Mississippi Valley State continues its homestand Saturday against a red-hot Florida A&M squad fresh off a comeback win at Alabama A&M last week.
The Rattlers (4-2, 2-1 Southwestern Athletic Conference) will need every ounce of momentum for the draining nine-hour bus ride to Itta Bena. Kickoff is set for 3 p.m. at Rice-Totten Stadium.
The Delta Devils (2-4, 1-2 SWAC) had their two-game winning streak snapped by Alcorn State last week in a 24-12 loss, but their effort was encouraging against one of the top teams in the conference.
Expect FAMU to load the box defensively to stop MVSU running back Caleb Johnson, who tallied another 100-yard rushing performance to help keep the Delta Devils within striking distance in the fourth quarter.
“Defensively, we have to stop the run,” Rattlers head coach Willie Simmons said. “This is a football team that has the third-leading rusher in the conference (Johnson), so we have a tall task to maintain our streak of holding FCS opponents to less than 100 yards rushing. I think our defense is ready for that challenge.”
MVSU struggled to finish drives on Saturday as the Braves (4-2, 3-0) kept the Delta Devils out of the end zone all afternoon. On the bright side, though, that opened the door for kicker Orlando Fernandez to have a career day. The junior from Coahuila, Mexico, booted field goals from 41, 40, 50 and 35 yards to account for all of MVSU’s scoring.
It was a promising showing for head coach Vincent Dancy’s special teams unit, but his offense will likely need to finish drives with touchdowns in order to pull out a victory versus the Rattlers.
It’s easier said than done, but the Delta Devils need to move the ball through the air more consistently and establish a vertical threat to take some of the pressure off Johnson in the backfield. In last week’s loss, quarterback Jalani Eason finished 8-of-24 passing for 70 yards while adding six yards on eight rushing attempts. His longest pass went for 29 yards to Datavious Porter.
- Contact Riley Overend at 662-581-7237 or roverend-@gwcommonwealth.com. Follow @OverendOut on Twitter.
