Years of Existence: 2011
Venue: Taylor County Expo Center (Abilene, TX)
Accomplishments:
2011 –
Lifetime Record: 3-9
Home: 3-3
Away: 0-6
Playoffs: 0-0
Average Attendance: 2,641
The Abilene Ruff Riders joined the SIFL after leaving the IFL. Abilene was one of the few Texas teams to play a complete schedule, as the Lafayette Wildcatters and Mobile Bay Tarpons teams folding impacted the schedules greatly for many teams. The team won two of its first three games against Corpus Christi and Mobile Bay, but would only win one more on the year against a replacement North Texas Crunch squad. The team tried several different quarterbacks, with the most successful being Joe Brannen, who threw for 16 touchdowns and 7 picks. Despite the many changes, three receivers racked up at least 500 yards each, with Coco Blalock, Juan Reese, and Robert Spells combing for 25 touchdown catches. On defense, David Irizarry picked six passes, taking two to the house. The team struggled in the second half of games, being outscored 277-177. Opponents also converted 41% of the time on fourth down, while sacking Abilene quarterbacks 33 times. The team played four of its last five games away from home, losing all five to end the year.
