the line and that's really yeah i think it'd be tough to overturn it looking at three different angles here as many angles as we have here at the former baseball stadium globe live park trying to pour over it and make sure of what it is so here's the interesting thing i mean if you have fourth and a half yard what does coach cartha and josh lamberson decide to do excuse me matt starm the offensive coordinator what do they decide to do that's what they're talking about right exactly they don't really care say they don't really care but they obviously if it's not a first down they have a decision to make after review the runner's knee was down before the ball broke the line to gain every fourth and a half yard line at the 34 and a half tan lewis and our replay official saw enough the replay official mark ashley pieces this one together and saying it's short and the offense though is staying on the field for colby cartel gonna be in the shotgun or the pistol mode in the backfield there [Applause] a give and springing forward daily on ward plenty for the first down gains one and a half when he only needed a half yard so that keeps the lumberjacks moving forward is stephen f austin offense that last week was out gained by division two angelo state 381-280 the lumberjacks won last week's game shay because of a lot of hidden yardage penalties kick return yards bunch of turnovers by angelo as well it's not always about total yardage on first down a give to a new running back and taking it right side for about three yards is corbin white a 5-9 freshman out of texarkana went to liberty isler high school this is just a great opportunity a neutral site game between these two squads they're pretty spread out as far as texas goes you got one way out in east texas and stephen f austin one out in west texas in abilene christian meeting in the middle here in the dfw area second down for self stands tall in the pocket dumps it underneath some room to run up the sideline for xavier gibson his first touch and where did he step out not until he made midfield an 11-yard gain and a first down for the very shifty and speedy xavier gibson it didn't look like a huge dynamic play but look at the shiftiness as you said xavier gibson keeping in bounds and working up field just enough to pick up the first down he's able to break the tackle of ryan staff the sophomore cornerback and even not let jack gibbons the big outside linebacker get a clean shot first down out at midfield now for steven f austin trailing by seven here early a little cut back lane on the right side daily on ward able to go for three on first down and crosses the midfield stripe into acu territory for the first time there's jordan pop daley on ward who has gotten a lot of early work here for steven f austin they trust the senior despite the tough luck early fumble ended up leading to seven points for acu here's second down self another give but this time wards hit in the backfield wrapped up taken down for a three-yard loss and quent titt is the first man to make contact and wrap up ward at the legs well you talk about a guy just blasting through the line of scrimmage i think will morgan look like he might have been on that play as well nice job of being aggressive and when you see that pulling guard going the defensive tackle feels that quickly it usually bodes well for the defense loss of two back to the 49-yard line third down here for stephen alf austin their longest third down here early staring into the eyes of trey's self self has some time now has to step forward leaping over defenders and he lets the ball go but he was down by contact jack gibbons is hoping it's a fumble recovery for his wildcats but the officials pretty clearly saying that's no gain right at the 49-yard line well the pressure again coming from the outside 97 will morgan again getting in putting trey self to have to actually speed through the progressions and then when you saw the last second he tries to get out of it and ball does end up on the carpet very very close he had to leap over justice guillory his big 325 pound right guard back deep for abilene christian to return this is brendan harmon the punt is away by max quick harmon calls for the fair catch but it hits in front of him hits the backside of a stephen l boston defender and abilene christian starts deep in their own territory after a 38 welcome back inside globe life park where the aveline christian wildcats lead the stephen f austin lumberjacks 7-0 with two minutes a little over two minutes left in the first quarter um john you you mentioned earlier that samaj davis the quarterback for aveline christian suffered a tragic accident a couple weeks ago he's here in the hospital and the team obviously is playing this season for him they're honoring him by having a decal on their helmets actually it's it's the superman logo and it says sd because his nickname was superman growing up so they're keeping him in his in their thoughts and prayers and we're obviously keeping him in our thoughts and prayers as well absolutely and uh just a guy that everybody loves on that abilene christian team and you would never want that to happen to anybody but for it to be a team captain a guy that's been on the squad shea for three years and a contributor it's so tough well and he's the west texas guys from the midland odessa area and just a really again as maddie said tragic injury and thoughts and prayers are certainly with him and with his recovery and certainly with his family on second down after the mcconnell run acu wants to take a timeout before their second down seven play abilene christian up 7-0 on stephen f austin sfa coming off a win last week as stephen f austin was able to take down angelo state and the head coach of stephen f austin colby carthal in his second year as the head coach had to miss a game for the first time as the head coach of the lumberjacks last week because he tested positive for kovitt 19 and who did he call to stand in for him on the sideline well it's one of his uh volunteer assistant coaches he's very familiar with him i think it was his father yeah absolutely don garthel former head coach of west texas a m for a long time had a great run out there in canyon and uh colby just said dad step in for me here didn't miss a beat last week in the win over angelo state of course coach carthal has recovered since said he felt about 24 to 48 hours of kind of a head cold but other than that feeling all right peyton manziel on second down pulls it back fires up the sideline oh that's some arm talent right into the arms of ex of his receiver on that side dax niece for a gain of 11 in a first down a lot of fur flying around where he was going to release the ball mansell's patient though slings it down field dax niece finds the gap in between two defenders and that's a very important first down for acu to get out of the shadow of their goal post jack sneeze the texas tech transfer out to the 25 and on first down to give to jeremiah dobbins dobbins has space first down and more up the sideline dobbins stiff-arming his way for 12 yards we talked about the offensive line being a very important part for this acu team if they're going to be successful today and right now we're seeing them open up big holes for tyrese white in jeremiah dobbins nico rosilio throwing another big block to spring dobbins to a first down quick pass out in the flat this time through the hands of dax knees a little bit high second down niece is a big body six foot three 200 pounds just could not wrangle it in oh that ball looked like it slipped off the hands of peyton mansell just got it a little too high it's hard to overthrow a guy that big or that tall at 6-3 late here in the first quarter abilene christian with a touchdown run by tyreese white that's why they're up seven nothing manziel looking to the sideline and calling the play out play action manziel rolls throws oh it's almost picked cutting the route miles brooks read it like a book third down yeah miles brooks played the ball perfectly rolling to the left for a right-hander is a tough throw you can't put as much juice on it miles brooks had a great opportunity there unable to come up with the ball but a well defended that'll be a pbu absolutely puts abilene christian in the third and ten they're two for two on third down so far mansell back to pass he's rushed hit from behind and dropped dennis osagade with the sack his first full sack of the season ends the wildcats drive john that that play took a little bit too long to develop peyton manziel was there looking back but the coverage downfield was outstanding and that allowed osugude to come in and bring down peyton manzo for the sack got around the junior right guard cage hendricks sfa sends xavier gibson back deep to putt he had a punt return for a touchdown last week butter here is logan burke plenty of time and burke hangs one up gibson calls for the fair catch drips under it at the 28-yard line 25 seconds remaining in the first quarter abilene christian and stephen f austin starting to settle into this game and colby carthal the head coach of stephen f austin told us coming into this one you know if we can just get through the first quarter and especially with as much as acu does on offense with different formations and things like that if we know what they're going to do if we can get through the first quarter and settle in we're going to be okay they talk like a prize fighter he said look we're going to go in the first round and we're going to we're going to work on the jab and we're going to see what they're throwing at us and then we're going to make our adjustments and that's a wise decision self wants to go up top he does he has gibson with a step gibson bobbles and drops it there is a flag but gibson had a step and a possible score well xavier gibson just showed me something john when that ball was in the air it was thrown to the middle of the field he was out number four defense it's a 10 yard penalty an automatic first down yeah willie roberts there on the [Applause] on the hole but the speed and tracing and tracking the ball he just took his eye off it at the very last moment but he went from that one then he had about a half step but when he went from that half step to almost a full stride i mean he has some he's got some top end speed man that was a great effort and second down or first down i should say after the holding penalty i'll give it daily onward for a couple but xavier gibson had a huge week last week against angelo state a 90-yard touchdown to yard touchdown plus a punt return for a score as well here he just misses on tying up this game but sfa driving abilene christian up early xavier gibson a big star in this one aquarium turner and tyrion southland conference football on espn is brought to you by hercules tires ride on our strength by johnston's official championship ring provider of the southland conference starting the second quarter here in arlington 7-0 acu on top at sfa with the football and deleon ward gets his second straight carry on the drive picks up three leaving a third down and five if you just missed it before the end of the first quarter stephen f austin had a marvelous chance to tie up this game trey self hanging one up to xavier gibson who just could not hang on to the football well and let's be uh very candid here that is a catch xavier gibson is accustomed to making and should have made on that play he would have put his team as you said john tied in this ball game here's third and five for trey self sfa oh for two on third self looking scrambles out fires up the field as a man wide open nice little move inside the 40. and down to the 35 yard line lawton reichel the catch and run of 24 yards for the former high schooler from canyon texas well a nice job again by trey self running around escaping the pocket rolling to his right looking downfield and he threw an absolute dart to reichel reichel did the rest in the open field great run after catch yards steven f austin into acu territory for the second time in this game grayself has two by two self hasn't missed on a throw yet it's only three for three officially though looks like he's changing something at the line and before the play time-out called by stephen f austin lumberjacks want to talk it over moving into acu territory early second quarter thanks for being with us on espn it's been a great series between stephen f austin and acu acu leads it narrowly 11 to 9 but since the two teams joined the southland three and three and last year it took two overtimes for acu to beat sfa as a first down handoff goes for just a couple one yard for daily on ward but it seems like shea whenever these two teams get together it's a really tight one well and you can expect that to be the case on a go forward basis because the way that both of these coaches recruit the type of players that they're looking for we discussed that a little bit earlier in the ball game but their their mentality is very similar and it's a very competitive one on both sides of the football so expect the these as long as karthel is at stephen f austin and doral is at abilene christian you can expect that type of a rivalry game second down for self scrambling dumping it underneath and throwing it over the head of daley on ward leaves a third down and nine his self ends up on the turf well good pressure by the wildcats defensive front four they are just creating a lot of havoc in the backfield and trey self started off rolling out to his left ended up having to start coming back to his right and there's a lot of again a lot of pressure there on trey's self and right into the face of our head linesman gerald woodruff got a little help from kobe karthel they're there to put the glasses back on here's third down a little bit of a late snap self plenty of time though wings at middle has a man it's caught xavier gibson working his way free down to the 20-yard line a gain of 12 in a first down john i'll say a lot of young quarterbacks will take that ball and run you see that first move to run the football coming up stepping up in the pocket but he delivers a perfect pass downfield to xavier gibson to pick up the first down that was a very very well thrown ball and well executed play by trey self and it means that sfa is in the red zone for the first time xavier gibson making his second big grab of the day empty set for the first time for young trey self [Applause] self grabs the snap still looking moving away from the defense and just has to toss it away stephen f austin second down 10. well downfield coverage was good pocket protection was okay for the lumberjacks but just after a time there was a couple of cracks and some of the defenders were able to get away from their blockers but that was good coverage downfield in the secondary which allowed the defensive line to put the pressure on eighth play of the drive and sfa goes back to the empty set this time a quarterback draw finds a little lane gets behind an offensive lineman and dives down to the 14 for a pickup of six leaving a third down and four acu's chica wonko there is a last line of defense doing a good job of making some moves and picking up as many positive yards as he can [Applause] cheeky nawenko in on the tackle for acu [Music] third down little option play lots of room for self and he has the first down little belly option self pulls it and he picks up 10 first and goal for sfa that's a little bit of the naked bootleg but looking over the short side of the field and trey self knew that he could get to the first down yardage does a good job being patient not trying to get too much out of it he knows he doesn't want to take a big hit lower in the shoulder good idea to get out of bounds this job by chad awning shielding out in front sets up a first and goal from the four [Applause] itself with some motion but keeps it himself big block by keegan holm and a touchdown for trey self sfa an extra point away from tying it up wow designed quarterback run in the right side of the offensive line doing yeoman-like work creating that scene for trey's self to get in keegan holman also down there for sfa really nice job by the center getting to the second level on for the extra point chris campos he's a hometown kid out of nakado just bangs it through steven f austin with a long drive spanning the quarters and putting it in the hands of the 6-4 quarterback trey self to tie it up southland conference football on espn is brought to you by ready nutrition official sports drink of the southland conference and by canon game time drive for steven al boston went 10 plays 74 yards took 430 off the clock ends up at a four yard touchdown run by trey self to tie it up now the kickoff really lilting out in front of the return man here comes jordan brooks wes trying to make some moves the former player that's been at smu and florida atlantic with a 14-yard return abilene christian's first drive ended up in a touchdown in the first quarter and had some pretty good hookups well did a nice job that offensive line giving a lot of time for the wildcats offense to get on track and you've got a power running game like they have coming down with tyrese white and jeremiah dobbins it creates a lot of problems peyton manziel slinging it on first down tries to drill it but it's in and out of the hands of his tight end brandon hohenstein who goes at six foot five to 33. they're looking for the quick dump off pattern [Applause] good job defensively to be right there on the ball and make sure that hoenstein couldn't come up with the catch manziel with the lead arm strength and on second down he's back to the air this time nice grab by kobe clark it just sticks to his mids out to the 33-yard line a gain of seven leaving a third down three and kobe clark's down on the field his body got a little tweak because he goes back behind you'll see another take another look great camera work here and then you see the catch behind him and then as the tackle comes down and see maybe the right leg got nicked up a little bit so he's walked off tk lloyd helping bring him down clark the former walk-on really a tough cookie out of sweetwater texas here's third down manzel plenty of room to run you can do this all day slides for the first down out to the 40. [Music] well he made sure this time when scrambling with the football to pick up the first down without question manziel doing a good job of reading the defense breaking it down nowhere to go downfield with the ball decides to run picks up the first down heads up play [Music] and a play action here for manzel rolling out and finding his receiver hohenstein or rather that's dax niece getting one foot down on the play picking up 10 right at midfield for a first down his niece i like the action of what josh lamberson offensive coordinator for the wildcats is doing and putting mansell he's rolling out a bunch and we see him going either left or right and he seems ridiculously comfortable doing both and he throws a dart downfield to dak's knees for the first down that's what the offensive coordinator and head coach loved about their stable of quarterbacks they can all move this year manziel throws the out route reach and grab by taylon williams who had a big game against army three weeks ago that's a gain of three just another quick pass slot receiver coming down and man he makes a heck of a catch williams stretching out and it took every bit of that 5-9 frame i think it was to get it pretty good coverage by tk lloyd the nickel second down just into sfa territory acu trying to figure out a way to retake the lead crawling forward tyrese white but he can't keep his feet nothing there for white leaving a third down and seven but this abilene christian offense that spin pretty good on third down here in the first half john crist the big left tackle six foot five out of abilene played six-man football in high school defends that blind side of peyton manziel here on third down and seven adeline christian three for four on third down today [Applause] [Music] manziel back to the air a little bit of room for brooks west but he's not able to get anywhere miles brooks steps up to make the stop yeah i was going to say miles brooks just made a fantastic open field tackle you've got a wide receiver catching the ball and he is in motion you've got to lock down hold down and just maintain your position and miles brooks did that to perfection [Applause] loses the helmet in the process the sophomore from flugerville near houston with the stop and logan burke comes on to punt again and try to pin stephen f austin back deep waiting back on it is xavier gibson [Applause] [Music] end over end kick by burke hits inside the 10 takes an angle kick and into the end zone for the touch back stephen f austin out to their 20 when we come back a tight one between two game teams that always play it tight here in arlington both these teams have outstanding kids in the classroom seven seven are scoring our jostens classroom champion for sfa gavin roland 2018 co-side of google cloud academic all district because of his almost 3.9 gpa and look at that cellular and molecular biology are you kidding me this safety gets it done on the field and in the classroom as well first down for self in the offense and boy he hits a tight window for a first down a nice moving grab by remy simmons for a stephen f austin first down in the game at 12. you know john you said almost four i'm going to say this it's a 3.88 and i was so impressed by the grade point average by our josten's classroom champion well deserved absolutely like i said they've got guys on both ends that get it done first down out to the 32 yard line the new running back is jacquarion turner redshirt freshman and he gets the call cuts it back nicely and has a five-yard pickup out to the 37-yard line jaquarian turner skilled player that's gaining confidence which with each and every game in his freshman season he had a severe knee injury last summer it caused him to miss 2019. oh and he is getting back into running back mode and one of the things that the coaches are working with him on is the big tackles for loss and make being more decisive when you're running the football to negate the negative yards on carries second down for sfa and another give to turner lots of blocking out in front he's able to plunge forward for three leaving a third down and two stephen f austin got on the board thanks to a methodical drive that ended in a score trey self was a big part of that in the run game component of it and design quarterback run here to get it in the end zone offensive line doing a great job excuse me that was to pick up the first down and it was so good for them they said hey let's do it again trace up right over the right hand side of the offensive line and punched it into the end zone for a tying score on third down here they give it to jaquarian turner but he comes up short on third and two he's gonna leave a fourth down and one here for stephen f austin here comes the punting unit with sfa and acu tied up at seven [Music] max quick on to punt sophomore out of lufkin acu has jordan brooks wes waiting back deep to receive as the defenses have started to take over just a little bit a little late pressure nice spiraling kick fair catch call for up to 15 drifting to his left by jordan brooks west a 44-yard putt and no return here in arlington southland conference football on espn is brought to you by insurance office of america by levy recognition and by crystal clear imaging real print solutions real big results back in arlington texas at globe live park the former home of the texas rangers i'm john little with shea walker and matty morris abilene christian with the football and a fake pitch and a keeper instead for peyton manziel who's only able to gain one out to the 16-yard line acu tried to catch him napping but miles hurd would have none of it manziel led a touchdown drive back in the first quarter punctuated by a tyrese white touchdown run manziel back to put it in the air some backside pressure hangs it up has a man kobe clark but it's picked off bruce harmon harmon hit and dropped bruce harmon the redshirt freshman out of rockwell texas with his second interception of the year and a beauty i don't know if you will see a more athletic interception as bruce harmon he timed the ball perfectly and you always hear about going high point for the football and he basically snatches the ball right out of the hands of the receiver that's just an outstanding play taking a shot for kobe clark harmon with the interception holding it out like dion on a return for 16. and sfa comes up with their second turnover of the game not much on first down for jaquarian turner he's taken down right at the line of scrimmage but an excellent opportunity for the lumberjacks who were down seven nothing really the start to this game for them was pretty inauspicious but uh they're in a golden opportunity now here late in the second [Applause] [Music] xavier gibson in motion the big play man [Music] on second down late throw over the middle and he finds jaquarian turner nice little dump off for six leaves a third down and four how about the reaction time there for trey self it just pushes the ball out over the top like a shot put but it was enough to find jaquarian turner [Applause] [Music] turner the red shirt freshman able to bring it in as the lumberjacks try to go in for their first lead of the game sfa coming off two wins over division two teams looking for their first win over division one team this season self gives it to turner turner spinning but down for just a gain of one it leaves a fourth down three and maybe that call means they're thinking four down territory oh great open field tackle by nawanko coming out of that linebacker spot did a great job of bringing jaquarian turner down short of the yardage to gain and it looks like lumberjacks are going to stay out there maybe see if they can get a false start or excuse me on offsides call it a fourth down and a full four here and they're going for it self up the sideline wide open daily on ward trying to cut it back he's down at the 10 yard line out of the backfield a catch and run of 26. ward is down holding his wrist he is hurting but steven f austin now knocking on the doorstep well just out schemed is what they did for stephen f austin lumberjack's offense executed that play to perfection obviously a man not where he's supposed to be for acu but unfortunately de leon ward down on the ground and again holding that right wrist does not look good looks like that hit by the strong safety byron robinson jr was right on that wrist and trey self really with the beauty of a pass up the sideline to put the lumberjacks in business yeah and you got to love matt storm offensive coordinator being bold and going for that thing on fourth down it was a heady play you've got those certain plays that you probably only call on third or fourth down when you need them and that was a time to pull one out as they continue to look at ward here late in the second quarter an opportunity to take the advantage i mean you have to do those types of things and you have to be ready to execute them and you just have to tip your hat to the lumberjack offense they executed the play to perfection and deleon ward picks up the first down now he's averaging about five yards of carry and he's been the most productive back for the lumberjack offense so hopefully this is not an uh a game-ending injury he's jogging off okay but still the right side right arm is uh not looking good no it's not and they're already without josh mcgowan who has been out since the smu game he was one of their leading returning rushers with about 450 yards and six touchdowns last year and you see the way deleon ward is hanging that right arm next to him like you said it doesn't look good makes it down to the 10 yard line it's a first and goal from there for steven f austin trying to take their first lead of the game as we roll under two minutes to play during the first half grace elf gives it to gibson gibson sweeping finding some room jack gibbons brings him down for a gain of four down to the six yard line when you have a player like xavier gibson you don't really need to create a hole you just need to make a seam he's so dynamic so athletic he can squirt through or weave his way through a lot of traffic without getting hit sfa not in a hurry plenty of time here on second down and goal looking to take the lead trey self had a touchdown run the first time they were down here [Music] gibson in motion again another give to gibson makes a man miss gibson nice block to the edge but it's coming back he's out of bounds at the one yard line but there's a crack back block coming against sfa this might be a big break for abilene christian if this flag is indeed coming back thanks to an illegal block [Applause] personal foul number eleven top end that's a 15-yard penalty replay second down jeremiah miller hustling back to get this extra block jay i mean it's definitely that's the unprotected now he doesn't he doesn't hit the defender ryan snap he doesn't hit him illegally or behind the back but is that block that they're taking out of college football right now for the protection of the players on those blind sides you just can't lower the shoulder like that you can't be looking back toward your own goal line and making a block like that it's just illegal these days and that 15-yard penalty instead of a third and goal at the one it makes it a second and goal all the way back at the 21-yard line quite a momentum shifter for steven f austin and acu for that matter as sfa picks up their first penalty each team with one timeout left here in the first half as the lumberjacks try to strike and take the lead [Applause] [Music] self on play action dumps it underneath here's jaquarian turner turner up the sideline bumped out of mounds that stops the clock down at the 11 yard line on the pickup of 10 and that's where they have third down and goal from the 11 yard line well trey self slinging that ball out you just see the quick flick of the wrist it's a sidearm throw gets it out to jakur and turner so he can pick up enough yards to at least make it a more palatable third and goal agrarian turner in there in place of daily on ward who went down with that injury earlier on on the drive after picking up 26 on a fourth down here's third and goal for trey self and the lumberjacks big four-point play here [Music] self surveys tucks throws to the end zone it's incomplete xavier gibson put both hands on it but could not draw it into his body fourth down very hard to navigate the back of the end zone which is what gibson was doing he's coming across and just that's a catch he should make that's a catch he makes routinely every single day he was seeing byron robinson the safety coming into his view trying to shift it away from him and it ends up being incomplete on for a 28-yard field goal attempts chris campos to try to put sfa in front it's blocked and it's picked up acu returning ryan step step down the sideline step nobody home ryan stop turns it around jack gibbons blocks it ryan stapleton turns it and abeleen christian swings in front we talk about momentum making plays that ball never hit the ground ryan stapp fields it cleanly and nobody's gonna catch it 85 yards on the return for the sophomore cornerback out of college station the only man he had to beat was the holder max quick he gallops for the go ahead score wow what a turn lara zepeda on for the extra point for acute it looked like steven f austin was about to take the lead here in arlington instead improbably ryan stop puts the wildcats in front that's a bang bang play jack gibbons gets a hand on that field goal attempt and i love the reaction there by ryan stapp not only did he field it cleanly he was in full stride at just a nanosecond after that you see he's catching his breath and getting a lot of congratulations there from his teammates might be the biggest play of his career as a freshman he was a hero sports honorable mention all-american to their freshman team after playing a lot last season for acu in the defensive backfield with three interceptions and stephen f austin's colby carthall sees this game turn in such a hurry his team moving the football that 15-yard penalty on the crack back block that moved it back on the blind side block and then eventually the field goal blocked and adam doral's team is up wild wild first half here in arlington [Applause] see if corbin white or remy simmons can do something about it returning this kick by blair cepeda steven f austin is going to have to come up with some points in a hurry at the end of the first half only one time out left for both teams zebedee's kickoff is all the way down to the two taken there by remy simmons simmons angling to the edge knocked out of bounds at the 22-yard line forced out by tristan anderson the sophomore cornerback and 78 yards out in front of sfa with only 32 seconds to play in the half tell you trey self has played a really good first half yet he looks up and he finds his team down by seven that doesn't even tell the whole story eight of 11 106 through the year but the touchdown on the ground as well well we see we don't see de leon ward back in the game jaquarian turner has been filling that role since ward made that great play on third or fourth down excuse me turner makes the grab out of the backfield spins down for a gain of eight yards out to the 30-yard line sfa not spending their time out as the clock rolls 15 seconds to play in the half as self takes the another snap [Applause] first down to turner turner edges his way up to the 42-yard line that stops the clock with five seconds and sfa calls their final timeout a chance for one more play down by a score yeah i like the use of the clock there by cole mcarthur head coach and [Music] you know if we see himself drop back and sling it down i feel i don't think he can get the ball to the end zone but you can still make a play downfield get a defensive pass interference or some kind of call coming up here at halftime stay tuned for our halftime show matty morris will have the commissioner of the southland conference tom burnett we'll get an update in this very interesting year of 2020 i know tom is really hopeful about what's to come the rest of this academic year in the southland and some bright things are coming up he'll talk to maddie about that and also we hope to get more help for the people of lake charles who have not been hit by just one hurricane this hurricane season but two the home of mcneese state has been hit hard before this play a timeout called by abilene christian as they spend their last one time out also should we set the clock back to five seconds here in the first half as adam doral's been left shaking his head here some in the first half acu certainly hasn't played perfectly shae but again look up on the scoreboard they're up thanks to the locked field goal that's just the continuous effort that you expect and adam girl expects of his team as well as kobe carthage we talked about this earlier and i'm saying these both of these coaches are very dynamic energetic positive coaches and their expectations of their teams are to be hard-nosed competitive don't make mistakes and and really i would say the level of play that we have seen from stephen f austin since cartel's been there his second year in adam durrell in his fourth year at abilene christian has been outstanding last play of the half underneath to gibson gibson trying to find some blocks into abilene christian territory picks up the first down but that's the end of the first half gibson had a couple of potential touchdown grabs go off his hands in the first half and you see you gets a big turn after one of those with a blocked vehicle for a touchdown the acu wildcats thanks to that 85-yard return by ryan stapp lead over steven f austin 14-7 at the break in the first ever college football game played here at globe live park in arlington the former home of the texas rangers and what a first one we have for you it's also the only time the two southland teams will meet in the 2020 calendar year because the southland conference's main schedule got pushed to the spring this year along with most other fcs programs shay what do you think sfa is feeling as they head into the locker room in some ways outplayed acu but down by seven well i think again coach carthol is going to go into the locker room and he's going to tell the guys exactly what they had and what they have going on in their opportunities in the second half he can do that and i feel comfortable about it and let's hear from adam doral the head coach at abilene christian maddie coach a huge play there at the end of that half how is that going to help the momentum for your team going into this second half well i think it gave us a great spark uh jack gibbons came clean and blocked it ryan picked it up he's got great speed so hopefully we can build on that you guys scored early in the game but then obviously offensively you guys have been a little bit of a lull what do you need to see out of that yeah we just got to get rid of the penalties we're getting first and 15s we've had way too many false starts uh that's really hurting us right now we got some guys out guys got to step up so we just got to get regrouped we'll come out and play good second half awesome thanks coach thank you adam doral the head coach of abilene christian sees his team up at halftime by seven it's been a half of big plays trey self striking for sfa but he was done just a little bit welcome inside globe life park at halftime where aveline christian leads stephen f austin 14-7 i have the pleasure of being joined by southland conference commissioner tom brunette tom thank you so much for joining me we have a couple questions for you obviously this year has been a weird year with coven 19 the pandemic canceling seasons canceling sports what are we looking forward to about the spring and about this next next year well you're right it has been a strange year maddie and uh you know i think we see today what we've been missing and there's these tight conference games that we come becoming accustomed to every fall and you know we'll have a little bit of that in the spring and um it'll be different it'll be strange um but uh we've got seven schools that want to play in the spring we've got other sports that are also going to go to the spring um i remind people we've still got two months left in 2020 so we'll wait and see what other surprises but of course we've got basketball right around the corner yeah you talk about basketball coming up very soon here in november what's basketball going to look like in terms of conference non-conference play what do we have to look forward to with basketball okay i think i heard you there maddie but the dancing queen but uh about basketball coming up uh you know we've we've got a conference schedule starting in january we've got some non-conference games that are still being put together here in the last few weeks before the season we've got testing in place for all of our basketball teams we're really proud about that and you know the plan right now is to move forward as best we can with basketball and of course we want to get to postseason unfortunately we had to cancel our tournament midway last year and then go on to march madness so we're all working on that talking about this spring and how much we're going to be have going on with also football in the spring we've been hosting here the southland has been hosting the conference fcs championship what do we have to look forward to about that yeah there will be a spring playoff it'll be a little smaller bracket it'll be 16 teams it'll be played over about a four week period and we'll uh plan to have a championship game in frisco as we do every year but this year it's on may 15th so it's going to be a little different the weather's going to be a little different probably but we hope to crown a national champion and hope to have one of our southland conference teams in that game well awesome thank you so much for joining me tom and we will look forward to everything that we have coming up in the spring thank you maddie [Music] thanks back at globe life bark in arlington adeline christian up on stephen f austin 14-7 at the half thanks so much for being here and in the southland conference mcneese state and the town of lake charles in louisiana has been devastated by two hurricanes this hurricane season hurricane laura came through in late august followed by hurricane delta more of a rain maker and it just made matters worse the damage is devastating please give if you can go to mcneesefoundation.org give and help lake charles and help mcneese state and the surrounding community get back on their feet these great people who have been devastated this year by mother nature's fury coming up highlights from the first half and boy there were plenty abilene christian up by seven at the break it's always tight between abilene christian and stephen f austin acu with the 14-7 lead at the half let's show you how we got here shay walker it was kind of ugly early well a couple of big hits on defense brevin randall the leading tackler for the lumberjacks forces the ball loose but on the ensuing play the ball goes back on the ground from deleon ward sfa turning it over and now acu started to use the power run game getting into the end zone and then to just top that back off lumberjacks come back with trey self he sinks it into the end zone after a great drive moving the ball down the field and here is the most impactful play so far in this ball game the field goal attempt gets blocked by jack gibbons picked up in the air by ryan stapp he outruns everybody for the touchdown and that's the difference in the ball game right now and he throws up the deuce like his teammate did last week lj mcconnell this time it results in a score 14-7 second half kick is next 14-7 abilene christian leading stephen at boston at the break and let's show you how we got here stats wise first half stats pretty even from the first half except for pass yards sfa with a big lead there shay well you do talk about these two teams being evenly coached in in kind of competitive in the close contest while you can see the numbers right but also too keep in mind that stephen f also now has gone for it they're two for two on fourth down conversions and and those aren't just little easy plays they had to actually earn those yards which is very difficult but you like coba cartha rolling the dice on that colby carthall is downstairs with our mattie morris i had an opportunity to talk to coach carthel coming out of the locker room and i asked him what was the message at halftime and he said you know i told him guys we are three or four plays away from being a tie game or being in the lead games are not won in the first half they're one in the second half so we just need to continue to play hard and things will work out in our favor i also asked him on the status of daley on ward and he said he is out for the remainder of the game it's a tough blow thank you so much maddie because daily on ward it means a lot to that running game for stephen alfosten they're already without running back josh mcgowan and he's a senior now another senior day leon ward is out they're gonna have to turn to a couple freshmen in the backfield stephen f austin will have the ball to start the second half however and the lumberjacks have moved it well since their first drive of the game which resulted in the fumble i mean you think trey self i mean he's settled down and both of these quarters back have been very dynamic but you know you like the way that he's again he comes into the game tray self completing 61 of his passes he's got four touchdown passes coming into today with three interceptions but his concept and his understanding and his learning of the offense is at a pace where offensive coordinator matt starman head coach karthel are extremely comfortable with and he did a really nice job of moving and getting the stephen f austin lumberjack offense moving down the field and putting pressure on the acu defense he's looked comfortable comfortable in the pocket knowing when to scramble when to stay put and he'll have the first crack in the second half as corbin white and remy simmons weight back deep for stephen f austin and blair zepeda gets it started in the second half you're just joining us we're at globe life park in arlington the former home of the texas rangers beautiful 60-degree day fall is here in north texas and simmons takes it across the 30 hops out of a tackle has some room to the edge simmons stays on his feet flag flies as a painted tried to bring down remy simmons for now a return of 45 yards but we'll check the flag sfa did not have many penalties in the first half in fact just one for 15 but the penalty that they did have took away some field position that ended up making them attempt a field goal that was blocked and returned for a touchdown here's referee dan lewis there is no foul in the play side block first down sfa and the first time it was a blind side block in the first half that took points off the board basically here we'll see if we can get a look yeah remy sim is doing a great job of finding the green grass it looked like it might have happened somewhere behind that run but the officials have ruled on it not a penalty and lumberjack offense ready to roll electric return by remy simmons to start the second half at the 47-yard line of acu that's exactly what the lumberjacks needed to start the second half they had more than 200 yards in kick returns last week versus angelo state that helped flip the game colby karthel said it had been a long time if ever here at stephen f austin that we had dominated the special teams like we did last week and that helped them win that ball game grayself with a touchdown run in the first half starts the second half off with a handoff to jaquarian turner turner reverses field turner up the sideline and inside the 30-yard line a nifty run of 18. yeah that nifty run of 18 entails a little bit of a swerving curving path as he goes up into the middle of the line of scrimmage does turner his low snap himself is able to get the ball into the hands of turner he's got the ball on the right side we can talk about that being a redshirt freshman you want to get that ball away from the defenders but what an athletic move that he made to break it out to the right side and pick up big yards turner runs right into the weak side linebacker jack gibbons for just a gain of one but we talked about it in the first half now jaquarian turner he's a skilled guy that's just starting to gain confidence after the knee injury knocked him away from his true freshman year last season well if you can get the run game established like that with dynamic runners and the passing game will certainly follow and [Applause] you've got a couple of big-time targets out there for trey's self self quick pass out to gibson gibson slips at tackle and then he's slipped down just a pickup of two down to the 25-yard line leaves it third down [Applause] try to get the wide receiver screen out there xavier gibson had a couple of drops in the first half and i'd say both of them would have been touchdowns that doesn't mean that trey self's going to lose confidence in his main man the sophomore xavier gibson he's got two receiving touchdowns on the season he averages 16 yards i mean he's an extremely dynamic player on third down to wide snap self picks it up and just able to get rid of it for chad awning but a little bit of a trouble spot at the center spot clint lapic the normal starting center is out injured keegan holmes had to slide over from right guard to the center spot he played it a little bit in high school but here's the wide snap by holm just a little bit outside the right hand but alertly trey self is able to field the ball cleanly picking it up throwing an incomplete pass not to lose the line of scrimmage campos had his first kick blocked this is from 42. this one is away plenty of distance and he nails it big bounce back kick by chris campos the redshirt freshman out of nacogdoches the hometown kid bangs it through to make it a four-point game and so points on the board to start the second half for sfa first drive as you just said points on the board that has to make coach carthel and the lumberjack sideline get a little bit more enthused about it and exactly what you want to do if you have possession the first possession of the second half has come out and put the points up tell you jack gibbons helped stop that drive for stephen f austin with a really nice tackle as we look at our justin's classroom champion and now look it's jack gibbons for abilene christian and my goodness the resume here his major in accounting 4.0 a perfect gpa and he was a first-team academic all-american last year southland conference all academic of course and the biggest thing he's up for the academic heisman they call it the campbell trophy he's a semi finalist and that's between division one fbs programs division one fcs programs jack gibbons has made the cut he is an outstanding outstanding young man dylan brown to kick off for stephen f austin pops it up racing underneath it brooks west out to the 25 the 30 hit from the side and driven back jordan brooks wes a little number change this week last week he's wearing 15 today switching over to number seven and the shifty return man gives his wildcats some pretty good field position out past the 30-yard line with shea walker the former texas a m wide receiver i'm john little alongside matty morris get our next look at peyton manziel how have you felt about manziel's first half in this game i thought he played really well in the first half and again settling down into the role understanding and learning the offense he's a transfer from iowa he's had a couple of games under his belt so far this season but they haven't played in a couple of weeks until today so i expect to see him continue to stay sharp goes to the tight end holmen stein and boy can he rumble into sfa territory brandon hohenstein all 233 pounds of him for 30 yards yeah it's 6'5 233 he kind of lumbers but the stride will fool you he had a 61-yard touchdown against army a couple of weeks ago this fullback tj templeson says he's just a beast he can block and then drop 100 yards on you from the 35 manzel bootlegs off to the right sets his feet up the field looking for clark and it's incomplete not much separation there and willie roberts stays with it to knock it away it's a nice job there by willie roberts because if that ball had gotten through kobe clark was a step and a half behind you see and you'll see the right excuse me the left hand the willy roberts come up and he knocks that ball away otherwise kobe clark's gonna pick up a big game taking a shot from the 35-yard line good play by willie roberts and this is a stephen f austin defense especially in the defensive backfield that struggled with injuries this season on second and ten manziel takes a look to the sideline and before the snap a stoppage and another early half time out sfa stephen f austin and defensive coordinator scott power wants to talk it over first drive of the second half for abilene christian leading by four southland conference football on espn is brought to you by hercules tires ride on our strength by josten's official championship ring provider of the southland conference these two teams vying for an unofficial championship ring this year the only southland game played in 2020 between these two teams that one's bobbled over the middle and intercepted in and out of the hands of kobe clark and on the other end tk lloyd picks it out of the air stephen f austin comes up with a turnover yeah a lot of traffic in there peyton manziel trying to thread the needle just off the hands of kobe clark and t.k lloyd the sophomore and he's a big backup linebacker plays in the defensive backfield does a great job of concentrating you see a little double clutch right there trying to thread the needle down clark had it bobbled it and t.k lloyd goes and snags it out of the air great play by t.k lloyd not losing track of that football doesn't normally happen to kobe clark sure-handed player with 87 receptions last year gibson underneath the defense with the first down catch and he's lassoed out of bounds by abilene christians tristan anderson pickup of three on first down for stephen f austin as the lumberjacks picked up three on their first drive of the second half a 42-yard field goal by chris campos and now trey self and company looking for more [Music] abilene christian came in with a negative two turnover ratio it's been increased to negative four thanks to their three giveaways today [Music] self gives it to the red shirt freshman turner bouncing off bodies and he's down for a gain of three jacob thielen on the stop the redshirt freshman out of broomfield colorado well you talk about the takeaways though bruce harmon what a great interception he had earlier for the lumberjacks and then t.k lloyd now coming up with an almost as acrobatic interception so defensively the lumberjacks are ball hawking this acu offense see if trey self puts it in the air on third down and three new running back in the game treyjon henderson himself standing back unleashes it has a man deep it's caught gibson down to the 20. oh what a throw 45 yards in a first down for stephen f austin well xavier gibson i'm not sure how he got so far behind the defense without a safety coming back over the top but one of the most dynamic players in in the southland conference certainly running along on the sideline not a comfortable feeling i think self was surprised at how open xavier gibson was 46 yards officially it was ryan staff was the cornerback on that players xavier gibson the big play man continues to do work with six catches for 86 yards no player in the southland conference over the last couple years has there's a chain issue see if they can get that worked out xavier gibson just a big play guy let's look at the play again yeah we got a deep safety looks like he might have lost his footing before he could turn back around looks like maybe cam stokes brian bullock just a little bit late the handoff to turner and he's blown up again by jacob phelan [Applause] jacob thielen making a couple plays on this drive 6-3 249 out of colorado went to faith christian academy you see those two pulling linemen and you just see how quickly thielen follows that line follows those two pulling guards or the guard in the tackle excuse me and he comes up and he makes a play a tackle in the backfield for for a negative play an entirely new defensive line for acu feeling being productive you're second down self bootlegs out dumps it underneath trying to make something happen but there's just nothing there as remy simmons loses one on the play leaves a third down 13. wildcat defense swarming to the football clint brown defensive coordinator he's got to be pleased with this team right now after giving up that big play buckling down and forcing third and long no doubt [Applause] empty set now for trey self he's picked up one long third down on this drive south blitzed rolls out of it self looking for something throws toward the end zone and overshoots xavier gibson throwing it over his head there is a flag back near the original line of scrimmage we'll see if that goes against stephen f austin or acu no traceup really didn't have an option to throw the ball too all the downfield receivers were well covered by the wildcat defense only 72 offense that penalties declined fourth down looks like another opportunity for the stephen f austin kicking unit as colby cartel brings chris campos out for a 40-yard attempt this time campos just hit from 42 left hash this time off the right hatch his punter max quick as the holder kick is away with distance again and good chris campos has shaken off that blocked kick and has all six sfa points in the second half tightening this game [Music] turnovers one of the stories of this game stephen f austin has come up with a few well they had bruce harmon did a great job of making that pick however after the stephen if austin office drove all the way down the field they got the field goal blocked now on the second interception in the third quarter tk lloyd comes up with that they put points on the board so certainly makes a big difference in the momentum swings of the game points off turnovers right now thanks to the three turnovers by abilene christian stephen f austin had yet to score on one until that 40-yard field goal adeline christian turned the fumble by stephen f austin early on into their only touchdown of the first half quite an interesting story it's telling coming out of his own 20-yard line with a little bit of a step is jordan brooks west knocked down out across the 25 to the 29 yard line that's where emily christian starts with it speaking of good drives they had one moving shay uh before the bobbled ball by kobe clark turned in to the interception thrown by peyton manziel the first the second time he'd been picked this year we've seen a lot of throws that mansell has made in their pinpoint accurate throws but they're in a lot of traffic and it's difficult at times to make those catches manzel has to pull it down yeah he was looking at kobe clark instead picks up five as he takes it out near the 35-yard line defensively there were a couple of solid purple jerseys you see as manziel is looking he wisely decides not to throw the football because he had a couple of guys in his face tuxed as you said picks up five yards not a bad play on first down on a broken play dennis osagade the transfer out of umass was right there a give to tyrese white white skips his way across the 35 a little short of the first down leaves a third down here for abilene christian third down about three well the sledding is getting a little bit tougher here for the wildcats offense an offensive line where they were making plays creating seams earlier in the game this lumberjack defense has made some adjustments abilene christian has not had many opportunities on third down three of five motion on the play and a handoff coming around the edge lj mcconnell mcconnell down the sideline mcconnell out of bounds inside the 35 yarder yard line the quick hitter on the jet sweep goes for 31. well it miles heard the safety had a good angle on him but it was way down the field and l.j mcconnell turns on the jets on a much needed moving of the chains for this wildcat offense [Applause] [Music] great play design get your fastest guys out there outrun the angle the safety have to come up and say make a touchdown saving tackle connell the speedster the transfer out of liberty blitz manziel able to run away from it ball pops free and it's recovered by abilene christian could have been the fourth turnover but popping the ball out was miles heard with the solid hit thankfully for asu brandon hohenstein there to recover we're seeing this lumberjack defense dialing up the pressure and aggressiveness there is not a whole lot of time for peyton manziel see the helmet on the football jars it out [Music] miles heard forcing his second fumble this season but acu jumps on top of it second down 10. another handoff this is brooks west jordan brooks west able to skip to the edge not quite as successful as mcconnell was just a pickup of four leaves a third down and six as steven f austin continues to bring the lumber the lumberjacks able to string this out a lot better than they did before jaterius evans comes in makes a big hit making sure that there is no more additional yards to be gained [Applause] manzel on third down goes to the air and a miscommunication he was looking the way of dax niece who kept his feet moving down the sideline and instead it's a fourth down on the throwaway john mansell didn't have much time at all to get rid of that football and the pressure was there and he was he took a shot to the lower body as he was trying to throw which could have been part of the reason that ball was so much off target that's a great point abilene christian has to settle for a try at three blair zepeda prize one from 45 yards left hash his season long is 46. he hasn't missed a field goal this year zepeda sidewinding kick zepeda wide on the field goal and sfa makes a stop the lumberjacks get it back trailing by just one couple field goals made this half by stephen f austin but blair zepeda just wide on his offering a tight one in arlington stephen f austin with a good contingent of support here at globe live park in arlington sfa trying to drive for their first lead of the game trailing abilene christian 14-13 and after holding on the field goal self pulls it back calls his own number and picks up four yards out to the 32-yard line trey self scored the first touchdown and the only touchdown of this game for the lumberjacks on the ground well this is a team who's averaging 16 points a game and relatively balanced on offense averaging over 100 yards and uh just over 200 yards passing so starting to hit like a rhythm or a vibe trey self that the trigger is uh doing a great job leaving this offense jaquarian turner with the handoff on the counter and he runs right into an a defender who pushes him back i mean there is just absolutely nothing there that is a loss of four thanks to the big hit by will morgan gabrielle freeny and will morgan getting back in there but just that's beating your block at the line of scrimmage and driving it back through as you said will morgan again do a great job of getting inside that offensive lineman and finding his way to the football now the counter action just did not work sets up a third down and 11 for sfa two field goal drives here in the second half for the lumberjacks [Applause] self on third down dumps it over the middle it's played nicely brought in by jeremiah miller but there's only two yards to be gained brings up a fourth down and nine yeah swarming defense by the wildcats that little slip screen nothing doing on that play to ray jones and company helping to erase it as the wildcats had to completely rebuild this defense in the season under defensive coordinator clint brown they only had one returning starter in jack gibbons everybody else new as far as starting some of them played rotationally and no other starters back punt is away nice spiraling kick and jordan brooks west calls for the fair catch and safely brings it in it's a 46-yard punt by max quick of stephen f austin and we're settling into a field position game with abilene christian up 14 to 13 on sfa here in the first ever game ncaa wise being played at globe live park matty morris is on the field we were talking earlier he's been mentioned a couple times cade parmalee with abilene christian he was actually the recipient of the 2020 fl mcdonald post graduate scholarship it's an award given to one male and one female student athlete every year for their accomplishments in the classroom on the field and also in their community kate is a 3.96 gpa he took only three years to finish his kinesiology degree now going for his masters and his plan is after graduation to join the seminary and hopefully become an overseas missionary incredible maddie thank you so much you know he's also a fourth year starter he's started at right tackle right guard now left guard this season a sack on first down though abilene christian is in a second down 17 situation peyton manziel zings it over the middle he finds his favorite target kobe clark maneuvering his way out to the 35-yard line a gain of 16 just shy of the first and let's go back to k probably just for a second as we're watching this throw from manzle down to kobe clark kate palmer is also the fcs player of the week earlier this season that's uh that's a great honor for him and everything on his resume just says excellence [Music] third down and one coming up for abilene christian now right up to the line and manziel tries to surge forward and he pops through the other side on the quarterback sneak for a first down the pickup of a round two so abilene christian maneuvering for a first down john on the first play of this series it was a jailbreak rush by the lumberjack defense they penetrated the offense they got in they they came up with a big sack but peyton mansell didn't try to do too much with it he makes a big connection down to kobe clark and then sneaks it over for the first down [Applause] new set of downs for manziel rolls the pocket throws over the middle and finds brandon hohenstein goes to his knees to grab it and he's down at the 47-yard line for a 17-yard pickup into sfa terrorism look at the nifty footwork here by manzil he know he's got pressure coming on his backside you can see it through his peripheral vision and he throws a dart down there where hoenstein can catch the football and again moving the chains big drive for acu when it felt like sfa was starting to take control of this game and on first down counter handoff picking his way tyrese white just a couple for tyrese white to the 45 yard line abilene christian doesn't really have any returning starting running backs billy mccrary is out the senior speedster who was an all-conference player a couple years ago but mccrary's been hurt basically the last two years they lost their top runner from last year so they're trying to rebuild their running game [Applause] on second down and eight manzel backside brusher lofts it up the field and it is intercepted again it's bruce horman one more time bruce harmon what a game this kid has had the quarterback tracking the ball over his shoulder for his second interception of the afternoon the thing i like about bruce harmon is he is playing 100 and we got to flag down on the play and see if it's on the return or on the [Applause] looks like it might be a dead ball foul after the play event harmon as you said tracking the football and how he's doing that i mean it's just that is picture perfect you can't coach it or execute it any better than what he's doing taking a look at it here we believe it is post play after the interception personal foul sfa and late hit out of bounds that penalty enforced will still be sfa's ball first and ten that takes away some field position but at the same time doesn't take away from this incredible play well take another look as you said we're tracking the ball and he's playing it exactly right he had jordan brooks west and he never lost sight of the ball and he's running stride for stride with him and he does just a good ball good a great job of following and tracking the football but when he went and high pointed it on his first interception of the game again that's just textbook should that ball have been thrown to the opposite shoulder back to the inside well it should have been but the pressure that was on peyton manziel uh forced that throw that aaron just a little bit of an errant throw and it's the fourth turnover by acu in this ball game that's what's keeping steven f austin in it no doubt about that as trey self tries to give his team the lead with a nice drive but tip of the cap to the lumberjacks defense they were kind of rebuilt in the off season as well and like we've said their defensive backfield has been riddled with injuries this season this five-game season so far for them but they're playing right through it today on second down a pre-snap penalty coming against the lumberjacks sfa is going to be marching back and john one of the keys to the game that we talked about was the secondary play for steven f austin number nine offense five-yard penalty remaining second down and they've really shown out you talk about the turnovers you've got three interceptions on the game so far too by bruce harmon and tk tk lloyd with his interception one of the touchdowns for acu is a blocked field goal so the defense only giving up seven points now sfa back in their own end at the five yard line for a second and 15 and that is not much room there on the run by jacquari and turner give him two setting up a third down 13 for the lumberjacks [Music] we've noticed in this ball game that these the defensive front for acu is very aggressive and so when they see a pulling guard or a pulling tackle or a pulling guard and tackle they're crashing right down the line of scrimmage and it leads you straight to the football waning moments of the third quarter here in arlington a third down long for trey self and the lumberjacks here's some pressure self off his back foot and it is incomplete just off the hands of jeremiah miller crossing from right to left and nearly brought in on the back side by cam stokes the safety it leads to a fourth down looked like a dangerous throw there by trey self but he did get it to one of in in the area code of one is his receivers jeremiah miller not able to come down with the football miller at six foot two stretching out trying to bring it in now this could be some really good field position for acu punter is max quick it's got to be a good deep snap from chase ruiz it is some pressure but a end over end kick and coming on to make the grab at the 38 yard line inside of sfa territory is jordan brooks west so the wildcats start on the plus side of the 50 as we go to the fourth quarter but it has been another close game between these two teams that seem like they always play close games twists turns big plays what's to come in the fourth quarter we'll find out cool comfortable 57 degree day for a rivalry matchup in arlington texas southland conference football on espn is brought to you by ready nutrition official sports drink of the southland conference and by canon [Music] and heading to the fourth quarter it's a one point leaf rambling christian with the football and with the big gain jeremiah dobbins into the secondary and taking it all the way down near the 10-yard line dobbins dashes for 27 yards well we have seen nico risolilo do a great job the center of setting off these blocks and he has done a wonderful job again springing jeremiah dobbins right up the middle right up the gut of the defense nico russolilo was a starter on a playoff team at towson then grad transferred to acu last year now a second year starter big play another gash up the middle here goes dobbins diamonds to the end zone touchdown what a way to start the fourth quarter jeremiah dobbins does it [Applause] all right well let's talk about the defense for acu first forcing the three and out after they had turned the ball over for the fourth time in the ball game they get the good field position off of the punt two plays into the end zone jeremiah dobbins in that offensive line for acu been talking about that line a lot today big credit for them to open up those holes it was time for them to take over blair zapata takes it in as the big offensive line for abilene christian leads the way for a score for jeremiah tobins on the vision of jeremiah dobbins and being able to use that stiff arm a couple of times on that run keep would-be tacklers away great job getting that ball into the end zone [Applause] let's talk about that offensive line for abilene christian because their motto this year is out hit out run out fun they've got a great offensive line coach that leads them through that they've got three returning starters plus another two with experience as well they've been rotating guys to keep them fresh the wildcats want that offensive line to be the identity of their offensive team and that's what it was on that drive well it wasn't certainly hard for offensive coordinator josh lambertson to come up with what that was going to be and what he wanted to establish and reset the tone because turnovers typically will destroy your momentum but again i go back to the defense what a great job that they did after the interception and the penalty that pushed the ball back for the lumberjack offense the acu defense went three and out forced the punt they got great field position on it and they opened up the fourth quarter with two dynamic plays back to back runs from jeremiah dobbins right up the gut to make the score now 21 for the wildcats 13 for the lumberjacks that's despite four turnovers by abilene christian as zepeda kicks it away ranging back on it corbin white from his own four right between the hashes white has room white out to the 30 and track down from behind finally out at the 35 yard line by acu's zero jiren parker that is a 36 yard return out to the 40. [Applause] let's take a look at the keys to the game today and sometimes shea walker just nails it brought to you by levy recognition look at what you said before this one wildcats front five absolutely they've been awesome lumberjacks on the defensive backfield they've been incredible as well shea what do you have to say for yourself uh you know maybe we get lucky sometime an 11-yard pickup as trey self nails it into jeremiah miller and now we turn our attention to the lumberjacks trying to work their way back into this game trailing by eight and a timeout is called for injury as a wildcat defender is down cam stokes redshirt freshman safety down on the field and we'll take a break abilene chris cam stokes able to make it off the field for abilene christian but a blow to that wildcat defense so stephen f austin tries to drive to potentially tie the game lumberjacks have not scored a touchdown in the second half but do have a couple field goals trace self just across midfield on first down wings it down the sideline oh nearly brought in jeremiah miller adjusting well one for one against tristan anderson but couldn't squeeze it a little bit of arm checking going on by both anderson and miller but miller at the very end of the play had an opportunity take another look at it here a little bit of arm jobs from there but he's got a step trying to refocus and ball goes right through the bread basket yeah they're kind of both stiff arming each other looking to grab that position this game has not been marred by penalties too much i like to see the aggressiveness though of these offenses and how they're going at each other attacking the opposing defense and trey self is definitely taking his shots down the field oh no there's no doubt it's a lot of fun two maybe three yards on the ground for jaquarian turner stephen f austin left with a third down not eight to go inside of midfield [Applause] trey self has a touchdown run the only score of the game for stephen f austin through the year his favorite receiver has been xavier gibson number 19. he's out in the right slot [Applause] third down for self hops in the pocket eludes rushers fires toward the sideline this time a first down jeremiah miller lunging for the gain of 11. i love the way that jeremiah miller comes back after dropping the ball that went through their bed basket he comes out and he's going to secure this catch with his hands take another look to throw right there for himself but as he's passed but he catches it with the hands make sure that he gets the foot in bounds outstanding catch to move the chains by jeremiah miller you know i'm going to vamp on the receivers right that's fine with me first carry of the game by treyjohn henderson the redshirt freshman out of arlington he picks up three in his hometown down to the 33-yard line as stephen f austin tries to get back in this game and it's been a good one a little bit weird at times you know turnovers a blocked kick for a touchdown that sort of thing but it's been fun for a self over 200 yards through the year sends his back into the backfield gives it to henderson henderson with a lane and a first down to the 23 yard line a pickup of 10. now the lumberjacks are rolling treyjon henderson nice job of taking that forward handoff securing the football and then great speed around the edge carries a couple of tacklers for the first down these two teams went to two overtimes last year acu winning at home on their homecoming a season ago empty set on first down and it's a keeper all the way for self can't cut it back gibbons made him turn it back inside a pickup of two for self [Music] jack gibbons just a monster six foot four 240 pounds had 104 tackles last season of course we told you what he does in the classroom as well [Applause] 8th play of this drive for steven f austin as they try to tie the game on this drive potentially self out of the empty look on second and long self has time finds gibson in the middle of the zone erased by gibbons a pickup of five leaves a third down three [Music] the linebacker is doing a great job of keeping that play in front of them they'll give xavier gibson any kind of room to wiggle jack gibbons closes down on that play make sure it doesn't happen lots of time left and one that's been a fun one here from globe live park the former home of the texas rangers third and three eludes a little pressure but he's wrapped up swallowed in and sacked coming in for the sack on the play is joshua james the junior linebacker out of brennan high school in san antonio south just swarmed well you see the pressure up front by quint's hit he comes up and forces trey self out of the pocket he runs right into the arms [Applause] linebacker josh james [Applause] chris campos on for the kick a 38-yard attempt he's hit from 40 plus twice plenty of leg book it plenty good stephen f austin just will not go away emily christian still leads it five five this is southland football abilene christian up 21-16 on stephen f austin and even 10 minutes left in this fourth quarter and the city of lake charles louisiana has been devastated this hurricane season by not one but two hurricanes second one coming through bringing a lot of flooding rain to damaged buildings that had already been ripped apart we invite you to help lake charles please go to that web address and donate today people of lake charles mcneese state they appreciate it the ball is out on the return by acu and sfa says they have it jordan brooks wes was trying to bring it back the ball came out late it's turnover number five claimed by the lumberjacks oh what an opportunity for sfa as mark j smith recovers the fumble oh very uncharacteristic for the wildcats to put the ball on the ground that many times as you said the fifth turnover [Applause] and just trying to do too much and not protecting the football looks like he was rolling on top of a defender as the ball came through late i mean came out late he had it for a while but credit the lumberjacks uh special teams play coming down and getting after the football yeah it looks like his backside was still lifted off the ground when the ball popped free fumble and sfa set up in a great position as they give it to xavier gibson but sharon parker stays right with him a loss of two and what a great play because this is one of the most explosive guys in the conference in the xavier gibson he gets the ball in his hands at full speed and for parker to hold his water and keep that outside leverage and then coming up the solo tackle for a loss parker the transfer out of missouri was on their scout team for two years second down 12 for trey self and stephen f austin trying to take their first lead today self quick find to gibson gibson dashes through defenders gibson close to a first down he picks up 11 he needed 12 third and a half yard you got north and south really quick there and a couple of good blocks out there on the edge bubble screen that time worked out well for the lumberjack offense the lumberjacks since the blocked field goal have done a nice job of converting their trips into points but no touchdowns can they turn around that trend [Applause] self in the offense a third down one turner gets the call turner crashed right at the line of scrimmage i don't think he got there turner push back [Applause] brian bullock filling the hole first bullock the junior safety and there is a man down for acu cheeky wonko the sophomore middle linebacker taking a look at that knee as abilene christian leads stephen f austin by five here and we take a look at the spot it is going to be short and a fourth down opportunity coming up for stephen f austin as they look at juan co-op and you just have to wonder about coach carthel saying how many times we're knocking on the door we're getting turnovers we're creating things and settling for field goals and you got to give all the credit for that to be to the wildcat defense but now with the fourth now i'm saying it'd be a yard maybe a yard and a half if that or maybe half a yard now that we're seeing the chains stretched out so it's a big call it is a big call but i don't think there's any question at this point in the game you go ahead and go for it right i mean you're down by five how many more opportunities are gonna have in this area well you got eight minutes and 17 seconds left in the quarter so you've got to figure you're going to get at least two more possessions at a very minimum you would think and see what karthel wants to do that's why he gets paid the big bucks how about that coming coming off with a positive covetous and defeating the virus for the moment coach carthel rolling the dice i like it he is it's a fourth down and one maybe self takes the snap self keeps it himself but he's wrapping jack gibbons takes him down around the legs read it like a book and acu takes it back on a fourth down stop every time their defense has been had been back against the wall the wildcats have stiffened well it's very good play design but jack gibbons alertly and smartly is not going to let trey self lunge forward for the first down and he forces him back great effort there by the acu defense it's generic and cliche to say a senior is a smart linebacker but he literally is a smart linebacker an academic all-american makes an incredible read a great play acu takes over leading by five with about eight minutes left [Applause] and jeremiah dobbins not much there in fact loses one on this first down play abilene christian has struggled with turnovers today losing five turnovers in the game three fumbles including one on special teams and peyton manziel has thrown two interceptions as well despite the fact they're minus four in the turnover column acu leads by five manziel on second down rolls it out has some time throws back against the grain up the sideline but leads kobe clark a little too much what a play design but clark out overthrown by about two steps i like the way that vancil slings the ball around the yard that was a very well designed play kobe clark had a couple of steps but i mean to think about the accuracy of this throw and how difficult it is you roll off to your right and then you're going to throw below the numbers on the opposite side of the field i mean that's uh the probability of making that completion regardless of how wide open your receiver is is not not not over 20 percent five of eight on third for acu manziel lobs it over to clark he's got to make some room up out to the 20 bounces off a tackle stays alive but well shy of the first down he only picks up five of the 11. and it's fourth down for abilene christian stephen f austin's turn to make a stand yeah lumberjack defense doing a great job of flying to the football not allowing kobe clark an ounce for an inch let's go with an inch instead of an ounce i'll go with measurement versus liquid [Music] but a great job of the swarming defense in the secondary to come up and keep kobe clark short logan burke has had a solid day punting xavier gibson waits back deep there's a flinch by acu that'll cost him five especially with some of the hard-hitting that's gone on here in the second half i think it's obvious these two teams know their southland teams they're familiar with one another they've been looking forward to playing each other they're going to get every lick in that they can burke punts it away gibson races up on it and has a return from midfield gibson swallowed up though and taken down for a loss of one on the return a 34-yard kick and minus one on the return but great field position for sfa still trying to take the lead here in arlington southland conference football on espn is brought to you by insurance office of america by levy recognition and by crystal clear imaging real print solutions real big results it's down to the wire in arlington stephen f austin with the football back after forcing a punt down by five putting it in the hands of their main running back now jaquari and turner after dalian ward was lost for the game with an upper body injury turner only with a gain of one out to midfield so i'm john little with shea walker maddie morris our entire great espn crew shea what do you want to see from sfa on this offensive drive well i do like the way that trey self has been executing the offense and the matt storm the offensive coordinator has been very aggressive and they they're taking their shots they've just had difficulty getting the ball into the end zone against this wildcat defense so they're going to have to come with some way to solve the riddle self of play action goes for it all just off the outstretched hands of remy simmons off the fingertips ryan's staff was step for step third down yeah ryan stapp played that beautifully again we're seeing some awesome cornerback play not only from the lumberjack defense but ryan stapp showing you right there he gets going step was excuse me stride for stride down the field turns around locates the ball and it's just glances off the hands of remy simmons steph has excellent speed we saw it at the end of the first half on the field goal that was blocked for a touchdown step returned at 85. here's third and nine for trey self self blitz up the sideline caught turner down the sideline down to the 25 a catch and run of 25 there is a flag down backward turner made his cut up field on the wheel route we'll see who it's on but i think this is first and ten for sfa much aquarium turner did a nice job of catching that ball coming out of the back number 91 defense that penalty's declined the result of the play is the first down i just don't think farini is any match there coming out of the backfield against turner well he's not and turner doing a great job of managing that on the sideline and trey self that was an excellent throw you see the pump there he's waiting just so he can clear and as soon as turner cleared trace up double puppet double clutch it put it right on the numbers and the lumberjacks are in business now 5 20 to go trailing by five self a give to turner big gap inside the 20 and bashes his way down to the 18 18-yard line pickup of seven maybe eight yards there for jaquarian turner who has had to take over for daley on ward and the redshirt freshman out of garland texas just east of dallas is having a big game yeah big hole created by the offensive line from the lumberjacks [Applause] on second down self has some room dumps it underneath gibson was not looking for it xavier gibson i think thought himself was about to take off it leaves a third down too yeah troy hargrove is in great pursuit of xavier gibson and it almost looked like self was throwing the ball take another look here a little bit of pressure rolls out of the pocket gibson turns his head as soon as self releases the football self says it's all right it's all right sign of a good leader the second year starter out of north richland hills texas that's right smashed in to the metroplex spent a year at butler community college your third and two turner gets the call but turner is slapped down gibbons helps lead the way and there's garvey and ferrini as well mufreini coming up with a huge play like a laser beam comes in off the edge in that defensive line you're gonna see number 91 in the backfield and he's hitting turner before he even or just after he gets the football great job of being aggressive defensively reading that play coming off your block finding your way to the football this defense for the wildcats has been outstanding in creating a lot of problems for the lumberjack offense this defensive front has been good linebackers have been playing well same with the secondary i mean it's been a very good effort by this acu defense because they're with all of the missteps that their offense has had there's only 16 points on the board by the lumberjacks that's incredible and part of the reason is that sfa is only six of 18 on third downs in this game now they're forced to try another fourth down and there is a man down for steven f austin right now and while they're taking a look at him the upcoming schedule for abilene christian they have a total of eight games this year they're at mercer on halloween night and then they take on angelo state arizona christian and home finish off with a trip to virginia one of three fbs teams that abilene christian has this year meanwhile for stephen f boston they were able to cobble together a 10 game schedule they've already played five of the games this is their sixth next week they've got western colorado at home then going to eastern kentucky right now uh central arkansas is playing eastern kentucky and at home against division two pittsburg state and they also have a match up with virginia a lot of fun at the end of the season great to see some or rather sfa has memphis at the end of the season but it's great to see football in the fall now we got a big fourth down and two how will trey self try to pick this up self through the air caught first down for jeremiah miller on the comeback that's a six yard game trey self took a shot a lot of defensive pressure when he when he takes that snap he's going one route he's only got one route to throw to jeremiah miller is a is a bigger bodied receiver so he angles himself and he blocks off the defensive back does a great job of coming back to the football getting in front of ryan stapp but give trey self a lot of credit for hanging in that pocket and certainly throwing a good pit pass on uh fourth down it's been an uphill battle against this good acu defense but now first and ten at the 11 trailing by five and before the snap by trey self delay on sfa something you just can't have in this situation late game number two offense five yard penalty remains first down colby carthol though he stays level-headed about it doesn't look like he's broken a sweat over there despite his team trying to fight back from a deficit all afternoon makes it a first and 15 back at the 16 and trey self goes empty ac rushes five a little sit down to chad awning the tight end who comes back to make the catch for five second and ten you talk about cartha being cool i mean he was a starting middle linebacker in college and he also uh a four-year letter winner in the discus throw so he he's quite an athlete he's he's been in these positions before he's not going to panic lumberjacks trying for a come from behind win here in arlington in neutral sight game at globe life park second and ten henderson in motion a gift to henderson sweeping inside the ten takes a pop down to the eight-yard line a pickup of three and now it's third down washington came up with a great open field tackle for this acu defense but man trey self did a fantastic job of fielding that ball off the turf i mean it skipped to him two or three times he picks it up cleanly puts it right in the gutter treyjon henderson who picks up positive yards but there's a whole lot of things that went on that play for the lumberjacks it could have been a horrible miscue emily christian cause timeout we will too don't go anywhere i believe christian clinging to the five-point lead but stephen f austin has the ball third down seven the ball at the eighth they can score a touchdown without picking up a first down two timeouts left for each team trey self in shotgun four-man rush for acu time for self steps up fires middle incomplete jack gibbons on the defense coming down over jaquarion turner my goodness we talk about him how smart he is he's not just smart he's a heck of a player man that was a great job for a linebacker tracking down a running back and forcing the incompletion a tiny tug of the jersey right underneath the 2-4 of jaquarian turner gibbons makes it tough and now it is fourth down for steven f austin can they score to take the lead they have not led today self sends a man in motion self with time to the end zone caught touchdown gibson does it sfa has the lead for the first time today trey self drills it into his favorite target xavier gibson gibson had dropped two potential touchdowns earlier today he makes this one stick take another look here [Applause] well and give trey himself a lot of credit for having poise and standing there in the backfield and waiting for gibson to come into the open spot now it's a two-point conversion miller in motion but self tries to take it himself and he's short of the goal line that could have made it a three-point game instead stephen f austin up by one with 2 23 left after trey self hits xavier gibson well a nice job of that offensive front on the touchdown pass to give him some room and again he zips a pass in between two wildcat defenders xavier gibson comes down with the grab navigating the back of the end zone beautifully it's a wildcat defense that had stood on their heads all afternoon after five turnovers by their offense and special teams but xavier gibson with a huge touchdown grab to put stephen f austin up with 2 23 left this game is not done what a finish here in arlington davion johnson waiting back deep alongside jordan brooks west dylan brown kicks off for sfa trying to pin acu back deep jordan brooks west calls for the fair catch putting it out at the 25-yard line for acu remember he fumbled his last kickoff return and so abilene kristen starts from their own 25-yard line adam doral's team has played with the lead basically the entire afternoon and now doral's offense led by quarterback peyton manziel has to navigate the field and give blair zepeda the kicker an opportunity to win this game well he definitely has targets we talked about hohenstein remington loots the big tight ends both of those guys can make catches in the middle of the field kobe clark tyrese white lj mcconnell there's opportunities here for this acu team to put together a drive and see if they can go down and get in position to win the ball game peyton manziel the biggest drive of his young abilene christian career starts off play action and lofts it out intended for his running back tyrese white but there is a flag down in the backfield manziel was hit as he was throwing but it looks like this one is going on the offense referee is dan lewis holy 61 offense 10 yard penalty replay first down mitchell melrose the sophomore from white house high school in east texas playing in there for john crisp picks up the hole [Applause] so a first down 20 instead l.j mcconnell goes in motion and manziel back to pass throws it over the middle kobe clark tunnel screen clark 25 30 clunk on the run across midfield can he win the race clerk inside the 20 to the 10 he stumbles down bruce harmon never gave up and comey clark takes it for 78. well there was so much traffic when kobe clark first caught the ball john but this is why you keep going back to that tunnel screen there is all kind of fur flying in the middle there and he's wondering like where on the world where is the ball kobe clark does a great job of cutting back love love the hustle here by bruce harmon running him down and all it took was the tap on the back to get kobe clark to change direction and trip over his own feet harmony is down meanwhile kobe clark with a huge catch and run of 78 clark the former walk-on out of the west texas town of sweetwater got a scholarship before his sophomore year and all he did in his sophomore year was break acu's single season receptions record with 87 and he makes a huge catch and run here to put acu in a position to go back up well that's believing in your offense in your scheme understanding that you've got play makers find a way to get them the football kobe clark's got two receiving touchdowns on the season coming into today's game both of them coming against army he missed the first match up against utep but against army broke open for a big time game four catches for 78 and a couple scores and today again just like normal he's been the favorite target of peyton manziel meanwhile bruce harmon has been down this entire time after the huge hustle move and harmon he's had a gigantic game with two interceptions and he's hoping that he's saved this game as well by preventing acu from taking the lead [Applause] well he has had a heck of a game and it was a tremendous effort to chase down kobe clark but now if you're acu you got to feel like you're going to get a steady diet of the running game right now see if that offensive line can flex their muscles again and get you into the end zone that does not look good for bruce harmon but don't forget what an incredible game this young man has had with two of the three interceptions on peyton manziel and then just the hustle to run down the slot receiver kobe clark and try to keep the jacks in this one and it shows how much these two teams want this game laying it all out on the line a game a matchup between two southland opponents the only time it'll happen this fall we turn our attention to peyton manziel and the acu offense down for the first time in this game checks with his head coach adam doral on what he wants on first and goal down at the eight-yard line well this wildcats offense can get a little physical when they want to you talk about bringing down remington looks who's six six 240 pounds owenstein 6'5 233 just setting them down there next to the line of scrimmage here's tyreese white white finds a gap inside the five and he is wrapped up at the three picks up five and a timeout called by stephen f austin one of two they had remaining it's imperative that sfa stop the clock give themselves time if acu scores [Music] good hustle there by the lumberjack defense is it going to be enough though as again you're going to get a steady diet of running plays here this has been an uneven game at times we thought it was going to be really really close because this series just has been the series between these two teams abilene christian leads at 11-9 all time but last year acu winning at home by a touchdown in double overtime the year before that sfa winning in their home opener by just a field goal in nacogdoches schools always play each other tight [Music] after stephen f austin goes ahead on the touchdown pass on fourth down aveline christian at the three for a second and goal [Applause] manziel another give here's tyrese white and white is taken down dennis osagaday with the stop and another timeout called by stephen f austin with 143 left they are out of stoppages as abilene christian comes up on a third and goal [Music] you know considering everything that has happened in these final few moments including a 78-yard catch and run by kobe clark where he nearly was able to score sfa is not in a bad position right now obviously abilene christian wants to get in the end zone here however i mean it's a chip shot field goal do you just run it up the gut and hope for that and run some more time it's an interesting call in front of adam doral here well you've got extra point type of a kick if you don't make any yards on this play but you got to keep it centered think so you don't want to go either way you got to keep the ball centered and just you know it's time to man up and just get the physical mosh pit and see who wins blair zepeda missed from 46 today but this would be considerably shorter whatever comes up after third and goal here [Applause] hustling to the line another handoff slithering to the goal line tyrese white wildcats back in front [Applause] that's winning the battle in the box at the line of scrimmage tyrese white he came off with a little bit of zip didn't he great job up front again following the leading blocker cade parmalee 6-3 308-pound senior leading the way just a wide open hole for tyrese white his second touchdown of the game also his second of the year white had a great offseason traded in honey buns for fruit he said became a more well-rounded back in the offseason as he bulked up from 185 to 210. honey bones for fruit yeah he traded in the honey buns yes eight more fruit can you pick this factoid up where how how deep in the dungeons did you have to dig i don't give my sources the honey buns for fruit i'm not saying that i was peering into his cabinet this summer i'm just saying bulking up to 210 and if you're just joining us abilene christian has turned it over five times in this game if you're just joining us take a guess why wouldn't you say who's winning this game right now just by those numbers well very uncharacteristically for the wildcats offense to have the five turnovers they actually have six turnovers they they have another fumble that's added to that but they did not lose the football on it but yeah five turnovers and to be able to fight back in this game i tell you that's a testament to your defense because when your offense loses the ball or they go out after just a few plays and the defense goes back on the field and the defense for acu in this ball game has been taxed and they're going to be taxed again with a minute 38 on the clock they're going to have to come up with a stop because we have seen trey self wing the ball around find some wide open targets and some missed opportunities for the lumberjacks [Applause] manziel going for two play action manziel tucks seven point advantage for abilene christian 29-22 with a minute 38 to go another lead change they should play ncaa football games all the time here at globe life park because they're always good 100 of the time well maybe we just have these two teams because apparently they play fairly competitive games [Music] wow that wide open hole easy running lane to get the touchdown and then on the extra point take another trace off and you've got all the jerseys running across the grain he cuts it back goes into the end zone for the two-point play and he holds up the number four why because of his friend fellow guy in the quarterback room samaj davis the junior quarterback from midland involved in a traffic accident back on the 8th of october less than a mile from the acu campus he was struck by another car airlifted to a hospital in fort worth he's been in the icu there ever since abilene christian as a team playing the rest of this season for number four samaj davis [Applause] can the lumberjacks spoil the feel goods that abilene christian has right now leading by seven with a minute 38 to play zepeda to kick off it's a line drive kick and very returnable for corbin white white letting blockers set up across the 30-yard line and just drifts into the defense out at the 34 for a 27-yard return there's time 131 to play stephen f austin no timeouts left though what is the key here as trey self tries to drive for the tying score nope you have time to be balanced you don't have to get real crazy with 91 ticks on the clock don't try to force anything just pick up yardage get out of bounds you know what you have to do pick up a first down clock will stop until the chains get reset gray self two total touchdowns in this one has plenty of time but nobody to throw to escapes dumps it underneath an incomplete better off that that pass was incomplete because it would have been for no gain and the clock would have continued to run throws it at the feet of josh thompson second down for stephen f austin minute 24 to play they have to have a touchdown scrimmaging from their own 33. [Applause] big moment for the junior quarterback trey self [Applause] [Music] only three on the rush dumps it middle it's caught jeremiah miller on the run miller down the sideline miller caught from behind miller almost took it to the house brian bullock with the tackle but it's a 61-yard gain first and goal with a minute 13. what a great job again working the middle of the field jeremiah miller has had a great game and we didn't hear a whole lot about him prior to coming into today's ball game but man he has been electric in another big hustle play by brian bullock miller a pedigree a transfer out of coastal carolina here's first and goal self throws the fade touchdown remy simmons and sfa can tie it up with an extra point remy simmons brings it in the physical receiver from chicago with the score nice touch pass there by trey self he threw it exactly where he wanted to remy simmons working and using his body to create a little bit of a space and lane to catch that football the extra point to tie it banged home by chris campos 29 all and we ain't done 51 seconds left in regulation between aveline christian and stephen f austin it was a slow roll to get this game going but the fourth quarter has been incredible well big plays by both teams but remember when we talked about earlier in this game john the mentality of these two head coaches and how that exudes down the line to this team and how they play abilene christian with adam durrell just again a tremendous job that he's done there and colby carlton his second season with the lumberjacks competing and last year this lumberjack team in the battle of the piney woods against a a much vaunted sam houston state team because the lumberjacks they held in there they didn't they didn't get blown out they did not win the ball game but they played well enough where you could see signs that you could expect something like we just saw today it was overtime last year are we going to have overtime again this year between these two teams just 51 seconds we could get two more scores no we might why not after the three play drive by stephen f austin the important kickoff here by dylan brown he hangs it up and into the end zone so abilene christian from their own 25 with one timeout left and the game tied at 29. did manziel and the boys have one more magic moment in them this afternoon [Applause] remember the key play last time for doral and the offense the tunnel screen to kobe clark and he nearly took it the distance a couple plays later tyrese white with the touchdown since then stephen f austin took only three plays to tie it up here we go and a run how about this by tyreese white makes it out to the 29 for four yards and a timeout called by acu interesting interesting first play of the drive by the offense for acu well certainly you would think that the wildcat offense was trying to catch the lumberjack defense napping and hit a big play up the middle didn't happen [Applause] so the wildcats use their timeout one lift [Music] 46 seconds remaining little bit conflicting here of course on our screen you see no timeouts left for acu we'll see about that 29 all is the score and the big board here at the stadium says one remaining we will check on that kobe clark but the big catch the last time out is in the right slot peyton manziel looking left the whole way though oh nearly a great grab it was thrown right over the hands of willie roberts and on the other end dax niece couldn't bring it in with one hand well they're going where bruce harmon his replacement coming in is willie roberts and trying to get the ball out to the big freshman excuse me the 6-3 dax nice not able to come up with the grab third down six for acu you got to be careful here denzel goes under center mcconnell in motion instead of handoff it's going nowhere tyrese white is blown up that was read by ahmad murray now steven f austin can't stop it so acu said all right you stopped us on that play we'll just take overtime basically well murray did a fantastic job of coming up off that defensive end spot he's got five tackles for loss coming into the game today and probably none bigger than that one to foil the third down attempt by acu adam doral watches the last five seconds of regulation dwindle off this clock it's going to take overtime to settle abilene christian stephen f austin here in arlington what a regulation what does overtime hold for these two rivals who've played each other so closely year in and year out for the second straight year they're going to overtime acu getting pumped up as is sfa trying to get their third win of the season what a fourth quarter though shay to get us here i think we deserve a little bit more football after all these excellent plays by individual players here in the fourth quarter and we're going to get that for us right after this [Music] abilene christian stephen f austin tied at 29 heading to overtime the coin toss to decide how we're going to do overtime sfa won the toss normally that means you want to start on defense and we'll see if that's what stephen f austin decides to do we're gonna play in the end zone that heads out to the former right field porch here at globe live park the former baseball stadium of the texas rangers and it's been a great first ncaa game between these two it's time for our strong plays of the game brought to you by hercules tires ride on our strength neither one of these plays will result in the touchdowns john but you have to see these are two explosive dynamic plays that put their teams in absolutely gorgeous position to win the football game first of all was kobe clark now you've got jeremiah miller for the lumberjacks tugging the ball all the way down just gets snagged down there but the touchdown catch coming in from remy simmons [Music] just an outstanding end to this game the last 223 of the fourth quarter 21 points between the two teams we had 21 points just in the first half of this game he almost didn't get there but for a [Applause] kick that was blocked for a touchdown right at the end of the half so amazing amazing end of this game and it ain't over peyton manziel and the acu offense start at the 25 in the first overtime here we go tyreese white picking his way left side but he's cracked down for a loss of one on first down again ahmad murray is there just a reminder last year it took two overtimes between these squads for abilene christian to come out on top 31-24 kobe clark with the deciding touchdown catch making the 22-yard touchdown catch from luke anthony in that second ot [Applause] yeah lumberjack defense played very well on that and it forced a negative play enzo goes play action hanzel up the sideline clark wide open not able to bring it in third down and 11. it's difficult rolling out to your left and throwing right with real precision you see the ball kind of sails just a little bit and through the hands of kobe clark looks like clark was also worried about his foot if he would have caught the ball got to get at least one foot down right near the sideline so third down 11 for abilene christian first overtime [Applause] manziel to the air [Music] sets his feet fires up field it's caught but short of the first down lj mcconnell makes a nice high point grab but he's short of the first an eight-yard pickup when he needed 11. and here comes the field goal team for acu a great job by miles brooks a defensive back to hang on to l.j mcconnell to make sure that he did not escape the tackle you see he almost has a chance to do it but biles brooks hangs on drags him down forcing this field goal attempt see if sfa can put any pressure on it blair zepeda no good from 46 earlier this is 35 yards nearly straight on for the sophomore out of richardson zepeda's kick you back abilene christian takes the advantage in the first overtime by three now stephen f austin gets a crack a touchdown they win it a field goal we play a second overtime or if acu can hold them scoreless abilene christian would escape with a win well the wildcats defense has risen to the occasion on several times in this game after turnovers to try to [Music] limit the ability for stephen f austin to score can they do it one more time you got a hot hand right now at trey self xavier gibson and remy simmons a lot of weapons for the lumberjacks for yourself option out to the left self a late pitch to turner turner inside the 20 and turner all the way down for a nine yard pickup nice start to overtime for sfa yeah a lot of green grass out on the left side of the formation and trey self does a great job and you love the way the quarterback takes it all the way down to the defender block out in front by remy simmons too [Music] aquarian turner has had to come in and play a lot of running back today daley and ward is lost early second and one from the 16. a touchdown wins it throw out in the flat a lot of room for any turns the corner touchdown lumberjacks win chad audi 16 yards from trey self [Applause] s f a with their biggest win of the year we see him on both of the plays that they had in overtime john they used the wide side of the field on both to free up their players to pick up the yardage that they did and then chad awning six four 221 pounds slips out gets opened in the flat tray itself with a nice soft [Music] pass and after stephen f austin was bottled up held to three points time in time out they finished with three straight touchdown drives [Applause] i like the misdirection they did it on two successive plays they started on the right hash and went left they went from the left hash went right wide open space a lot of grass out there let your playmakers have a chance to get it into the end zone chad lumberjacks love the celebration too the hands in the air just sheds off shelby washington of acu what a game here in arlington [Applause] it went down to the wire it took overtime for the second time in a row and stephen f austin gets it done chad aunty with his first touchdown catch of his career and it's one that the red shirt freshman will never ever forget i'd say that's a signature win for kobe carful in his second season as a lumberjack head coach he certainly needed to get a big win and he did in this ball game just a great job again and a testament to his team never giving up staying in this ball game big plays by remy simmons xavier gibson trey self deleon ward chad awning in overtime to put the game away touchdown passes by trey self the last one to annie colby cartel the head coach back on the sideline and there goes the shirt [Applause] hey this is a starting middle linebacker in college now remember what i told you he's yeah this is a big win for him i mean i think he had two wins coming in as the lumberjack head coach into this game today and so congratulations incredible what a game here in arlington so for shay walker maddie morris producer kurt dykert and our entire espn crew this is john little saying so long from arlington texas where once again the final score stephen at boston 35 acu 32 in overtime all games airing on the espn networks are streaming live and archived on the espn app this has been a presentation of espn [Music] you

Channel: Wally the Bronco Too

Views: 7,660

Keywords: Abilene Christian, Stephen F. Austin

Id: YOMCkXk5TMQ

Length: 170min 25sec (10225 seconds)

Published: Mon Oct 26 2020