Abilene Christian may be in its first full year of Division I football, but the Wildcats look like old hands at the sport.

Of course, they actually are old hands.

ACU has played football for 20 years longer than McNeese has existed, fielding its first team when the boys came home from the war in 1919. The Wildcats were even charter members of the Southland Conference until sliding down to the NAIA level in 1973.

So while the foundation was certainly in place for ACU to achieve immediate success in its return to the Southland, the Wildcats (4-3, 2-1) may be doing even better than expected. ACU’s three losses were by a combined 10 points, including a 38-37 season-opening loss at Bowl Subdivision Georgia State. The Wildcats have also taken down a FBS team, knocking off Troy 38-35.

“I’m very pleased where we are,” said ACU coach Ken Collums. “We beat one FBS school and had a chance to beat another. All that tells me is we belong in this league. We’re going to represent the Southland Conference at a high level. The direction we’re going in is exciting. We’re about to build a stadium on campus. This thing is going to get really good. We just have to develop some depth to compete week in and week out.”

Collums said he sees the next stretch of three games — at McNeese, at Sam Houston State and then hosting Central Arkansas — as the measuring stick of how far the program has to go.

“It’s a very different animal from here on out,” he said. “We’re playing three of the top four Southland Conference teams in the next three weeks.”

ACU leads the league in passing yardage, averaging 311.1 yards per game behind sophomore quarterback Parker McKenzie. McKenzie came into the year with big shoes to fill — departed senior Mitchell Gale had 12,109 career passing yards.

With 17 touchdowns and four interceptions, he’s not disappointing.

“Offenses rise and fall based on quarterback play,” Collums said. “Before this year he hadn’t taken a meaningful snap. He’s put together a résumé in spring and fall camp that we knew he would be solid. The fact is he does a really good job managing what we do.”

The Wildcats aren’t just inveterate chuckers. The running back tandem of Herschel Sims and De’Andre Brown is averaging 166.7 yards per game on the ground.

No team has rushed for more than 200 yards on the Wildcats, though they can be exploited in the air. The Wildcats allow 272.7 passing yards a game, which is the worst mark in the league.

That doesn’t mean opponents can be carefree when they drop back to throw, though. ACU defensive end Nick Richardson has been a menace with six sacks and 14 tackles for loss. You better know where he is.

“Nick’s motor is really really high. He’s twitchy. He’s what you want as a defensive end,” Collums said. “You better know where he is. He’s going to have a chance to sack your quarterback several times.”(MGNonline)