Football Readies for ACU

September 21, 2007

WEATHERFORD, Okla. -- Southwestern Oklahoma State University gets a chance to send a strong message about the improvement of its 2007 football team when the Bulldogs host 18th ranked Abilene Christian University on Saturday. Kickoff is set for 6 p.m. at Milam Stadium. 

SWOSU is 3-1 for the first time since 2002 when the Bulldogs got off to a 5-1 start. ACU is 2-1 and have won two straight since a season-opening loss at Central Oklahoma. Since then, the Wildcats have blasted NCAA Division I-AA Southwest Texas State, 45-27, and four-time defending LSC North champion Southeastern Oklahoma State, 41-3. 

History has not been kind to the Bulldogs in the previous meetings with ACU. The Wildcats have won seven of eight times, including a 24-7 victory over the Bulldogs in the 1977 NAIA Championship Game. The game was billed as the Apple Bowl and was played in the Kingdome in Seattle, Wash. It ended what had been an undefeated 11-0 season for SWOSU and marked the final game in coach Otis Delaporte’s career. 

ACU features much of the same firepower from last year’s 8-3 team that made the NCAA Division II playoffs. The Wildcats rely on the arm of a 24-year-old University of Tulane transfer quarterback Billy Malone.  

Malone, the LSC South Pre-season Player-of-the-Year, is averaging 230 yards passing in three games while throwing six touchdowns against only one interception. He had two TD tosses and threw for 191 yards in the Wildcats’ 31-0 shutout of SWOSU last year.  

SWOSU has the potential to make life difficult for Malone and the rest of his teammates. The Bulldogs are ranked third in the LSC in total defense, allowing 246 yards per game. SWOSU has forced 10 turnovers, and have returned three for defensive touchdowns.  

Linebacker Greg Franklin is again SWOSU’s leading tackler. He has 29 stops in four games and returned a fumble 15 yards for a score in last week’s 38-8 victory over Panhandle State. Ruzell McCoy and Joe Castle have also had big seasons for the Bulldogs and are next on the tackle charts with 23. 

On the other side of the ball, SWOSU has mixed it up in an effort to jump start an offense in hopes of recapturing its rhythm. The Bulldogs have used a different starter at tailback in each of the four games and quarterback Jimmy Sangster and Steve Day have each taken turns at the starting job.