Thursday, September 18, 2008

Confident QB takes command of Aggies

N.C. A&T AT HAMPTON
When: 6 p.m. Saturday
Where: Armstrong Stadium (17,000), Hampton, Va.
Records: A&T 2-1 overall, 0-1 MEAC; Hampton 2-1, 1-0

GREENSBORO, N.C. -- Carlton Fears: That's a name, not a complete sentence. Rest assured that N.C. A&T's new starting quarterback isn't afraid of very much. Thrust into action when Herbert Miller suffered a concussion at Norfolk State last week, Fears did make a couple of mistakes. He also showed off a strong arm and an undeniably confident approach that he'll take into his first NCAA start at Hampton on Saturday night.

"I was nervous on the sidelines," he admitted Wednesday. "But once you get in there, you lose the nerves and start playing ball. I believed I would bring us back." He nearly pulled it off, throwing for one touchdown and setting up another as the Aggies, down 20 points at the half, put a scare into the Spartans in an eventual 27-21 loss. "He's a go-getter," Aggies coach Lee Fobbs said. "He's an athletic guy who has a big arm. And, no, there is no fear on his part."

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SIAC To Make History

Tucker, GA – Sebrina Brunson will become the first female football official to work a regular season collegiate game in the history of the SIAC. Ms. Brunson, from Lithonia, Georgia, will serve as Line Judge in the Stillman vs. Tuskegee TV game in Tuscaloosa on Saturday, September 20, with kick-off at 5:00 PM CST. Sebrina Brunson is a graduate of Florida Atlantic University, in Boca Raton, Florida. She began officiating football on the Junior Varsity and Youth level in 1996 with her ex-husband as away of spending quality time together.

After a while she began perfecting her “craft” of officiating football as a female. “I focused on the rules and mechanics of the game and applied what I had read on the field.” In 2001, Ms. Brunson set her goal on officiating on the collegiate level and began attending college football camps with the MEAC and SIAC. In 2006, she became a reserve official in the SIAC and in 2007, while still on the reserve list officials with the SIAC; was afforded the opportunity to work the clock, while at the same time observing the on field mechanics of the Line Judge position.

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ASU Hornets hope off-week practices solve some problems

ASU AT UAB
When: 3 p.m. Saturday
Where: Legion Field, Birmingham
On the air: TV -- None;
Radio -- WVAS-FM 90.7

The last week has been one long problem-solving session for the Alabama State football team. Head coach Reggie Barlow and his staff spent several hours the day after the Hornets' 28-7 loss to Bethune-Cookman identifying all the problems that plagued the team in that game. Over the last seven days, they've methodically gone about the process of correcting.

"We've tried to be smart with the way we went about practice," Barlow said. "We focused on things that we wanted to fix, got out there, got it done and got off the field. We practiced four days, but they were all quick, hour-and-a-half practices that were focused. I think that was best for all of us." The short practices also allowed injured players time to heal and gave the team somewhat of a break after several consecutive weeks of practices and games.

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A&M foe craves its glory days

There was a time when Central State University had one of the better small-college football programs in the country. The Marauders, under former head coach Billy Joe, played in the NCAA Division II national championship game in 1983 and finished runner-up to South Dakota State.

Central State dropped down to the NAIA level, and Joe guided the Marauders to national championships in 1990 and 1992 and after he left to go to Florida A&M, Rick Comegy, currently the head coach at Jackson State, guided the team to another title in 1995. Al West, in his third season, was there when Joe laid the foundation. Saturday, Central State visits Louis Crews Stadium for a game against Alabama A&M, also winless.

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Alcorn Braves face UA-Pine Bluff on ESPNU

LORMAN, MS — Ernest Jones is ready to get his first win as an Alcorn State head coach. So what better way to get it than under the lights at Jack Spinks Stadium with a television audience watching? That’s exactly the scenario Jones hopes plays out when the Braves (0-3) take on Arkansas-Pine Bluff (0-3) in a primetime matchup at 6:30 p.m.(CST). The game will take place on ESPNU, which is available to subscribers of Dish Network and DirecTV.

“It’s great to have an ESPN football game right here at our own stadium in front of our alumni and fans,” Jones said. “It will be a great atmosphere with both teams looking for their first win. I’m looking for my first win as a coach and to get it on ESPN live for all our recruits is going to be awesome.” After a promising first game that saw them drop a close 34-28 decision to Southeastern Louisiana, the Braves have fallen on hard times the past two games — a 29-0 loss to Grambling (which did not count in the SWAC standings) followed by a 65-0 thrashing against Troy.

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Grambling soccer stuns Louisiana Tech

GRAMBLING, LA – A pair of goals in the final four minutes of regulation and a failed clear of a corner kick in the third minute of overtime allowed Grambling State to overcome a 2-0 deficit and defeat Louisiana Tech 3-2 in overtime Tuesday afternoon at the Lady Tiger Soccer Field. “(Grambling) was the better team today,” Tech head coach Kevin Sherry said. “They wanted it more. They played harder and deserved to win.”

Despite dominating possession and outshooting the Lady Tigers 30-14, a squad mostly made up of reserves in the last few minutes could not hold a 2-0 lead for Tech (4-2). Grambling (1-4) played with only 10 players the entire match. “I take full responsibility for this loss,” Sherry said. “I tried to rest my starters late in the game, and I shouldn’t have done that. That said, we kind of had this loss coming. We’ve gotten away with playing poorly the last two games, and it finally caught up with us.”

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Wednesday, September 17, 2008

FAMU Rattlers back to work

After four days away from the practice field, the Rattlers impressed coach Joe Taylor with an up-tempo workout Tuesday afternoon in preparation for Saturday's game against Howard. "I thought that the intensity was good," Taylor said. "I saw a lot of leadership from the captains. Overall I thought it was a good day." Quarterback Curtis Pulley took most of the snaps, as starter Eddie Battle left practice early for an appointment. Running back Philip Sylvester took reps after sitting out three days of practice last week. He was a little gimpy, but Taylor said he expects Sylvester to play Saturday.

Special teams continued to show improvement during field-goal drills, as Trevor Scott boomed one attempt after another over the upright. His only missed kick sailed to the right of the goalpost on a 47-yard try. He sent the second attempt straight through the uprights. Meanwhile, Taylor said kicker Troy Walker will miss practice until he straightens out his academic situation. Walker was the projected starter until he ran afoul in the classroom, leaving the kicking duties to Scott and Will Platt, who handles kickoff and punts.

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MEAC Notebook: Special-teams scoring helps boost Hampton

■ Hampton opened its MEAC season by rallying for a 38-27 win over Howard last week. The Pirates scored all of their points in the second half, and Kevin Teel returned kickoffs 87 and 90 yards for touchdowns. "Special teams are a key part of a football game, and if you want to win, they have to perform well," Coach Jerry Holmes of Hampton said.

■ Winston-Salem State has struggled with its kicking game, but it isn't alone. Hampton, Norfolk State and Delaware State are the only MEAC teams that have kicked field goals this season. WSSU had a chance to tie Savannah State with 23 seconds left Saturday, but Adnan Kljajic missed a 27-yard attempt when it banged off the left upright. In two games, Kljajic is 0 for 3 on field-goal attempts and 1 for 2 on point-after attempts.

Hampton is 3 of 4 on field-goal attempts, Norfolk State is 4 of 7, and Delaware State is 1 of 5. Florida A&M and S.C. State have yet to attempt a field goal.

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SWAC suffers through dismal non-conference schedule

For the most part, nonconference warm-ups are done for the 10 teams in the Southwestern Athletic Conference. Now, thank goodness, they start playing teams they can beat. This has not been a good year for football in the SWAC. So far, the league is 4-17 in nonconference games and all four wins were against Division II or NAIA schools - thank you, Texas College.

Troy's 65-0 win over Alcorn State on Saturday was one of 12 games decided thus far by more than three touchdowns and five were losses by at least 30 points. Arkansas-Pine Bluff, just two years removed from the SWAC Championship Game, has fallen to two Gulf South Conference teams in Monte Coleman's first season as head coach. Four teams remain winless and five have won just one game.

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Tuesday, September 16, 2008

WSSU ousts football assistant Calcutta

Caldwell cites the need to avoid distractions

Nicholas "Nick" Calcutta, the offensive coordinator at Winston-Salem State, has been fired. Calcutta had been suspended last week by Chico Caldwell, the school's athletics director, for using a racial epithet in a team meeting, according to several sources. Caldwell and Coach Kermit Blount wound not reveal the reasons for Calcutta's dismissal. "In the best interest of the football program, the team, the athletics department and the university mutual separation was the right thing to do," Caldwell said in a statement.

When reached by telephone, Caldwell later said that Calcutta wasn't fired, only that "he was no longer the offensive coordinator." Calcutta, 50, has been an assistant coach at several schools for the last 18 years, with most of those stops being at historically black universities. Among the schools at which Calcutta spent time were Howard, S.C. State, Savannah State, Delaware State and Tennessee State. Calcutta was in his second year as offensive coordinator at WSSU.

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SCSU Pough doesn’t want momentum derailed by Clemson Tigers

Orangeburg, S.C. -- In hindsight, South Carolina State head football coach Oliver “Buddy” Pough probably would have scheduled a different opponent. With the Bulldogs showing progress in their two straight victories, the last thing Pough wants to see is his team demoralized by a Football Bowl Subdivision team. Such a possibility exists in Pough’s mind with a Clemson University team he sees as a talent “mismatch” for S.C. State.















South Carolina State University head football coach Oliver "Buddy" Pough is the MEAC favorite to win the '08 conference title and automatic FCS playoff berth.

“The problem is they are in a bad spot for us,” Pough said Monday. “We’re starting to really build some momentum and it’s kind of a downer deal with this issue. I really want to go out and beat the starch out of somebody this week to really kind of keep us going. The last thing I’m looking for is to go into a situation as a double-digit underdog and that’s what we’ll be. Not only does Pough see the game as a difficult match up from a personnel standpoint, but an emotional one.

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Adrian has NSU Spartans surging

Pete Adrian, Norfolk State University head football coach is leading the Spartans ("we just want to compete") towards MEAC supremacy and a FCS playoff berth.

Norfolk, VA -- Strangely enough, we might be 18 or 20 years into the Pete Adrian Era at Old Dominion, had the Monarchs pulled the trigger on football back in the late 1980s. Instead, he glances across town as ODU's start-up takes shape while he builds a championship contender at Norfolk State — all without a trace of employee's remorse. A coaching lifer, the 60-year-old Adrian needed less than four years to turn a program that had become almost a punchline into one that again matters to alumni and fans, if not the entire Mid-Eastern Athletic Conference.

The Spartans are 2-1 heading into Saturday's non-conference game at William and Mary, the first of a home-and-home arrangement with the Tribe, and Adrian is intrigued about what this meeting, and the coming years, could bring to the Spartans. It's why he wanted to come here when the job came open after the 2004 season. It's why he turned down Rhode Island, and overtures from others, last winter.

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Monday, September 15, 2008

Fourth-quarter letdown dooms Grambling at Northwestern State

GSU Coach Rod Broadway

NATCHITOCHES, LA — The final score will say that 12 points separated Grambling State and Northwestern State on Sunday. But all that really separated them was one yard. Trailing 17-13 early in the fourth quarter, the visiting Tigers faced third-and-goal from the NSU 1-yard line. After two questionable playcalls failed to put the ball in the end zone, Grambling was turned away without a score.

Grambling can forget the three touchdowns that followed — NSU took the ball and marched down the field on a game-clinching 99-yard touchdown drive, and the teams traded scores to make the final score 31-19. The game was decided at the goal line with 12:36 left on the clock. "That's pitiful," Broadway said. "That's bad football. ... When you get the ball to the 1-yard line and can't score you don't deserve to win. You don't deserve to win."

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Attendance: 8,752 (55%) at Turpin Stadium, Natchitoches, LA (Capacity: 15,971).

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SU hopes big win start of something special

Photo Gallery: Southern 49, MVSU 7

Running back Kendrick Smith scored his first career touchdown at Southern going backward. There are no style points for that — “My legs are the strongest thing on my body,” Smith said of getting turned around yet pushing defenders across the goal line — but they still put six points up on the scoreboard for that.

In this case, backward nevertheless means going forward. That 3-yard TD, like all of Southern’s 49-7 non-conference win over Mississippi Valley State on Saturday night in A.W. Mumford Stadium, is all about the breakthrough. Smith, a top-level recruit at Patterson High, had his first 100-yard game and his first touchdown since 2005, when he was at Coffeyville Community College. He sat out in 2006 and missed time with injuries as a reserve last season.

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(Clemson) Tigers welcome break in schedule (SCSU)

Another lower-division foe will give wounded Clemson a chance to work out more of its kinks

BULLDOGS AT TIGERS
WHO: S.C. State (2-1) at Clemson (2-1)
WHEN: 1 p.m. Saturday
WHERE: Memorial Stadium, Clemson
TV: None
RADIO: ESPN Radio 93.1 FM
LINE: None

CLEMSON, S.C. — The past two weeks, coach Tommy Bowden intended to take the ball if Clemson won the coin toss. Bowden traditionally has deferred, but with the new 40-second-clock rule, he figures the Tigers could gain an additional offensive series.
Clemson’s opponents have won the toss both times, however, so Bowden has yet to test his theory. However, he has a favorable schedule for another couple of weeks in which to squeeze in a few extra reps for his numerous newcomers.

“I’m glad we’ll have had three out-of-conference games before we’ll get into conference the rest of the way,” Bowden said. “It has really helped ... with the injuries we’ve had.” Clemson (2-1), which opened ACC play with a 28-9 win Saturday against N.C. State, faces a Football Championship Subdivision team for the second time with this week’s home game against South Carolina State. The Tigers thumped The Citadel 45-17 two weeks ago. This three-week stretch came at the perfect time.

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Sunday, September 14, 2008

UConn Women's Volleyball Swings Back with 3-0 Win Over Florida A&M

FAMU Lady Rattler Jovana Blazeski.

Florida A&M vs Connecticut Box Stats (Sep 13, 2008)

EAST LANSING, Mich. - The University of Connecticut women's volleyball team defeated Florida A&M 3-0 (25-13, 25-14, 25-17) on Saturday morning at the MSU Showcase in East Lansing, Mich. With the win, the Huskies improve to 6-2 on the season as the Rattlers' drop to 2-6. Annie Luhrsen (Wheaton, Ill.) led the Huskies with 28 assists, five kills, seven digs and five block assists. Luhrsen added five service aces for a team-leading 24 on the year. Freshman Jordan Kirk (Plano, Texas) had 10 kills for UConn as she moves her season's mark to a team-high 81 kills.

UConn put up impressive hitting numbers against the Rattlers, as they hit over .300 percent in all three sets. Florida A&M finished the match with a -.035 hitting mark. Chauntay Mickens (Germantown, Md.) had a stellar outing for the Huskies with 13 kills in 24 attempts, a .500 hitting percentage. Teammate Lauren Lamberti (Cary, Ill.) contributed with four kills and four digs in the Huskies' win.

Florida A&M was led by Maria Gomez with eight kills and three digs while Jovana Blazeski had 10 digs and two solo blocks.

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A second-half barrage lifts Hampton

Hampton scores all 38 of its points in the final 22 minutes to turn back Howard.

HAMPTON, VA - Hampton's first points came with 6:17 left in the third quarter. That was just the beginning. Carlo Turavani's 19-yard field goal was the first of three Pirate scores in as many minutes as Hampton roared back from a scoreless first half to beat Howard 38-27 on Saturday. The victory was Hampton's 12th straight against the Bison and 12th straight in a Mid-Eastern Athletic Conference opener.

Pirates Kevin Teel is tackled by Bison Robert Barker.

Turavani's kick was the first play after a 50-minute delay when a blown fuse suddenly darkened a bank of lights at Armstrong Stadium. The stoppage seemed to spark a Pirates offense that managed just 157 yards in the first half as the Bison led 7-0 from the 5:32 mark of the first quarter. "It all started with Carlo," said sophomore quarterback Herb Bynes, who was 15-of-27 for 253 yards, two touchdowns and two interceptions. "He gave us that field goal when we were down."

PHOTO GALLERY: HAMPTON vs. HOWARD

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Attendance: 14,906 (88%) at Armstrong Stadium, Hampton, VA (Capacity: 17,000).


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S.C. State Bulldogs, Ford flex offensive muscle, pull away from Bethune-Cookman

View SCSU vs. BCU Photo Gallery

After thoroughly dominating the first half Saturday, South Carolina State went to the locker room at the half tied with Bethune-Cookman at 7-7, thanks to a 93-yard interception turn of a Malcolm Long pass. South Carolina State coach Buddy Pough was unfazed. "That could have turned the momentum around, but we just had to throw that play out and forget it," Pough said. Mission accomplished.

S.C. State took care of business in the second half and pulled away fthe Wildcats 28-19 before 12,495 fans at Johnson Hagood Stadium in the Lowcountry Classic III. Tailback William Ford rushed for 175 yards and two touchdowns, while Long recovered from his first-half interception and went on to complete 16 of 24 passes for 241 yards and a touchdown.

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Attendance: 12,495 ( 59.5%) at Johnson Hagood Stadium, Charleston, S.C. (Capacity: 21,000).

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Spartans hold on for 27-21 win in MEAC opener

NORFOLK,VA - Holding on to the ball was a problem for Norfolk State on Saturday at Price Stadium. Despite that, the Spartans were able to hold on 27-21 in their MEAC opener against North Carolina A&T. It was an evening when a surprise shower soaked the field to start the fourth quarter, a respite from the humidity of late afternoon, when many Spartans suffered cramps. That was just something else for NSU to overcome - along with four fumbles, a blocked punt and a momentum swing after the Aggies rang up 14 third-quarter points.

Close games, said NSU coach Pete Adrian, whose team won six games in 2007 decided by eight points or fewer, are "our trademark. You overcome all the things we did in this game (and) it makes us a better football team." NSU (2-1, 1-0) was better Saturday largely due to DeAngelo Branche. The sophomore had his best day in a Spartan uniform, breaking tackle after tackle thanks to his superior speed and shifty lateral movement.

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Attendance: 12,632 (42%) Dick Price Stadium, Norfolk, VA (Capacity: 30,000).

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DSU looking for upside in 24-3 loss to Kent State

KENT, Ohio -- Delaware State entertained thoughts of revenge Saturday in returning to the scene of its only regular-season loss of 2007. A second chance to play a Division I-A program like Kent State offered the Hornets another opportunity to test and improve themselves heading into conference play. Even after watching his team's sloppy 24-3 loss Saturday afternoon at Dix Stadium, Delaware State coach Al Lavan was convinced his players would benefit from another visit to Kent.

"They did last year," Lavan said. "What we have to take from coming in to play this level of football [against] this number of good players is this -- we have to be significantly better the next time we play. And I think we will be for having played this type of team and experiencing the adversity we experienced. Now, we have to overcome it and go play at a higher level."

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Attendance: 8,529 (28%) Dix Stadium, Kent, OH (Capacity: 30,520)

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Defense lifts Morgan to win in home opener

Still hurting from its season-opening loss at Towson, Morgan State yesterday found the ideal elixir. A good, old-fashioned beat-down. The Bears opened their home schedule at Hughes Stadium by dominating an undermanned and overmatched North Carolina Central team, scoring 35 points off seven turnovers - including three interceptions returned for touchdowns - and recording their most lopsided victory in 22 years in a 49-7 nonconference win.

"The guys put it together and showed up as a team," said Morgan coach Donald Hill-Eley, who looked to exploit the tendency of Eagles quarterback Stradford Brown to throw on the run. "We practiced the scramble drill all week - just staying with our guys rather then leaving their man. It paid off." The victory was the fourth straight in a home opener for Morgan (1-1), which scored its most points since putting up 55 against Savannah State in 2005 and broke a school record with six interceptions.

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Attendance: 5,632 (56%) at Hughes Stadium, Baltimore, MD (Capacity: 10,000).

TSU Heffner gets win, and girl in Southern Heritage Classic

Ex-Melrose QB scores twice, then proposes

Antonio Heffner made his final college appearance in his hometown a memorable one. Football had something to do with it. The former Melrose star ran for one touchdown and threw for another, and Tennessee State defenders returned two of three interceptions for touchdowns in a 41-18 rout of Jackson State in the 19th Southern Heritage Classic Saturday night before 50,794 at Liberty Bowl Memorial Stadium.

TSU and JSU draws another large crowd (50,794) to the Southern Heritage Classic in Memphis, TN, Sept. 13, 2008 and a world-wide audience on the Armed Forces TV Network.

But moments after winning the game's Offensive MVP award for the third straight year, he dropped to one knee at midfield and proposed to longtime girlfriend Angel Parker, a nurse at Methodist University Hospital. The stats showed he was 11-of-16 for 137 yards in the passing department. Make that 12-of-17 -- Parker said yes. "I knew I was going to do this all week. Told my teammates I was going to," Heffner said. "When I got on the field I was focused on that. But when they took me out after the third quarter, that's when I started to think about it."

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Attendance: 50,794 (81.4%) at Liberty Bowl, Memphis, TN (Capacity: 62,380).

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Texas Southern tops Shaw at Capital City

Statistics

The Capital City Football Classic was billed as "more than a game," and for the Texas Southern University Tigers, it was a cleansing. The Tigers shook off a losing streak of 13 games with a stout mind-set and more determined defense and a 23-point third quarter on the way to a 40-29 victory over the Shaw University Bears at Hughes Stadium on Saturday evening.

TSU quarterback Bobby Reid adhered to the pleas of first-year coach Johnnie Cole and was an all-around force by running for two touchdowns and throwing for one. "We've been trying to tell Bobby that we wanted that from him," said Cole, who clutched the game ball as he spoke to reporters. "There would be times when he would have to put the team on his back. "He's a big-time player and makes plays in big games." This qualified as a big game coming off Arkansas State's 83-10 demolition of Texas Southern on Sept. 6.

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Attendance: 14,923 (65%) at Charles C. Hughes Stadium, Sacramento, CA (Capacity: 23,000).

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Southern throttles MVSU 49-7

This one didn’t count toward the Southwestern Athletic Conference standings. But the 49-7 victory over Mississippi Valley State sure counts plenty to the collective Southern consciousness looking for just such of a dominating win to kick start its season. Considered a contender for the SWAC’s Western Division title, SU struggled to an 0-2 start after getting blown out at Bowl Subdivision member Houston and losing by two points at Tennessee State a week earlier.

Saturday night at A.W. Mumford Stadium, though, SU came up with the kind of strong play in all three phases that the team is expected to display. “We stumbled in the first two games, but we also knew we had it in us,” strong safety and team captain Glenn Bell said. “We have too many seniors. We have too many talented athletes. We just had to put it together, and that’s what we just did.” Southern (1-2) now has a week off to prepare for SWAC play, which starts Sept. 27 at Alcorn State.

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Attendance: 14,317 (50.4%) at A.W. Mumford Stadium, Baton Rouge, LA (Capacity: 28,400).

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University of Central Arkansas Claws UAPB 41-17

LITTLE ROCK, AR — The University of Arkansas at Pine Bluff had No. 19 University of Central Arkansas on its heels in the first half. But the Bears asserted themselves in the second half and downed the Golden Lions, 41-17, in the first Claw and Paw Classic at War Memorial Stadium.

UAPB (0-3) was stingy on defense limiting the Bears to 37 yards and sacking vaunted UCA quarterback Nathan Brown twice, but the Golden Lions couldn't muster anything until late in the first quarter when Martell Mallett got things going late in the quarter with a 66-yard run that set up a Carlos Reyes 34-yard field goal at the 12:55 mark in the second to put UAPB up 3-0. UCA (3-0) responded with a seven-play, 71-yard drive that Marquez Branson ended with a 12-yard touchdown reception from Nathan Brown.

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Attendance: 4,823 (9%) at War Memorial Stadium, Little Rock, AR (Capacity: 53,715).

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