The days leading into Saturday night's road game against Abilene Christian have presented a different kind of scenario for UWF's football team.

The 17^th ranked Argos (3-1), among the top storylines so far in FCS football, face the two-time defending United Athletic Conference champions who have struggled the first half of this season. The Wildcats (1-4) have gone through a wicked non-conference schedule that includes Texas Tech, a team that played in the FBS College Football Playoff last season.

That begged a natural question for UWF coach Kaleb Nobles.

What do you make of (Abilene Christian) record?

"Nothing, to be honest," said Nobles, immediately and with conviction. "I watched film. They're a great team. They have a good roster put together. I think the 1-4 record is very misleading from the team I've have seen on tape and our guys know that. This is a team that has gone 7-1 in the conference in each of the last two years. We're not looking at the record. The record is out the window. When they kick the ball off Saturday (at 7 p.m.), nobody is showing the record on the scoreboard to show who wins the game."

Supporting his sentiment, Abilene Christian brings an eight-game, conference home win streak in this first-time matchup with the Argos at Wildcat Stadium (capacity 12,000), which opened in 2017 – four years after the Wildcats moved up from NCAA Division II to become Division 1 FCS members.

The Wildcats had a crowd of 10,774 at last Saturday's home game loss (34-17) in Abilene, Texas against then No. 23 Mercer, a Southern Conference member. It was ACU's fourth game against Top 25 opponents. Texas Tech was ranked No. 12 in the FBS poll when posting a 33-10 win on Sept. 5 in Lubbock, Texas.

"They were down 26-3 with seven minutes left so it's not like that was a big blowout and we all know that Texas Tech was in (CFB) playoff last year." Nobles said. "That is why I'm saying, the record? Out the window. I feel like we've got a brutal schedule and I look at theirs and think, yeah, all right that is pretty tough too. I think that is what FCS football is… everybody is a good team and there are no slouches at this level at all. Our guys see that, they understand that, they've heard from us. When you play a good team like this you feel their backs are against the wall and they are in urgency win-now mode and that kind of team is dangerous. Our team has got to know that."

UWF is expected to have quarterback Ty'Ray Davis back as the starter. He played just one snap in the fourth quarter – a failed QB rush on fourth down – last week in the Argos win at Southeast Missouri State. In his place, backup Donovan Leary made his first collegiate start and overcame a tough first half to guide the Argos offense to a second-half surge that won the game.

"We kind of knew as last week went on, (starting Leary) was the best thing for the team," Nobles said. "We felt we needed to make a decision and go with it. Any time you have a quarterback in his first college start, you don't want to wait until the last second to communicate that… you want to do it ahead of time. We anticipate both guys being healthy and available."

Less certain is No. 1 running back TJ Lane, who missed last week's game. In his place Markel Townsend, who had big game on Sept. 19 against Austin Peay, rushed for 44 yards on 13 carries.
Townsend was also one of seven UWF players who caught passes against Southeast Missouri. Tyson Mansell and Luc Carroll led the way, catching three passes apiece for a combined 78 yards.
UWF's defense ranks No. 3 in UAC, yielding the third fewest touchdowns (11). The Argos lead the league with seven interceptions and six fumble recoveries.

The Argos took a charter flight on Friday from Pensacola to Abilene, Texas, which is nearly 700 miles from Pensacola. It's one of the rare, regular-season plane trips that UWF has taken in its 10-year history.

"It will make things easier travel wise," Nobles said. "When you play a night-time kickoff on Saturday you have a lot of time to rest and recover before you play the game. We'll use the charter flight to our advantage. Get there and be able to relax a little bit, see the stadium on Friday night and plenty of time at the hotel to go through some stuff on Saturday before the game. It's a great stadium, a great atmosphere and awesome opportunity for our guys to play in front of a really good crowd."

With exception a few players, Abilene Christian's roster consists of former Texas high school players, including a combined 39 players from the Dallas-Fort Worth and Houston areas. Their offensive line is most notable for a set of twins, seniors Landon Roaten and Luke Roaten.

"They start at right tackle and right guard, which I think that is the coolest thing ever to play college football beside your twin," Nobles said. "They are playing a lot of guys on offense. Their offensive line is big. They look like a Texas-bred offensive line with some really good players."
 
WANT TO WATCH?
WHO: UWF Argos (3-1) vs. Abilene Christian Wildcats (1-4)
WHEN: Saturday, 7 p.m.
WHERE: Wildcat Stadium, Abilene, Texas.
LIVE STREAM TV: ESPN-Plus
LIVE AUDIO: SportsRadio Pensacola (99.1 FM, 1330 AM)