Late offensive surge not enough as Lions fall to 0-8

Despite a third quarter surge, A&M-Commerce (0-8, 0-6 LSC) once again failed to grab their first win of the season in a 40-28 loss to the nationally ranked Abilene Christian University (6-2, 5-1) last Saturday, Oct. 29.

In a sketchy game marred by questionable calls by the officials, Head Coach Guy Morriss said while the effort put forth by his team was worthy of praise, it was diminished by issues they have yet to work out.

"We could have easily won this game, but our old nemesis came around," Morriss said. "We had holding, then we false start, get a personal foul, and then the coaches get in the act; we're just not good enough to overcome ourselves. The kids fought their tails off, I was really proud of the effort."

Abilene Christian did not look like the 19th ranked team in the nation, especially when quarterback Mitchell Gale had his pass picked off by A&M-Commerce's Marcus Fore. That set up the Lions with decent field position early in the game, but they failed to make it count when faced with a swirling wind that made passes difficult to pull in.

Eventually, ACU did score first, and it came from the first play of their second offensive possession. Running back Daryl Richardson made a few Lions defenders miss before breaking off on a 78-yard run for a touchdown. With the Wildcats up 7-0, Richardson then decided to do it again. This time it was a 46-yard touchdown run, and at this point ACU looked as though they would cruise to victory.

The Wildcats had to settle for a field goal from kicker Morgan Lineberry on their next possession, but then Lions quarterback J.J. Harp's second interception of the game resulted in a pick-six for ACU, giving the hosts a comfortable 24-0 lead with 9:21 left in the second quarter.

The next ACU score came from a controversial call by the referees. On a Wildcats punt, Lions wide receiver Taylor Fore decided to let the ball drop; however, it hit an ACU player, bounced back off of Fore, and the Wildcats recovered the football. After initially saying it would be the Lions' ball, the officials reversed the decision, saying that because Fore touched the ball, it was live and could be recovered by either team. That lead to a 35-yard touchdown pass from Gale to Darian Hogg, giving ACU a 30-0 lead.

The Lions fought back, however, and did not get out of the half scoreless. After recovering a fumble on the ACU 24 yard line, A&M-Commerce finally capitalized on their opponent's mistake when Harp found Tyler Rawlings on a 20-yard pass to breathe life into the Lions' offense.

Lineberry added another field goal just inside the second half for ACU, but then the Lions' running game came alive to give them a fighting chance. Once again, the A&M-Commerce defense set up Harp and company with a short field by recovering another ACU fumble. Running back Darryll Crummie finished off the drive with an eight-yard touchdown run to make the score 33-14.

A&M-Commerce then held ACU to a punt before putting themselves firmly back into the game. A nine-play, 57-yard drive was capped by a seven-yard Marcus Graham touchdown run to put the Lions within 12 points with two minutes left in the third.

In the final frame, ACU was able to kill off the game with a 12-play, 79-yard drive that chewed up some clock and resulted in a 13-yard touchdown pass from Gale to Ben Gibbs. Gale finished the game 19-31 passing for 254 yards and two touchdowns.

A&M-Commerce added another touchdown to keep the game interesting. After driving down to the ACU two yard line, Harp connected with fullback Jarrett Golightly for his first touchdown of the 2011 season. Harp had a fairly good outing, going 36-59 for 297 yards and two touchdowns and an interception.

The Lions now go into their last home game of the 2011 season still without a win. They will face Harp's old team, Eastern New Mexico State, at 6 p.m. on Saturday Nov. 5, and Morriss said the ACU result should lead to an overall improved performance against the Greyhounds.

"[We can win] if we can just put two halves together, get a little bit better, and hang in there," he said. "Now, we've got to be more consisted ,make plays when we need to and keep our composure. We lost our composure on the sidelines. Those are the things we have to eliminate, because we're not good enough to overcome ourselves."