The 1973 Abilene Christian Wildcats football team was an
American football
American football (referred to simply as football in the United States and Canada), also known as gridiron, is a team sport played by two teams of eleven players on a rectangular field with goalposts at each end. The offense, the team with ...
team that represented
Abilene Christian College
Abilene Christian University (ACU) is a private Christian university in Abilene, Texas. It was founded in 1906 as ''Childers Classical Institute''. ACU is one of the largest private universities in the Southwestern United States and has one of th ...
(ACC) during the
1973 NAIA Division I football season
The 1973 NAIA Division I football season was the 18th season of college football sponsored by the NAIA and the fourth season of the league's two-division structure.
The season was played from August to November 1973 and culminated in the 1973 N ...
. In their sixth season under head coach
Wally Bullington
Wallace "Coach Bully" Bullington (May 17, 1931 – July 20, 2018) was a former American football player, coach, and college athletics administrator. He served Abilene Christian University in Abilene, Texas for 39 years as football player, assista ...
, and their first season as a member of the
Lone Star Conference
The Lone Star Conference (LSC) is a college athletic conference affiliated with the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) at the Division II level. Member institutions are located in the southwestern United States, with schools in Tex ...
(LSC), the Wildcats compiled an 11–1 record (9–0 against conference opponents), won the LSC championship, and outscored all opponents by a total of 466 to 206. They advanced to the NAIA playoff, defeating (34–6) in the seminfinals and (42–14) in the
Champion Bowl to win the 1973 NAIA Division I football national championship.
Freshman tailback
Wilbert Montgomery
Wilbert Montgomery (born September 16, 1954) is an American former professional football player who was a running back in the National Football League (NFL) for nine years with the Philadelphia Eagles and Detroit Lions. He was also the running ...
set a new college football scoring record with 37 touchdowns and 222 points scored in 11 games, including two post-season games. Junior quarterback Clint Longley also set multiple school records, including 2,719 regular-season passing yards (3,167 including two post-season games) and 23 touchdown passes. Both received Little All-America honors.
The team played its home games at
P.E. Shotwell Stadium in
Abilene, Texas
Abilene ( ) is a city in Taylor and Jones Counties in Texas, United States. Its population was 125,182 at the 2020 census, making it the 27th-most populous city in the state of Texas. It is the principal city of the Abilene metropolitan statis ...
.
Schedule
Regular season
Arkansas State
ACC opened its season on September 8 with a 56–46 loss to in
Jonesboro, Arkansas
Jonesboro is a city located on Crowley's Ridge in the northeastern corner of the U.S. State of Arkansas. Jonesboro is one of two county seats of Craighead County. According to the 2020 Census, the city had a population of 78,576 and is the f ...
. The quarterbacks posted huge numbers: Arkansas State quarterback Steve Burks rushed for 179 yards and scored seven touchdowns, while ACC quarterback Clint Longley passed for 433 yards and six touchdowns, including a 92-yard touchdown pass to Richard Williams. Longley's 433 yards broke Abilene's single-game school record, and the 92-yard strike to Williams was the longest in school history.
Texas A&I
On September 22, ACC defeated , 35–14. Quarterback Clint Longley threw three touchdown passes to Richard Williams, and Wilbert Montgomery had two rushing touchdowns in his second college game. Fullback Hubert Picket also rushed for 139 yards and a touchdown.
Southwest Texas State
On September 29, quarterback Clint Longley broke his own school record with 444 passing yards in a 41–7 victory over
Southwest Texas State. Longley connected with Richard Williams for a pair of 57-yard touchdown passes to Richard Williams.
Stephen F. Austin
On October 6, the Wildcats played their highest scoring game of the season, defeating , 57–50. Abilene trailed, 28–20, at halftime, but scored 37 points in the second half. In just his fourth college game, Wilbert Harrison totaled 146 rushing yards, 74 receiving yards, and a school-record six touchdowns. Quarterback Clint Longley completed 28 of 38 passes for 375 yards and two touchdowns.
[
]
East Texas State
On October 13, ACC faced its toughest test of the regular season, a road game against the defending 1972 NAIA national champion, . The Wildcats prevailed in a close game by an 18–15 score. ACC touchdowns were scored by Richard Williams (three-yard run), David Henson on a 20-yard pass from Clint Longley, and Wilbert Montgomery on a three-yard run in the third quarter.
Sul Ross
On October 20, ACC shut out , 29–0. Clint Longley passed for 224 yards, scored two rushing touchdowns and also threw a touchdown pass to David Henson. Richard Williams also scored on a 57-yard run.
Angelo State
On October 27, ACC shut out its second consecutive opponent, defeating , 27–0. Wilbert Montgomery rushed for 165 yards and three touchdowns. Clint Longley passed for 205 yards, including a 20-yard touchdown pass to Richard Williams.
Tarleton State
On November 3, the Wildcats defeated , 49–7. Wilbert Montgomery rushed for 168 yards and scored four touchdowns. Montgomery's four touchdowns broke the Lone Star Conference season scoring record. Clint Longley also passed for 302 yards and two touchdowns.
Sam Houston
On November 10, ACC defeated , 46–23. Wilbert Robinson rushed for 109 yards and scored five touchdowns (four rushing and one receiving). Robinson's 164 points to that point were four short of the all-time NAIA season scoring record.
Howard Payne
On November 17, ACC faced , ranked No. 4 in the NAIA, in a battle of undefeated teams, with the winner taking the Lone Star Conference championship. Abilene won by a 42–14 score. Wilbert Montgomery scored four touchdowns (three on the ground and the other on a 51-yard pass from Clint Longley.
Post-season
NAIA semifinal
ACC was invited to participate in the NAIA playoffs and met Oklahoma's in a semifinal game played before a crowd of 6,620 at Abilene's Shotwell Stadium
Shotwell Stadium is a stadium in Abilene, Texas. It was built in 1959, using Rice Stadium as a model. It was initially named the Public Schools Stadium. The first game played in the Stadium was in the fall of 1959. Shortly after the first season, ...
on December 1. Abilene dominated the game and won by a 34–6 score. Wilbert Montgomery ran 71 yards for a touchdown the first time he carried the ball. He finished the game with 168 rushing yards and four touchdowns against the Langston defense that was rated as the best in the NAIA.
NAIA National Championship game
The 1973 Champion Bowl was played to determine the NAIA Football National Championship
The National Association of Intercollegiate Athletics (NAIA) Football National Championship is decided by a post-season playoff system featuring the best NAIA college football teams in the United States. Under sponsorship of the National Associa ...
. It was played on December 8 before 4,162 spectators at State Fair Stadium in Shreveport, Louisiana
Shreveport ( ) is a city in the U.S. state of Louisiana. It is the third most populous city in Louisiana after New Orleans and Baton Rouge, respectively. The Shreveport–Bossier City metropolitan area, with a population of 393,406 in 2020, is t ...
, and matched No. 1 against No. 3 ACC. The two teams combined for a Champion Bowl record 951 yards of total offense (605 for Abilene Christian and 346 yards for Elon).[
Abilene quarterback Clint Longley passed for 341 yards and four touchdowns. Wide receiver Richard Williams caught five passes for 119 yards, including a 68-yard touchdown strike in the second quarter.][
On the Monday after the game, the team attended a rally to celebrate the national championship with students and administrators at ACC's ]Moody Coliseum
Moody Coliseum is a 7,000-seat multi-purpose arena in University Park, Texas (an inner suburb of Dallas). The arena opened in 1956. It is home to the Southern Methodist University Mustangs basketball teams and volleyball team. It was also home ...
. The 75-pound national championship trophy was unveiled at the rally.
Records and awards
Two ACC players were recognized on the 1973 Little All-America college football team
The Little All-America team is an honor given annually to the best small college players at their respective positions.
The first Little All-America team for college football, selected with assistance from reporters in every region, was announc ...
. Despite his not becoming a starter until the fourth game, and missing the fifth game due to injury, freshman running back Wilbert Montgomery
Wilbert Montgomery (born September 16, 1954) is an American former professional football player who was a running back in the National Football League (NFL) for nine years with the Philadelphia Eagles and Detroit Lions. He was also the running ...
won first-team honors, and junior quarterback Clint Longley won second-team honors.college football
College football (french: Football universitaire) refers to gridiron football played by teams of student athletes. It was through college football play that American football rules first gained popularity in the United States.
Unlike most ...
scoring record, including both the NAIA and the NCAA
The National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) is a nonprofit organization that regulates student athletics among about 1,100 schools in the United States, Canada, and Puerto Rico. It also organizes the athletic programs of colleges an ...
. The prior NCAA record, shared by Lydell Mitchell
Lydell Douglas Mitchell (born May 30, 1949) is an American former professional football player who was a running back in the National Football League (NFL) with the Baltimore Colts, San Diego Chargers and Los Angeles Rams from 1972 to 1980.
...
and Terry Metcalf
Terrance Randolph Metcalf (born September 24, 1951) is a former American football running back who played six total seasons in the National Football League (NFL), five of them with the St. Louis Cardinals and one with the Washington Redskins, an ...
, was 29 touchdowns in a season.[
Five ACC players received first-team honors on the 1973 All-Lone Star Conference football team. In addition to Montgomery and Longley, the first-team honors went to sophomore wide receiver Greg Stirman, senior wide receiver Richard Williams, and senior defensive back Jan Brown. Three others received second-team honors: defensive down lineman Chip Martin; linebacker Charles Hinson; and defensive back Reggie Hunter.
Coach Bullington was named Lone Star Conference Coach of the Year award and finished third in the national voting for NAIA Coach of the Year award.]
References
{{Lone Star Conference football champions
Abilene Christian
Abilene Christian Wildcats football seasons
NAIA Football National Champions
Lone Star Conference football champion seasons
Abilene Christian Wildcats football
The Abilene Christian Wildcats football program is the intercollegiate American football team for the Abilene Christian University located in the U.S. state of Texas. The team was a member of the Southland Conference through the 2020–21 season, ...