Just three games into the season, Mississippi Valley State unfortunately finds itself in a familar spot — struggling to find some offense.
Over the last two seasons, the Delta Devils have finished last in the Southwestern Athletic Conference in scoring offense and yards gained. They are in that same spot early in 2016, ranking last in scoring offense (10.0 ppg) and total offense (217 ypg).
MVSU was shut out at Texas Southern last week, which left a sour taste in the mouth of head coach Rick Comegy. The coach said he and his staff had a long meeting following the 31-0 loss about finding more offensive production.
“Our offensive staff knows there is no reason not to score at all,” Comegy said. “We see we have some things on film that we should be able to take advantage of, but things aren’t getting done on the field. We can’t sustain any momentum when we do get going. Everytime we’re moving the chains and looking good, we get a penalty or we have a key mistake.”
Comegy believes the offensive woes are affecting his defense since that unit is spending too much time on the field.
“We’re having too many 3-and-outs, and that’s putting too much pressure on the defense. Those guys are wearing down in the second half of games because so many of them play a lot of special teams too,” said the third-year MVSU head coach.
Valley is 0-3 overall, 0-2 in the SWAC heading into Saturday’s home game against Prairie View (2-1, 2-0).
The Panthers are coming off their best outing of the season last week in a 41-20 victory over Alabama State.
Prairie View’s Stefon McCray rushed for a career-high 192 yards and two touchdowns and Khadarel Hodge caught a career-high 158 yards and a touchdown as the Panthers gained a season-high 543 yards total offense.
“The running game is the staple of our offense, and we finally got it going like we need to,” Prairie View coach Willie Simmons said. “If we can get the ground game going, it opens up the offense so much more. We challenged the offensive line and the running backs (last week) to get the ground game going. They accepted the challenge.”
Comegy knows his team is in for a challenge. He even hopes the Delta Devils get a little help from the Panthers, who might be overlooking them.
“This is a good, high-powered, fast team,” he said. “I can’t see them coming in with a lot of fear of us because we haven’t shown that we can win yet. We have to earn that respect.”
Simmons, however, has warned his team about taking Valley for granted.
“Valley is a good team although their record might not show it. It’s always tough on the road in this league, and it’s always tough going into Itta Bena and winning,” said the second-year Prairie View coach. “Our guys have to be focused and ready.”
The Delta Devil offense, led by quarterback Austin Bray (55-of-106 for 539 yards), will have to deal with a Panther defense that leads the league with 14 sacks.
