Valley first SWAC foe for league defending champ Alabama A&M

ITTA BENA, Miss. -- Alabama A&M hosts Mississippi Valley State in a Southwestern Athletic Conference clash on Saturday and is hoping for a happier ending than last year.

MVSU (1-1, 1-1 SWAC) won that game 23-20 on a 48-yard field goal with only seconds left.

"A&M is always good, but this year they're scoring a lot more points," MVSU head coach Willie Totten said.

A&M (2-0, 0-0) is averaging 529 yards of total offense compared to MVSU's 173.

A&M quarterback Kelcy Luke passed for 301 yards and four touchdowns against Clark Atlanta last week.

The Delta Devils lost 23-6 last Saturday to Southern and Totten wants his players to put that game behind them before the kickoff in Normal, Ala.

"We knew Southern would be a tough opponent, and we'll face an even tougher opponent in Alabama A&M," Totten said.

Alabama A&M coach Anthony Jones said the Bulldogs can't be satisfied being 2-0.

"I don't want our guys to think we're great because we're not," Jones said. "We've played two good football games, and now we're ready to get into conference play. We have to continue to get better. If we don't, everything we've done will be for naught."

In other games Saturday involving Mississippi's smaller colleges, Alcorn State goes to Alabama-Birmingham; Delta State hosts Henderson State; Mississippi College hosts Texas Lutheran; Belhaven hosts Texas College; and Millsaps plays Austin College in Sherman, Texas.

Alcorn (0-2, 0-2 SWAC) has scored just 13 points in losses to Grambling State and Arkansas-Pine Bluff.

Alcorn goes up against the Division I-A opponent in Birmingham, Ala., on Saturday. UAB (0-2) has not won since a 35-29 win over Memphis last Oct. 7. This season, UAB has lost to Florida State and Michigan State.

"We're up beat and we know what we have to do," said Alcorn head coach Johnny Thomas. "Our main thing is that we've got to be more consistent on offense and improve. Our defense has to continue to be aggressive."

UAB head coach Neil Callaway said Alcorn has a cadre of veteran players and that experience is important to any team.

"They do a lot of multiple things on both sides of the ball. From a defensive standpoint, we have to recognize what's going on. The same goes for offense because they bring a lot of types and forms blitzes and they will create problems if we're not sharp," Callaway said.