Mississippi Valley State started off its season with a 29-13 loss at Tarleton State last Thursday, but looks to notch a win on Saturday at Austin Peay.
Losing the first game of the year to Tarleton isn’t how head coach Vincent Dancy wanted to start the season, but the former Jackson State University linebacker said he saw a lot of good things from the outing.
“Last week, a lot of boxes were checked for me with this team,” Dancy said. “We’re a fairly new team with a lot of transfers. I just wanted to see if we still have that physicality, that grit we played with last year. I thought we did. We played hard and tough.”
Thursday’s game showcased that Valley still retains that smash-mouth identity SWAC teams have come to expect from the Devils in their run dominated scheme.
Junior running back Caleb Johnson found the ball in his hands 23 times while rushing for 83 yards and one touchdown. Junior running back Jakobe Thomas also ran for 80 yards on 14 carries and notched one touchdown.
A stout Tarleton defense began to stack the box and that really limited the rushing gains Valley is used to seeing.
“Our run game is going to be there, but when you get nine or 10 guys sitting in the box trying to stop the run, we have to somehow push the ball down the field,” Dancy said. “We have to create space for our receivers in the passing game.”
Graduate transfer Jalani Eason started at quarterback for the Devils, but couldn’t find much luck attacking downfield. Eason completed nine passes on 17 attempts for 70 yards, and Dancy said that one of his takeaways from Thursday’s game was the need for some sort of aerial attack.
Monday’s practice was a time Dancy used to fix some issues and figure out a way to get the ball down the field with more consistency.
“Monday morning we went over some corrections and mistakes from Tarleton State. Offensively, working on more explosive plays down the field,” Dancy said. “Defensively, just getting off the field on third down. I thought that hurt us a little bit on defense.”
Dancy will give the other quarterbacks on the roster some playing time in Saturday’s matchup, giving the young men a chance to show what they can do.
“Jalani will start the game, but we are going with a two quarterback system to see TJ (Goodwin) or Jamari (Jones) get some reps. We want to see what they got before conference play.”
Austin Peay is 1-1 overall heading into Saturday. The Governors lost the season opener 38-27 to Western Kentucky, then beat Presbyterian 63-0.
Peay seems to run a balanced offense. In the Governors’ loss against Kentucky, quarterback Mike DiLiello posted two passing touchdowns and one rushing while going 14-of-20 with two interceptions. Peay also had one player rush for 77 yards, and another run for 40 yards.
Even though Dancy’s squad lost its first game, he is confident that Valley will come out of Clarksville, Tennessee with its first win of the year.
“We think it’s a game we can win,” Dancy said. “I thought Tarleton was a much better team in the trenches. Austin Peay has a smaller front, but they like to do a lot of things with those guys. A lot of guard pulling and misdirection, but we have to find a way to throw the ball or it’s going to be a long day for us.”
The game will be streamed on ESPN+, and kickoff is at 3 p.m.
- Contact Jared Conerly at 662-581-7237 or jconerly@gwcommonwealth.com.
