Abilene Christian dismantles Northern Colorado 31-11, beat Bears for first time

Updated Sep. 1, 2023 12:13 a.m. ET

Associated Press

ABILENE, Texas (AP) — Maverick McIvor threw for 219 yards and a touchdown and Xavier Wishert ran for two touchdowns and Abilene Christian was never threatened in a 31-11 win over Northern Colorado on Thursday night in the debut for Wildcats coach Ed Lamb.

McIvor threw a 12-yard score to Rovaughn Banks on the Wildcats' opening drive, Wishert ran it in from 2 yards out with 2:45 left in the first quarter and Jay’Veon Sunday ran it in from the 12 midway through the second for a 21-0 advantage.

In those three scoring drives, ACU amassed 240 yards in 29 plays using 17:26. For the game, the Bears collected 190 yards, ran 59 plays and held the ball 26:45.

Northern Colorado's lone touchdown occurred when Jacob Simon threw 8 yards to Alec Pell. Simon threw for 106 yards.

It was the Wildcats' first-ever win over Northern Colorado in three meetings.

AP college football: https://apnews.com/hub/college-football and https://apnews.com/hub/ap-top-25-college-football-poll