SAN ANGELO – One of the biggest rivalries in program history will be renewed this week when Angelo State travels to play Abilene Christian at 6 p.m. on Saturday at Anthony Field at Wildcat Stadium. It will officially be the 51st meeting between the two programs with the Rams owning a 28-20-1 all-time record after earning a 28-23 win in 2012 in the last matchup.
Angelo State (1-0) is coming off a 24-17 season-opening win over Western Oregon in Monmouth, Oregon, while Abilene Christian took a 55-27 loss at Baylor in Waco last Saturday in its first game of the season. ASU and ACU played their first-ever game against each other in 1964 and every year after until 2012 when the Wildcats joined the NCAA Division I FCS ranks the Southland Conference. The two West Texas universities will meet on the ACU campus for the first time after playing at Abilene's Shotwell Stadium throughout the rivalry with the new on-campus stadium being in its second season for the Wildcats who were 1-4 at home last year.
ASU head coach
Will Wagner and ACU coach Adam Dorrel worked together on the Northwest Missouri staff before Wagner came to San Angelo in 2011 to lead the Ram program. An Odessa native, Wagner is in his eighth season at ASU and now has 43 wins after last week's victory. He is now 7-1 all-time in season openers at Angelo and is 1-1 against Abilene Christian. Dorrel is in his second season in Abilene and is 2-10 with the Wildcats. Dorrel was 76-8 in six seasons at Northwest Missouri as the head coach after serving as offensive coordinator.
"I think it's great for everybody," Wagner said. "At one point they were a big Lone Star Conference rival. It's great for our fans and our players. They're going to have a great crowd for their first home game, so it's going to be a great atmosphere."
LISTEN IN
The game will be broadcasted locally on 101.9 KWFR (The Fire) with Jeremy Bryant and Dr. John Klingemann on the broadcast. Bryant is beginning his 17th season broadcasting ASU football games, while Dr. Klingemann is the chair of the history department and an associate professor at Angelo State.
THE TAKEAWAY
The Angelo State defense forced three turnovers and limited the Wolves to 313 yards and 13 first downs in an impressive season opener. ASU sophomore
Hunter Kyle earned Lone Star Conference Defensive Player of the Week honors for the first time in his career after recording two interceptions and 10 tackles for the Rams. A Wichita Falls native, Kyle now has four double-digit tackle performances in his career and three career interceptions. ASU redshirt freshman
Simon Maxey finished off the game with an interception with 23 seconds remaining to seal the win.
ON PACE FOR 1,474 YARD SEASON
Angelo State sophomore
Tyrese Nathan ran for a touchdown and 134 yards on 23 carries in the season-opener in Oregon. The Lubbock native scored his first touchdown of the season on a 9-yard run in the fourth quarter of the victory and recorded the second 100-yard rushing performance of his career. Nathan ran for 138 yards for his career-high last season against Midwestern State and with his 134 yards in Oregon now has 564 yards on 97 carries as a Ram. The 134 yards are the most in a season opener by a Ram since Jermie Calhoun ran for 140 yards in a win over Black Hills State in 2013. Nathan is averaging 5.8 yards per carry and has five career touchdowns coming into this week's game at ACU.
SPREADING IT OUT
ASU receivers had a big day in Oregon with
Keke Chism,
Tashani Bibbs and
Lawson Ayo each having seven catches for the Rams. A sophomore from Daingerfield, Chism led the team with 106 receiving yards with a 41-yard reception and also a 31-yard touchdown during the season opener. Chism now has five touchdowns and 35 receptions in his ASU career. Bibbs matched his career-high with seven receptions, including catching two passes to start the game-winning drive and then also catching the two-point conversion to make it a seven-point game. Ayo caught the game-winning touchdown pass with 52 seconds remaining for his seventh reception of the game and 82nd of his career. A Sunnyvale native, Ayo finished the game with 58 yards receiving and the Rams had 286 yards passing in the opener.
ASU QUARTERBACKS
Charlie Rotherham led the Rams on the game-winning drive last Saturday and capped it with a 16-yard touchdown pass to Ayo to lift the Rams to the win. Rotherham threw for 199 yards on a 17-for-26 day without an interception. It was his third game in his career with two touchdown passes and he has now thrown for 1,758 yards and eight touchdowns in 11 career games. A Green Bay native, Rotherham threw his first touchdown of the season on a 31-yard pass to Chism with 13:08 remaining in the third quarter to give the Rams a 10-0 lead. ASU's
Payne Sullins also saw time at quarterback, throwing for 87 yards on eight completions during his first game with the Rams.
SACK PARTY
Angelo State recorded five sacks against the Wolves, including two from
Markus Jones and one from
Grant Aschenbeck,
Cameron Cavanaugh and
Travaughn Moore. Jones, who is a returning all-America and reigning LSC Defensive Player of the Year, now has 21.5 career sacks which now has him tied for fourth in program history with Pierce Holt and behind only Greg Collins (26.5), Dane Krager (31) and the all-time leader Clayton Callicutt who had 31.5 sacks from 2012-15. Jones earned preseason all-America recognition from D2football.com, Lindy's Sports and FreeAgentFootball.com (FAF). The ASU defense had one game last season with five sacks coming against Tarleton State.
LEADING THE CHARGE
Aschenbeck, a senior captain from East Bernard, led the Rams by matching a career-high 14 tackles in the season opener. He now has 248 tackles in 34 games as Ram after having 99 last season as a junior. Aschenbeck also has 4.5 sacks to his name. He also had a 13-tackle performance last season against Texas A&M-Kingsville during a year where he had five double-digit tackle performances. The defense was also led by
DeShaun Douglas who had eight tackles and Darrick Dickerson who had six.
THOSE ACU WILDCATS
Abilene Christian is coming a loss to Baylor where it gained 466 yards of offense against the Bears and trailed 17-7 after the first quarter. ACU junior running back Billy McCrary led the Wildcats by rushing for 141 yards on six carries. An Austin native who started his career at Cal, McCrary had a 75-yard touchdown run in the second quarter to highlight the game for the Wildcats. ACU quarterback Luke Anthony was 25-for-38 with one interception and 224 yards on the game, including throwing touchdown passes to D.J. Fuller and Chase Cokley. Fuller led the team with nine receptions to start his senior season. Defensively, Bolu Onifade led the Wildcats with nine tackles and Erik Huhn had seven.
UP NEXT
Angelo State will play its home opener next week when it hosts Texas A&M-Kingsville at 6 p.m. on Saturday, Sept. 15 at LeGrand Stadium at 1st Community Credit Union Field. The game will also be the Lone Star Conference opener for the Rams who were 4-4 in LSC play last season. ASU's first home game will be the first home contest with the new Daktronics videoboard in the south end zone and will also be Military Appreciation Day. The Rams will welcome military members from Goodfellow Air Force Base and there will be free admission for active duty military and their dependents along with retirees and veterans.
Â
COACH QUOTES
Angelo State head coach Will Wagner
On playing Abilene Christian for the first time since 2012:
"I think it's great for everybody. At one point, they were a big Lone Star Conference rival. It's great for our fans and our players. They're going to have a great crowd for their first home game, so it's going to be a great atmosphere."
On facing Abilene Christian's offense:
"They have two great backs. We've got to be great tacklers in space and understand that they have big play ability. Their quarterback has done an unbelievable job. Some of the throws he made in that game (Baylor) were huge; we know that we're going to have to get pressure on him and not allow their team to get easy scores."
On facing Abilene Christian's defense:
"We know that they're going to put a lot of emphasis on stopping the run. Part of their game plan is going to be to make us win by throwing the ball. We've got some great receivers out there on the edges that can make some plays for us. I know that our team is excited about that challenge. But we can't force throws. We have to trust that our guys will make some plays for us."
On the season opening win over Western Oregon:
"I think our defense performed very well. Our offense just couldn't get into a rhythm, penalties were a big Achilles heel for us. I was proud of the way our kids stayed positive and kept fighting and came back to win the game."
On ASU sophomore running back Tyrese Nathan's performance at WOU:
"He's just dynamic, he can do multiple things. There were times where we thought he was pinned and he'd get four or five yards out of it. We're very excited that Tyrese is in our backfield."
On the ASU defense against WOU:
"
Markus Jones had a great game and
Hunter Kyle had two picks.
Simon Maxey, a redshirt freshman, came in and did a great job for us filling in for Leddy French."
On ASU quarterbacks Charlie Rotherham and Payne Sullins:
"He believes that he is the guy and should be," Wagner said. "He started out a little rough, maybe some first game jitters. But to be able to keep it together and lead our team on a game winning drive is huge. Huge for both his and our team's confidence. Payne has a lot of confidence in his ability. Â Obviously, he had a couple of turnovers that he'd like back, but we feel very confident that he will continue to help our team. We have confidence in both of those guys. If one of them starts the game with a hot hand, we're not going to pull him."
Program Record (Record Book) (PDF)
Angelo State has won a total of 426 football games since 1939. The following lists the coaches and record breakdown in Ram football history.Â
Â
| Pete Sikes |
1939-1949 |
41-23-5 |
| Max Bumgardner |
1950-1968 |
74-74-2 |
| Grant Teaff |
1969-1971 |
19-11 |
| James Cameron |
1972-1973 |
13-7 |
| Jim Hess |
1974-1981 |
65-23-3 |
| Jerry Vandergriff |
1982-2004 |
143-101-2 |
| Dale Carr |
2005-2010 |
28-36 |
| Will Wagner |
2012-Present |
43-36 |
The Program
Angelo State won the NAIA National Championship in 1978 and has won three Lone Star Conference Championships (1978, 1984, 1987). The Rams have seen five NCAA DII playoff appearances and produced 59 All-Americans. Angelo State has sent 11 student-athletes on to successful NFL careers, including Pierce Holt, who earned two Super Bowl rings with the San Francisco 49ers in 1988 and 1989. He was a two-time Pro Bowl selection and was inducted into the NCAA Division II Football Hall of Fame in 2000. Legendary Baylor head coach Grant Teaff coached at ASU, and has been inducted into the National Football Foundation Hall of Fame with Holt and former Ram tackle Rodney Cason. Â
Â
