Mississippi Valley State used its bye week to rest and work on fundamentals.
“We hope to use rest as a weapon so we can be fresh and ready to go down the stretch,” said first-year Valley head coach Rick Comegy. “We also used the extra time to go back to the basics and work on fundamentals. That’s where games are won and loss — blocking and tackling.”
Now the Delta Devils hope they are primed to finish off a disappointing season on a high note. At 2-6 overall, 1-5 in the SWAC, MVSU has three games remaining, starting Saturday at Arkansas-Pine Bluff.
Kickoff is set for 2:30 p.m. in Pine Bluff.
As Valley is in the East, the Golden Lions (2-5) are in last place in the West at 1-4. They are coming off a 38-37 win over Texas Southern that snapped a four-game losing skid.
UAPB can light it up on offense. It scored at least 30 points in three of those four straight losses but the Golden Lions obviously have major problems on defense, ranking last in the SWAC by allowing 42 points a contest.
That could spell good news for a struggling Valley offense that ranks last in the league in scoring with 18 points a contest.
“Pine Bluff scores a lot of points, but they are giving up a lot on defense too,” Comegy said. “We need to take advantage of that and also use ball control to keep that explosive offense off the field.”
UAPB’s offense is led by quarterback Benjamin Anderson, who ranks second in the SWAC in passing yards per game (241) and is first in total yards per game (300).
Comegy understands fans aren’t happy with the way the season is going, especially after a 52-19 homecoming loss last time out, but he expects things to look different in the final three games.
“I ask the fans to be patient. I think they’ve seen some improvement at times,” said Comegy, who took over a program that averaged 2.4 wins over the last seven seasons.
“I know some games we didn’t look like a college football team. We’ve got to be more consistent.”
