Quali Conley rushed for a career-high 151 yards and one touchdown, but it was not enough as Utah Tech fell at home to Abilene Christian, 26-10, on Saturday night at Greater Zion Stadium. The loss, UT's third-straight, dropped the Trailblazers to 1-4 overall, 0-2 in Western Athletic Conference play.
 
Utah Tech opened the scoring with a 21-yard Connor Brooksby field goal on its first of the night possession. The Blazers took the opening kick-off and went on a 16-play, 70-yard drive that took over seven minutes off the clock. 
 
However UT had to settle for the Brooksby chip shot after the drive stalled at the ACU 5-yard line.
 
Abilene Christian (4-1/1-0 WAC) knotted the game at 3-3 with a field goal of its own midway through the second quarter. The Wildcats nearly matched UT's scoring drive, going 64 yards on 16 plays in nearly nine minutes before Blair Zepeda tied the game with a 37-yard kick.
 
The Trailblazers punted after five plays on their ensuing possession, but quickly got the ball back when ACU running back Rovaughn Banks Jr. fumbled on the first play of the Wildcats' drive. Banks Jr. lost the handle on the carry, and senior defensive lineman Dylan Hendrickson pounced the ball at the ACU 20.
 
Then after an ACU penalty moved the ball to the Wildcat 15, Conley rushed around the right side and carried two Wildcat defenders with him into the endzone for his team-leading fifth rushing touchdown of the season with 5:53 left in the first half.
 
ACU would tack on another Zepeda field goal, this on from 30 yards out with 38 seconds to play until the intermission, which capped a 14-play, 62-yard drive that took more than five minutes off the clock. 
 
UT then dodged a major bullet just before the halftime gun. After an ill-advised kick return from deep inside their end zone started the offense's next possession at its own 9-yard line, the Trailblazers committed their first turnover of the game, which gave ACU the ball at the UT 14 with a chance to take the lead.
 
Fortunately, the Utah Tech defense got a Syrus Webster sack and forced two incompletions. Zepeda then came on to attempt a 35-yard field goal, which was blocked at the line of scrimmage by Sam Kanongata'a, and the Trailblazers retreated to their locker room with their first halftime lead of the season at 10-6.
 
After both teams opened the second half with empty possessions, ACU took its first lead of the game when running back Jermiah Dobbins scampered in from five yards for the Wildcats' first touchdown. 
 
Utah Tech thought it had a stopped the Wildcats on third down, but a crucial defensive pass interference call extended the ACU drive. Reserve quarterback Maverick McIvor then completed a 40-yard pass to Blayne Taylor on the next play, which set up the Dobson run to give the Wildcats a 13-10 advantage with 6:33 to play in the third quarter.
 
Still trailing by three early in the fourth quarter, the Trailblazer defense stopped ACU on 3^rd and 4 at the UT 38 yard line. However the Wildcats were flagged for holding on the play, and Utah Tech elected to accept the penalty to push ACU out of potential field goal range and force 3^rd and 14 near midfield.
 
On the ensuing play, McIvor was flushed out of the pocket, but kept the play alive long enough to find Kobe Clark for a 20-yard completion and a first down. Dobbins then rattled off runs of 16 and 12 yards, the latter of which found pay dirt and extended the ACU lead to 20-10 with 10:56 to play.
 
UT looked as if it would quickly answer on its next possession, which started with an incredible diving catch by Joey Hobert on a 43-yard throw from quarterback Victor Gabalis. The play flipped the field for the Blazers, moving from their own 22 to the ACU 35.
 
However Utah Tech came away with no points as a Brooksby 34-yard field goal attempt sailed wide left of the uprights with 8:36 remaining.
 
Abilene Christian would tack on another Dobbins touchdown with just under three minutes left, and salted away the road win with a deflected interception of a Gabalis pass by Roland Williams III.
 
Utah Tech, which came in with the ninth-ranked offense in the NCAA FCS subdivision, was held to a season-low 284 yards of offense in the loss. The Trailblazers did rush for a season-high 172 yards, but their fourth-ranked passing offense was limited to a season-low 112 yards. 
 
Conley, who rushed for 112 yards last Saturday night at Southern Utah, became just the seventh different running back in the program's NCAA era to post back-to-back 100-yard games. Conley's 151 yards on 20 carries on the night eclipsed his previous career-high of 139 yards he set in the home win earlier this season vs. Chadron State (9/10), and was his third career 100-yard rushing game overall. The sophomore back also became the ninth rusher in the program's NCAA era to reach the 1,000-yard plateau and he moved into eighth on UT's career rushing list (1,123).
 
Meanwhile, Conley's second quarter rushing touchdown was the 10^th of his career, and was his 13^th career TD overall, which moved him into a tie for 10^th-place on UT's career TD list. 
 
Gabalis finished with 112 yards on 12-of-34 passing, while he was sacked four times. Hobert finished with team highs of 64 yards and five catches, though he saw his impressive four-game, 100-yard receiving with at least one touchdown streak come to an end.
 
After only recording one sack through its first four games, the Trailblazer defense recorded two sacks and five total tackles-for-loss on the night. Webster notched his second sack of the year and accounted for 2.5 of those TFLs, while Hendrickson moved into a tie for second place on UT's career sack list with his 12^th sack, which came on ACU's first possession in the second half.
 
ACU finished with 440 yards of total offense, with 214 of those coming on the ground, as Dobbins rushed for 130 yards on 24 carries with three touchdowns. 
 
Following its bye week next week, Utah Tech hits the road for a non-conference date at Northern Iowa on Saturday, Oct. 15. Kick-off inside the UNI-Dome in Cedar Falls is set for 3 p.m. (MT).