ACU PD responded to reports of a hit and run in the Business Lot. The investigation is ongoing.

9/8/2026 2300 hrs. Private Property Collision, WPAC Lot                                                                                                

ACU PD took a report on a private property collision. A driver backed into a piece of construction equipment parked in the Williams Performing Arts Center Lot.

9/8/2026 1500 hr. Criminal Trespass Warning, Don Morris Center                                                                                     

A report was taken for students accessing a building after hours without authorization. No property damage or theft occurred.

ACU PD ACTIVITY STATISTICS

Sept. 2 through Sept. 8, 2026

Chief’s Tip of the Week: Accidents happen. If you strike a car or object with your vehicle, you are required to either make a report or leave your information on the other person’s vehicle. This is the right thing to do and keeps you from being investigated as a hit-and-run suspect. When in doubt, call ACU PD at 325-674-2305.

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Reed served in full-time ministry for 30 years as senior minister of several churches before joining ACU in 2012 as professor of practical theology in the Graduate School of Theology.

In addition to his role as dean, Reed serves as executive director of the Siburt Institute for Church Ministry.

Reed said his role as dean involves two main responsibilities.

“Part of the work of the dean is to be an administrative and academic leader for the college,” Reed said.

The dean’s responsibilities include hiring new faculty, helping students with academic issues and managing the financial operations of the college.

Reed said his goals for the future include continuing to grow the college and its 11 centers and institutes.

This includes revising freshman Bible classes, hiring new faculty and expanding current programs.

“[We want] to find ways of helping our faculty work with our students in doing research,” Reed said.

Annie Caire, junior Bible and ministry major from Dallas, said she hopes more research opportunities will be available for students.

“I think it would be cool to have something to do research on,” Caire said, “like original manuscripts or documents or something.”

Reed said he wants to serve the students in the best way he can.

Reed said the college is “looking for new ways to prepare students for a wide variety of ministry.”

Caire said she is optimistic about the future under Reed’s leadership.

“I am really excited,” Caire said. “I know all the professors want what’s best for the students.”

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This was the deciding play, and the one the Wildcats should focus on. Not the 33-10 final.

The drive started with 1:44 left in the third quarter and lasted 6:49. Fifteen plays, 61 yards, the longest drive ACU put together all night. Senior running back Alex Broome ran for 14 on third-and-10 to keep it alive, then ran for 10 more on third-and-5 to reach the 15. John David Black hit Cristian Driver three times on the possession.

Then Rovaughn Banks Jr. lost a yard. Black threw for Driver in the end zone and missed. Banks got two back.

On fourth-and-9 from the 14, the play broke down. From the back of the end zone, I watched Black fight to stay upright, 14 yards away, trying to shake a hand off his ankle. He didn’t. Jaylon Laventure and Aiden Trick are credited with the tackle. Black shakes that and ACU has a first down at worst. From the 14, it could have been more than that.

He stayed face down on the turf until his offensive line picked him up. The offense came off with the body language of a team that knew, and the defense went back out anyway. Division I football players, at all levels, are not very good at quitting.

Ten minutes and three seconds left. Score: 26-3.

It was the only time ACU got inside the Texas Tech 20 all night.

Here are my top observations from the loss.

The defense earned a better night than it got

Texas Tech scored on its first two drives, 75 yards and 87 yards, and ate more than 10 minutes doing it. Then the Red Raiders did not reach the end zone again for roughly 45 minutes of game clock.

They kicked instead. Stone Harrington went 4 for 4, from 23, 28, 33 and 45 yards. Three of those came on possessions that started deep in ACU territory, a number head coach Keith Patterson counted off himself after the game.

Javeon Wilcox, who was on Texas Tech’s roster in 2024, jumped a route and slid under it at ACU’s 7-yard line for the first interception of his career. The play was ruled incomplete before Patterson challenged it from the sideline.

“I knew he was in because I saw it,” Patterson said. “I was standing right there.”

Dillon Williams had 10 tackles and 2.5 for loss. Gabe Brown and DeAngelo Ponder both set career highs.

Two years ago in this same building, ACU gave up 15 points before it could blink. This time the defense adjusted and then held one of the most dangerous offenses in the country to three points per possession for two straight quarters.

The offense gave it back one field goal.

ACU fixed what Lamar exposed. It didn’t matter.

At Lamar, the Wildcats were penalized 12 times for 106 yards, four of them false starts, and lost a game they outgained by 80.

Saturday? Four penalties for 17 yards. In the loudest building ACU will play in all season, against a Power Four front, with a quarterback making his first career start.

Patterson also stopped hedging at quarterback. Black, the redshirt sophomore from Flower Mound who came off the bench at Lamar, got the start and completed his first seven passes. Patterson said the staff is settling in on a quarterback this week, and that aside from a throw or two, Black would probably like back; he was proud of him.

“You can lay your head on your pillow at night and feel good about him being the quarterback,” Patterson said.

So the two things that sank the opener got cleaned up.

ACU gained 194 yards.

Black finished 18 of 32 for 119, which is 3.7 a throw. Driver caught eight of those for 93 and had the best night of his career. Everybody else combined for 10 catches and 26 yards. The ground game went for 75 on 29 carries, 2.6 a pop, down from 5.2 against Lamar.

Fifteen first downs, and four came on Texas Tech penalties.

Settled is not the same thing as solved.

And then they punted

ACU got the ball back with 8:44 left and moved it again. Black found Driver for 18 to cross midfield. Broome picked up two. On third-and-8 from the 50, Black checked it down to Broome for a 2-yard gain.

That set up fourth-and-6 from the Texas Tech 48. Six minutes and 34 seconds left. Down 26-3.

Hugo Nash punted.

It was a good 43-yard punt, and Malcolm Simmons could only bring it back to the 9. Patterson praised his punters afterward, and this is one of the reasons.

Nine plays and 91 yards later, Will Hammond hit Simmons for 64 and a touchdown, and the game was over for real.

Here’s what I vehemently disagree with: Patterson told his team last Sunday that it had three non-conference games left after Texas Tech to focus on becoming a better football team.

“That’s all I really care about,” he said.

He said the same thing a different way later in the postgame. “We don’t chase results,” Patterson said. “We chase the process.”

At 26-3 with 6:34 on the clock, the result was already gone. The only thing left in that game worth anything was reps.

A quarterback making his first career start, a receiver room still working out its timing, and an offensive line Patterson himself described as having a lot of moving parts. All of them standing on the sideline watching a punt on fourth-and-6 from the opponent’s 48.

You can’t say the only thing that matters is getting better and then pass on the chance to get better.

Nobody outside Abilene will believe this one was close

Broome ran the next kickoff back 98 yards. It got him UAC special teams player of the week, and it got ACU to 10. It was also the only touchdown the Wildcats scored, and it came with 2:45 on the clock against a team that had stopped trying.

Anybody reading a box score sees an FCS team that took its check and went home.

Patterson was asked why ACU never got in the end zone. He gave the credit to Texas Tech first, calling the Red Raiders well coached and never out of position.

“They were probably dominating the line of scrimmage, if the truth be told,” he said.

Then, in the next breath, he brought up his own offensive line, the moving parts, guys beat up and missing practice time.

Both are true. Only one is ACU’s to fix.

He did say one thing with a due date on it.

“I can promise you we won’t be the same team three weeks from now as we are right now,” Patterson said.

That’s a promise I will be interested to see if ACU keeps.

No. 13 Stephen F. Austin comes to Wildcat Stadium at 7 p.m. Saturday, the team that ended ACU’s season in December. Patterson was the first to bring up the result of that game in the postgame presser.

ACU has scored 17 offensive points in two games. In Lubbock, the difference between a long night and a real one was four plays from the 15 and one shoestring.

The first check comes this week.

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Abilene Christian ultimately fell short, but the Wildcats flashed some of the fight that defined their 2024 meeting with the Red Raiders — though not before Texas Tech built an early lead.

After deferring to the second half, Abilene Christian opened on defense. Texas Tech’s first drive ended when Quinter Joyner ran 14 yards for a touchdown.

Hammond, playing his first game back from a season-ending knee injury and offseason litigation involving Brendan Sorsby, conducted the offense with the precision of an 11-piece maestro, finishing 26 of 33 passing for 298 yards and a touchdown. He led Texas Tech to another touchdown on the ensuing drive.

Abilene Christian put one blemish on Hammond’s night when Javeon Wilcox intercepted a pass, getting a foot down in bounds along the Wildcats’ sideline. The redshirt junior was on a medical redshirt at Texas Tech in 2024, when the Red Raiders and Wildcats met in a nail-biter, before transferring to Abilene Christian.

Head coach Keith Patterson praised him afterward.

“He’s a great kid,” Patterson said. He kept to himself a year ago, played some, but now he’s really come into his own. He’s in a big role now, and he makes some great tackles — going up against guys who could be NFL running backs.”

Abilene Christian punted on its next possession, then answered with a 41-yard field goal from Brandon Perez for its first points of the night.

Texas Tech added three field goals in the third quarter. The scores provided the separation the Red Raiders needed, but they also underscored a bright spot for Abilene Christian’s defense, which kept one of the nation’s top teams out of the end zone across seven straight drives spanning the final three quarters.

Abilene Christian’s lone touchdown came on an unusual play: Alex Broome returned a kickoff from his own 2-yard line, broke past two Texas Tech defenders behind strong blocking and raced down the sideline for the score.

Wildcats quarterback John David Black finished 18 of 32 passing with one interception. Receiver Christian Driver caught eight passes for 93 yards. Patterson pointed to the pair’s rapport:

“JDB and Driver were able to connect eight times tonight,” Patterson said. “Driver’s one of those guys who can be relied on — great speed, great route runner. With a first-year quarterback, I think you’ll see that connection and that chemistry continue to improve.”

Patterson remained optimistic despite the loss: “I felt like our players have a great mentality, a great attitude — no matter what the score is, they just keep playing the game the way it’s supposed to be played.”

Texas Tech plays at Oregon State next week, airing on CBS at 7:30 p.m. EDT. Abilene Christian hosts its home opener against Stephen F. Austin — the team that eliminated the Wildcats from the playoffs last year — streaming on ESPN+.

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ACU opened the tournament with a 3-1 victory over Lamar on Friday before falling to CSUB and UNT by identical 3-1 scores Saturday.

The matchup against Lamar marked a rematch from last season, when the Wildcats fell to the Cardinals 3-0.

This time, ACU came out on top, taking the opening set 25-15 before closing the match with its most dominant performance of the night. The Wildcats cruised to a 25-7 victory in the fourth set, allowing the fewest points in a set since beginning their Division I era in 2013.

Prior to the match, head coach Ijeoma Moronu Alstrup said the team was motivated to get another opportunity against the Cardinals.

“We definitely have a little chip on our shoulder because of that loss. There are a couple of games that we wish to get back from last season, and that’s one of them. So I’m hoping that we go into this game wanting to get a little bit of revenge and really show what we can do,” Moronu Alstrup said.

Aubrey Beaver, a senior outside hitter from Murrieta, California, led the Wildcats with 13 kills and two blocks. Alyssa Todd, a freshman outside hitter from Aledo, Texas, added 12 kills and two blocks in her collegiate debut.

Saturday presented a tougher challenge for the Wildcats. ACU fell behind 2-0 against CSUB before battling back to take the third set, but the comeback fell short as the Roadrunners secured the fourth set and the match.

Maddie Finnegan, a junior outside hitter and Westmont transfer from Spokane, Washington, led ACU with 13 kills and seven digs. Annaleise Sevier, a junior outside hitter from Aubrey, Texas, also made her season debut, recording 10 kills and two blocks.

The Wildcats faced a similar situation against UNT, dropping the first two sets before responding with a third-set victory. The Mean Green, however, closed out the match 3-1.

Beaver once again led ACU offensively with 14 kills and three block assists, while Hadlee Welch, a sophomore outside hitter/right side from Lubbock, Texas, added eight kills and five blocks.

Despite finishing the invitational 1-2, ACU had two players named to the ACU Invitational All-Tournament Team: senior setter Rachel Koss of Freedom, Wisconsin, and redshirt sophomore libero Brennan Ramirez of Waxahachie, Texas.

Koss finished the tournament with 99 assists, averaging 8.25 per set, along with six kills and 16 digs. Ramirez anchored the Wildcats defensively with 56 digs, averaging 4.67 per set, while adding 14 assists and four aces.

“Getting the amount of assists I did just shows how well our team did passing and hitting,” Koss said. “So it motivates the entire team. What we’re doing is being recognized and just continuing to pour every piece of our offense, finding ways to score.”

The Wildcats then turned their attention to the Houston Invitational at Fertitta Center, where they will face the University of Houston, Houston Christian University and Texas Southern University.

The Wildcats will look to clean up their mistakes after committing 82 errors throughout the invitational, including 58 across Saturday’s two losses.

“The biggest thing is controlling our errors, then our block defense, just putting our blockers in better positions to touch more balls,” Moronu Alstrup said. “I hope to control our errors. We want to play good volleyball, focusing on our side of the court, controlling the ball and being aggressive on our side; doing whatever we can to win games and play really good defense.”

The Wildcats opened the invitational with a 3-2 loss to the Cougars on Thursday, dropping to 1-3 on the season. ACU will look to bounce back in its remaining matches against Houston Christian and Texas Southern.

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