ACU hosts winless Midwestern State

By TED DUNNAM
Assistant Sports Editor

Well-rested Abilene Christian University looks for its first home victory of the young football season today when winless Midwestern State comes to town in search of its offense.

If ACU head coach Jack Kiser has his way, the Indians won't find it.

Midwestern State has scored only 10 points in opening the season 0-2, but Kiser says an easy day isn't in store for his defense.

"They're kinda like us - we haven't really lit it up offensively this year either," Kiser said. "But their quarterback's a good little athlete and they could snap out of it at any time.

"Defensively, they're a very good team. Everybody's kinda gone to this eight-man front and that's what we'll see from them. We saw it from New Mexico Highlands and from Prairie View so it won't be something new for us.

"The nice thing about it from a defensive standpoint is that you don't have to do much adjusting."
ACU, meanwhile, has done some adjusting during its bye week.

"We changed up some things on offense, personnel-wise," Kiser said. "A lot of our emphasis these past two weeks was on getting people in the right places. We're still in a feeling-out process.

"Most of these guys on offense have been together for just five weeks. And when you have injuries, then you have to adjust. We've moved people from offense to defense and we've juggled our offensive line.

"Normally, I'd rather play a game than have a bye week. But I welcomed the open date this time. I said 'Boy, do we need this extra time.' "

Although the Wildcats are averaging 25 points per game, they're averaging just 250 yards per game, offensively. Quarterback Mitch Alvarado leads the Lone Star Conference with five touchdown passes.

"We've tried to settle on doing a few things well on offense," Kiser said. "We want Mitch to have more input on what we're doing. We got our offensive scheme from BYU, but they've been running it for 20 years and we haven't.

"We've just condensed everything."

Midwestern has never beaten ACU in the teams' previous 11 meetings.

The Indians are rushing for just 26.5 yards and passing for 104 yards per contest. Tailback Danny Williams is the Indians' leading rusher with 31 yards. Midwestern is only 3 for 28 in third-down conversions and 0 for 4 on fourth down.

Last week, Midwestern managed just 101 yards in a 5-0 loss to West Texas A&M.
Midwestern State vs. Abilene Christian
-- When: 6 p.m.
-- Where: Shotwell Stadium
-- Records: ACU 1-1, Midwestern 0-2
-- How they got here: Midwestern - lost to Tarleton State, 23-10; lost to West Texas A&M, 5-0. ACU - lost to New Mexico Highlands, 32-20; beat Prairie View A&M, 30-14.
-- Injuries: Midwestern - TB Germont Jackson (ankle) probable; FB J.J. Smith (bruised ribs) doubtful; PK Nathan Turner (right quadricep) questionable; CB Cecil Chambers (dislocated shoulder) questionable; OL Jeremy Jennings (swollen knee) probable; ACU - None.
-- Key stat - ACU leads all-time series 0-10-1
-- Radio - KACU FM (89.7)