Golden Lions face the top team from SWAC | The Arkansas Democrat-Gazette

After celebrating its homecoming a week ago with a victory over the last-place team in the Southwestern Athletic Conference, the University of Arkansas at Pine Bluff will now make the jump to the league's top group.

Jackson State (6-2, 4-0) hosts the Golden Lions for their home game at Mississippi Veterans Memorial Stadium in Jackson, Miss. at 2 p.m. It is the third time this season that UAPB (3-5, 2-2) has been a homecoming opponent. The first two times didn't go the way the Golden Lions had hoped.

UAPB lost to Alcorn State 38-28 and Grambling State 31-21 last month, but found itself within striking distance late in the fourth quarter of both games.

In their own home game, it was the Golden Lions who pulled away in the final 15 minutes and defeated winless Mississippi Valley State 35-21.

“It was good for us to be back on the field,” UAPB coach Alonzo Hampton said. “I've been telling the boys all week that we know what's coming. Mississippi Valley, they play hard, they're just like us, guys that have a chip on their shoulder. So we knew it was going to be a physical game.”

“They came out and showed us right at the start of the game. It was good that it rained. We were able to go back in and kind of get back on track.”

There was a lengthy weather delay that halted play in the first half, but the teams continued to battle after play resumed. The Delta Devils took a 21-14 lead just after halftime before the Golden Lions scored 21 unanswered points, including 14 in the fourth, to match and surpass their win total from last year.

“I’m happy for our program, happy for our kids,” said Hampton, whose team won three home games. “I’m still trying to learn how to win.”

The learning curve was evident in losses at Alcorn State, a game in which UAPB led 14-0, and at Grambling State. Now the Golden Lions are on the road again in what may be their toughest SWAC test yet.

Jackson State, ranked 23rd in the FCS, has won four straight games and leads the SWAC East Division. The Tigers have beaten UAPB three times in a row and have won seven of the last eight meetings.

“I heard someone say earlier that this is the reason we keep making homecoming dates, because people think you can win easily,” Hampton said. “We don’t need it for motivation. At the end of the day, as a competitor, you want to beat the opponent in front of you. We try to instill this attitude in our players, coaches and everyone involved in the program.

“If you cross that line, it’s me against you. The teams we played kind of did it to us and we just managed to not be consistent for four quarters. Last week wasn't much different for us because we actually won the fourth quarter, but in the two conference games we lost on the road, the other team made more plays than we did.

Of the Tigers' 36 offensive touchdowns this season, 16 have traveled 20 yards or more. They are averaging 35.6 points and 199 yards rushing, both of which are No. 1 in the SWAC. Irv Mulligan leads the league in rushing with 568 yards on 84 carries, and Jacobian Morgan, who threw five touchdowns in last season's 40-14 win against UAPB, is fourth in passing with 1,374 yards and 11 touchdowns.

“I’ll be honest, (Jackson State) is probably the best football team we’ve played since the University of Central Arkansas,” Hampton said. “Coach (TC Taylor) has done a really good job at Jackson State. They’re strong on offense, they have about three running backs, possibly four.”

“The quarterback sees it really well, they have receivers. … They look like a Group of Five school. We played against them when I was at (Louisiana-Monroe) and we beat them 12-9 or something like that (in 2021), but a few of those kids actually played for us at ULM, so hats off to them and that's why they're leaders on this side of the conference.

Taylor is in his second season as the Tigers' head coach after Deion Sanders left for Colorado, but he has been a fixture at Jackson State for years. In 2001, he broke the school's single-season record by being named an All-American.

He has maintained the winning culture that Sanders restored during his three-year tenure when he led the Tigers to two SWAC titles, but Taylor is committed to winning games one after the other.

“As a program, I talk to these coaches and these players,” he said. “We don’t look beyond one opponent. It's about us making adjustments and not making mistakes in these football games. Play every opponent the same, play our physical football, play as a unit offensively, defensively and on special teams.”

“We know there is a homecoming here in Jackson, but as I told the team, the homecoming is for the fans. We have to go out here, win another conference football game and take care of business.”

UAPB had the same mentality in the game against Mississippi Valley State and will look to do the same against Jackson State, albeit as a visitor.

“We have a lot of work to do,” Hampton said. “We have to stop the run. That's what they do. They managed to pass the ball to everyone and we kind of set ourselves up not to break.”

“We're going to get a few more players in defense and we need them. We have literally been down, even in the last week. People could run the ball on us, but God gave us a little mercy, and we were able to make some plays when we needed to make them.”

(LAST MEETING)