The debut of the Texas Hurricanes and the Southern Indoor Football League in Aggieland made for a surprising Sunday evening.

Fans who arrived at Arctic Wolf Ice Center expecting the game to start at 7 p.m. were surprised when kickoff wasn't until 8:41. The field of play wasn't ready in time to make the original start time, but a sizable group of spectators moved the proceedings along by helping to install the turf.

Finally, a crowd of about 250 got to see the Hurricanes fall 44-30 to the Acadiana Mudbugs.

There were other surprising elements throughout the night, such as former Blinn College and Kansas State quarterback Michael Bishop missing the game because of a death in his family. The parking situation also surprised some, as fans who parked along Holleman Drive once the parking lots filled up were towed by the City of College Station.

During the game, fans were periodically surprised by footballs flying into the stands, which they got to keep as souvenirs. The players who flew over the wall near the front row of seats and got into a fight during the second quarter were not as pleasant a surprise.

Also surprised was the pizza delivery guy, who came bearing both teams' postgame dinner ... at halftime. Because the game was supposed to be finished by 10 p.m., the intrepid delivery man tried to bring the pizzas into the visiting locker room before being redirected back outside to find a more appropriate spot for his pies.

As for the game itself, there wasn't as much passing as in typical indoor football action, since SIFL rules allow teams to have four players in the defensive backfield, covering up the three wide receivers on the offense. Still, the teams combined for more than 50 passing plays.

Texas quarterback Kendrick Cheneau, a rookie indoor league passer, had some jitters in his first significant game action. But he still completed 11 of 26 passes for 119 yards and three touchdowns.

"He finally saw what I've been preaching to him," Texas head coach Troy Espirit said. "He's a rookie to this game and things happen a lot faster in the indoor game than the outdoor. It definitely took him an entire half to adjust to that, but he did some good things for us."

Cheneau's favorite target was former Prairie View A&M player Joe Townsend. The 5-foot-9 wideout caught three passes for 70 yards. One of those was a beautiful leaping grab on a crossing route for a 19-yard touchdown to open the third quarter. Cheneau pump-faked a dump-off throw before finding Townsend streaking down the field.

Still, the game was as uneven as the field in some stretches. The teams combined for six touchdowns, two of which were on fumbles recovered in the end zone for touchdowns. The game was also broken up by penalties, as neither team made it through a quarter without at least one flag.

"We're a little frustrated with the outcome," Espirit said. "I stepped in mid-season and we're really struggling to turn this thing around. Morale-wise, not getting the win hurts, but we've got a good group of guys and we overcame some things today, which is good. Losing our quarterback [Bishop] hurt us, because we couldn't get the ball into the end zone. We just have to go back to the drawing table."

Neither team scored in the first quarter, which is unusual in a league where the final scores are routinely over 50.

Acadiana struck first in the second when quarterback Sean Samuels found Anthony Parks for a 13-yard touchdown pass. Samuels ended the first half with another score, slipping through Texas defenders and scrambling for a 19-yard touchdown as time expired.

Texas answered back with Townsend's touchdown, but Samuels threw another touchdown to Parks a minute later.

Texas defensive lineman Grover Thompson fell on a fumble in the end zone for a touchdown five minutes later, cutting Acadiana's lead to 10 at 22-12. Because there were no goalposts installed -- another surprise -- there were no field goals and no point-after kicks.

The Hurricanes scored three more times in the fourth quarter, but their defense gave up just as many. With two minutes left in the game, the Mudbugs scored on a 23-yard pass from backup quarterback Bo Bartik to Andre Kelly to make it 36-24. On the ensuing kickoff, the Hurricanes fumbled twice and Acadiana fell on the ball in the end zone for another score.

Cheneau put up the game's final points when he found Jarrod Fuller with a 5-yard touchdown pass with 53 seconds remaining.

On the two-point try, one of the referees in the end zone on the collided with an Acadiana defenders before hitting the boards around the field and rolling on the ground twice. To his credit, he signaled that the conversion failed as he was falling and quickly popped up to collect his hat and flag.

Texas (1-8) will play again on Tuesday against the Austin TurfCats at Arctic Wolf. That game is also scheduled to start at 7.