Alabama A&M brought one of the best passing offenses in the SWAC to Pine Bluff, but the Bulldogs leaned on the run Saturday to pick up their first road win of the season.
The University of Arkansas at Pine Bluff fell 52-24 at Simmons Bank Field, the Golden Lions’ first home defeat in SWAC play this year.
UAPB (3-7, 2-4 SWAC) head coach Alonzo Hampton said during the week Alabama A&M has the SWAC’s best offense, and he reiterated that opinion after the game.
“How they only have four wins is beyond me, but they’re good,” Hampton said. “They can literally do what they want to do. We don’t have bodies to match them bodies. My worst fear happened when they went 14 personnel. They had four tight ends, one tail back, and we don’t even have four d-linemen like that.”
Alabama A&M (4-5, 2-3) rushed for a season high 346 yards, led by five touchdowns and 145 yards from running back Donovan Eaglin. Isaiah Nwokenkwo added 114 yards.
Independent reporting for Pine Bluff & Jefferson County since 1879.
UAPB led 10-7 early after a 14-yard touchdown run by BJ Curry, then got the ball back at its own 40 with a chance to extend the lead. Instead, the Bulldogs stuffed the Golden Lions on fourth down near midfield. The Bulldogs went on to score touchdowns on seven of their next eight drives.
UAPB has been shorthanded at linebacker for much of the season, but Saturday, the Golden Lions were also without starting defensive end Khalil Arnold.
Fellow defensive end Anas Luqman, who finished with seven tackles, said being shorthanded hurt UAPB against the Bulldogs.
“The coach was just calling the right calls, and we was getting them right,” Luqman said. “But then, like, as they ran it a lot more, we just got more tired. Being down bodies really cost us a little bit.”
On the drive following the fourth down stop, AAMU faced its own fourth and 1 at the UAPB 22-yard line. The Bulldogs went to a jumbo package with four tight ends, which allowed Eaglin to pick up the first down.
AAMU didn’t substitute afterward, preventing UAPB from substituting. The Bulldogs continued to run the ball out of 14 personnel until Eaglin scored his first touchdown of the day.
The Bulldogs kept that jumbo formation on the next possession after a big punt return set them up at the UAPB 24. They continued to run the ball until facing fourth and goal at the 1, at which point quarterback Xavier Lankford used a play action pass to find tight end Donavan Payne in the end zone, making it 21-10.
Hampton said AAMU has used that formation all year, but the Bulldogs can’t typically use it as much. Other teams are scoring points on them, so they can’t afford to run that much clock.
“What happened is, they got up on us,” Hampton said. “Now, they got a two-score lead. Now, they just stayed in 14 personnel. It was like 3 yards here, 3 yards here. Now, it’s 3rd and two. Now, they get to fourth and one. Well, guess what? They got four tight ends. We don’t got four bodies that match them bodies. At my age, I could have fell forward for a yard with that line.”
UAPB defensive back Tavon Hardwick intercepted a Lankford pass on the next AAMU drive and took it the distance to cut the deficit to 21-17, but the Bulldogs swapped quarterbacks to Cornelius Brown IV and continued to lean on the run. Eaglin scored rushing touchdowns on the Bulldogs’ next four possessions.
Meanwhile, the UAPB offense sputtered. After the fourth down stop in the second quarter, UAPB went three and out, fumbled, and threw an interception on the next three drives. The Golden Lions’ second drive of the second half started out promising, but an offensive pass interference flag and a sack drove UAPB back into its own territory for a punt.
The following drive again reached Bulldog territory after a pass to JaVonnie Gibson, but a tackle for loss by Sedrick Smith on third down forced another punt.
UAPB quarterback Mekhi Hagens said a lack of attention to detail has hurt the Golden Lions’ offense.
“It start out in warmups,” Hagens said. “We moving slow. We came out playing slow. So, everything that you do off the field and on the field, it reflects in the game.”
Finally, with 57.2 seconds remaining in the game, Hagens and Gibson hooked up for a touchdown, ensuring AAMU wouldn’t become the third team this season to prevent Hagens from completing a touchdown pass.
Hagens completed 13 of 28 passes for a touchdown and an interception. Gibson caught six passes for 87 yards and a score. His first catch put him past 1,000 yards for the season.