For Mississippi Valley State, it went down as the one of the most embarrassing defeats in a season filled with lopsided losses.
In a battle of two struggling teams, Arkansas-Pine Bluff hammered Valley 34-0 in surprising fashion last season.
"That was a tough one. They really embarrassed us over there," MVSU coach Willie Totten said. "Obviously, we want to atone for that showing, but that was last year.
"This is a new year with new players and a new attitude. We had seven freshmen on defense in that game."
The Delta Devils (0-1) will look to avenge last year's rout Saturday in their home opener against UAPB, which comes in 1-1 after beating Langston College 45-30 last week. The Golden Lions opened the season with a 24-3 loss to Division II Arkansas-Monticello.
MVSU was off last week after dropping its season opener 61-0 at Division I-A Arkansas State.
Saturday's game is the Southwestern Athletic Conference opener for both teams.
"This is a big, big ballgame. It's our first home game and our first conference game. It will set the tone for the rest of the season," said Totten, who has just two winning seasons in his first seven years at the Valley helm. "The spirit of our guys has been good since (the loss to Arkansas State). We just lost to a better team, and we have moved on."
Much has been made of MVSU's much-needed improvement on defense. UAPB will provide the first test since Arkansas State was such a superior team talent wise.
The Delta Devil defense - which ranked last in the SWAC overall last year - will ultimately be judged by what it does against conference foes. The unit should receive a passing grade against the the Golden Lions, who has averaged just 252 total yards in their first two games.
Tailback Mickey Dean is Pine Bluff's top offensive weapon. He ran for 122 yards and a touchdown on 28 carries last week against Langston.
"Our defense is ready to prove something," said Valley free safety Michael Higgins of Greenwood. "We have some things we can do to stop (Dean) with run blitzes and different things."
Defense seems to be the strength for the Golden Lions, who are giving up just 203.5 yards a contest so far.
UAPB has shown steady improvement on that side of the ball since the unit finished last in the league in total defense in 2006. The Golden Lions moved up to eighth in 2007 and a respectable fourth place last season.
UAPB first-year defensive coordinator Alonzo Hampton said his defense has plenty of depth, using seven defensive linemen, seven linebackers and as many as eight defensive backs rotate at each position.
Such depth allows the Golden Lions to keep their defense fresh and have all 11 defenders swarming to the football on each play, he said.
The UAPB defense had six interceptions against Langston, with Kevin Thornton coming up with a school-record three - two of which he returned for touchdowns.
Thornton and the rest of the UAPB defenders will face what should be their toughest test of the season against pass-happy Valley, which was one of the SWAC's most prolific passing teams last year with 226 yards a game. Quarterback Paul Roberts completed 53 percent of his passes en route to more than 2,000 yards and 14 TDs in 2008.
