In its struggle to hand head coach Karl Morgan his first win, Mississippi Valley State certainly took a step back last week.
It appeared Valley was moving closer and closer to that elusive victory with solid showings against Prairie View and Southern, but that momentum was squashed in a 37-14 loss at Alabama A&M.
A&M returned a fumble 33 yards for a touchdown less than a minute into the game, and the Bulldogs scored on their first four offensive possessions to extend the Delta Devils' losing streak to 17 in a row.
"We got off to a bad start," said Morgan, who is now 0-16 at Valley. "We turned the ball over on our first two possessions, and you can't do that and expect to win on the road.
"We were worried about making progress and falling back. We fell back in that game, but I'm still encouraged."
Valley will look to bounce back Saturday at home against archrival Jackson State, which comes in off back-to-back SWAC blowouts over Arkansas-Pine Bluff and Texas Southern.
The Tigers (5-1 overall, 4-1 in SWAC), who moved into The Sports Network Football Championship Subdivision top 25 poll this week for the first time in 11 years at No. 25, won those two games by a combined 83 points, leaving Morgan to call them "the best team" in the SWAC.
"We played Alabama State the first week of the season, and I think (JSU) is better," Morgan said.
On paper, it appears MVSU will have to wait at least another week to end its losing streak. However, J-State coach Rick Comegy has warned his guys not to look past the Delta Devils.
"We can't afford to overlook any team in this conference. You look overlook somebody, and they got you," Comegy said. "We're trying to get to this bye week, to get some rest. We're going to give everything we've got."
The leader of JSU's explosive offense, ranked tops in the SWAC in scoring and passing, is quarterback Casey Therriault. He has completed 133 of 231 passes for 1,789 yards, 13 touchdowns and 12 interceptions.
With nearly 300 yards a game through the air, J-State ranks ninth among 120 FCS teams.
Offensively, the Delta Devils are again the league's lowest scoring team, averaging just 15 points a contest.
As was the case last year, the bulk of the team's offensive woes center around a lack of production in the passing game. Valley ranks last in the SWAC in passing with 155 yards a contest - putting them 102nd out of 120 FCS teams.
JSU is ranked first in scoring defense and second in total defense.
Jackson State has won the last 16 games in the series. The Delta Devils' last win against the Tigers came in a 18-16 decision in 1994.
n Contact Bill Burrus at bburrus@gwcommonwealth.com.
