Jackson State head coach Deion Sanders will miss his second straight game Saturday when his Tigers visit Itta Bena to face Mississippi Valley State at Rice-Totten Stadium.
Kickoff is set for 3 p.m. in the latest installment of an annual rivalry that the Delta Devils haven’t won since 2014.
“It goes back to the Archie Cooley days and the great days at Jackson State when they had all those tremendous coaches coming up,” MVSU head coach Vincent Dancy said of the rivalry. “Historically, it's a great rivalry and everybody in Mississippi will come out to see this game ... We just have to prepare our guys for it and let them know it will be a festive crowd, a great atmosphere, and a great football game at the end of the day.”
MVSU (2-5, 1-3 Southwestern Athletic Conference) is looking to snap a two-game skid at home while Jackson State (6-1, 4-0) is trying to extend its current four-game winning streak. The Tigers jumped to 16th in the FCS Coaches Poll after beating recent SWAC East addition Bethune-Cookman last week, 42-12.
The Delta Devils might have a tough time scoring against the Tigers’ defense, which ranks first in the Southwestern Athletic Conference in terms of points allowed. But MVSU’s offense showed sparks of explosiveness during last week’s 31-28 loss to Florida A&M.
Graduate transfer quarterback Jalani Eason threw for a season-high 215 yards, including his two longest passes of the season in crunch time. Junior receiver Jacory Rankin caught both balls for receptions of 67 and 48 yards to help the Delta Devils rally from 17 points down.
Unfortunately for MVSU, a late miscue in the red zone spoiled the team’s comeback attempt. On 4th and 1 with less than four minutes left, star running back Caleb Johnson lost his footing behind the line of scrimmage, resulting in an untimely turnover on downs that sealed the Delta Devils’ three-point defeat.
“It just so happened that the young man slipped,” Dancy said. “If I had to do it all over again, I’d do it again and trust them to get that one yard.”
Contact Riley Overend at 662-581-7237 or roverend@gwcommonwealth.com. Follow @OverendOut on Twitter.
