Another full slate of head-to-head United Athletic Conference (UAC) Football action highlights Week 7 as all four games on the ledger are conference clashes.
WEEK 7 SCHEDULE
SATURDAY SLATE | Oct. 12
2 PM MT | EKU at SOUTHERN UTAH* (ESPN+)
4 PM CT | WEST GEORGIA at #12 CENTRAL ARKANSAS* (ESPN+)
6 PM CT | UTAH TECH at #11 TARLETON STATE* (ESPN+)
6 PM CT | #10 ABILENE CHRISTIAN at NORTH ALABAMA* (ESPN+)
* UAC Conference Game
GAME OF THE WEEK: Southern Utah welcomes EKU for the T-Birds homecoming contest in a battle between a pair of squads that have garnered some national attention in the last few weeks and are looking to stay in the discussions for postseason play… SUU owns the UAC’s lone win over an FBS squad and look to rebound from a hard fought one-point loss last week vs No. 14 Tarleton State… The Colonels have won three straight after starting the season with a pair of losses to FBS foes… The two squads did not meet last season
FEELS LIKE HOME (COMING)
– Three of this week’s four games will be Homecoming for the host schools as Southern Utah, Tarleton State and North Alabama welcome back former players/alumni for conference clashes
BORN TO RUN
-The UAC is home to the TOP THREE running backs in FCS rushing with TSU’s Kavyon Britten (1,028 yds), UCA’s ShunDerrick Powell (965 yds) and SUU’s Targhee Lambson (928 yds)
NOTEWORTHY
– Saturday marks second consecutive weekend ledger filled with only head-to-head UAC games
– With all teams having begun league play, there is only 3 non-conference regular season contests left in the remaining 29 games on the composite slate
– Last week’s game between #5 Central Arkansas and #16 Abilene Christian was just the second head-to-head UAC battle of ranked squads… UCA has been part of both competitions, having faced #12 Austin Peay, ranked 20th last season
– With Southern Utah’s 27-24 OT win over UTEP on Sept. 7, the T-Birds secured the league’s first victory against an FBS foe… Abilene Christian (52-51 loss at Texas Tech) and Central Arkansas (34-31 loss at Arkansas State) both nearly accomplished the feat as well this season
– The Bears 34-14 victory over #19 Lamar (Sept. 29) marked just the second UAC win against a ranked non-conference foe… EKU topped #16 Southeast Missouri, 41-38, last year
– With an SUU win, T-Birds head coach DeLane Fitzgerald would earn the 100th of his career
RANKING NEWS
– For the first time in league history, the UAC features a trio of teams ranked in the Top 15 nationally as ACU, UCA and TSU were all recognized. The Wildcats were listed 10th (STATS) and 12th (AFCA), the Bears were 12th (STATS)/13th (AFCA) while the Texans were 13th (STATS)/11th (AFCA)
– In the Sept. 30 STATS Ranking, Central Arkanasas was listed No. 5, marking the highest ever rank for a UAC program
– The league has seen three teams ranked in the Top 25 for four consecutive weeks… Last season, the UAC only saw two teams ranked in the same week at most, occuring five times
– Including the Preseason Poll, eight of the nine teams in the conference have received votes for the Top 25 in one or both of the National Rankings (STATS Peform & AFCA)
WHAT TO WATCH FOR…
– First year head coach Lance Anderson at Utah Tech visits No. 11 Tarleton State with the Trailblazers seeking their first win of the season… The Texans own the league’s longest current win streak at four games and hope to remain undefeated at home in 2024 with their Homecoming game
– West Georgia heads to “The Stripes” to meet #12 Central Arkansas in a renewal of a gridiron rivalry that began in the late 1990s… The Wolves, in their first season as a DI program and member of the UAC, hope to snap a current four-game skid and earn their first conference victory following a hard fought home loss to Austin Peay a week ago… The Bears look to rebound from their one-score defeat at nationally-ranked ACU last Saturday
– After picking up their second UAC win in explosive fashion vs Utah Tech a week ago, North Alabama hosts the league’s top squad in #10 Abilene Christian for Homecoming on Saturday night… The Lions scored an UAC single game record 60 points in the victory over the Trailblazers… The Wildcats are 3-0 in league action after upsetting then No. 5 Central Arkansas last week, 41-34
