This was supposed to be a new year with a new attitude for Mississippi Valley State. Unfortunately for Valley, nothing has changed so far when it comes to the end result.
The Delta Devils, trying to rebound from back-to-back 3-8 seasons, turned the ball over five times in a 27-7 loss to Arkansas-Pine Bluff Saturday in Itta Bena at Rice-Totten Stadium in the Southwestern Athletic Conference opener for both teams.
MVSU falls to 0-2 overall, 0-1 in the SWAC. UAPB moves to 2-1, 1-0.
"We had too many turnovers. You can't do that and win in this league," Valley coach Willie Totten said. "Those turnovers put a lot of pressure on our defense, which couldn't stay off the field with the offense giving them the ball back so much. I thought our defense played pretty well, especially early.
"No doubt, this is a disappointing loss because we really thought we matched up well with Pine Bluff."
The Delta Devil defense, which had been ranked near the bottom in the SWAC the last two seasons, held the Golden Lions to just 211 total yards. But it got little help from the mistake-prone offense, which had no answer for the defensive pressure brought by Pine Bluff. The Golden Lions had nine sacks for a loss of 61 yards against MVSU quarterback Paul Roberts, who completed 18-of-34 passes for 224 yards and a touchdown but was picked off three times.
"All those sacks really hurt us, too," Totten said. "Some were due to Paul holding the ball too long and some due to blocking breakdowns up front because they were able to put a lot of pressure on us.
"We've got to get the film and go to work this week and fix all of that. Our guys will bounce back from this loss."
Pine Bluff led 6-0 early in the second quarter after a pair of field goals (32 and 40 yards) by Carlos Reyes.
The Golden Lions made it 13-0 just before the half on a 1-yard touchdown by Mickey Dean.
On its second possession of the game, Valley had a chance to make a game of it, but Roberts was intercepted by Kevin Thornton in the end zone. He returned it out to the Valley 25, and Pine Bluff scored nine plays later on a 19-yard TD run around right end by Dean for a quick 14-point swing.
The Golden Lions went up 27-0 on the first play of the fourth quarter, when quarterback Rontrell Bailey hit receiver Ryan Farr with a 61-yard TD pass.
"They just caught us in a blitz there, and we gave up an easy touchdown," Totten said. "Thankfully, we didn't have a lot of defensive breakdowns like we did last year."
Valley's lone score came on an 8-play, 64-yard drive, capped by a 16-yard pass from Roberts to Brandon Stargell with 7:58 to play.
