The only home football game in the first six weeks of the season for the University of Arkansas at Pine Bluff kicks off Saturday afternoon.
UAPB hosts Lincoln (Calif.) for its home opener at Simmons Bank Field at 5 p.m. on SWAC TV.
The Golden Lions started the season with back-to-back road games. After last week’s loss to the University of Central Arkansas, starting quarterback Christian Peters said they can’t wait to play at home.
“We hope the home crowd brings a lot of Pine Bluff out,” Peters said. “We’ll put a show on for you this week. I’m sorry we couldn’t put it away this (past) week for you, but this next upcoming week, we’ll do it for you.”
This will be the Golden Lions’ only home game until the Oct. 11 homecoming game. UAPB (0-2) is off next week before heading to Memphis to play Alcorn State in the Southern Heritage Classic. A road trip to Texas Southern will follow that game.
Independent reporting for Pine Bluff & Jefferson County since 1879.
Saturday’s game will be a role reversal for UAPB. The Golden Lions were huge road underdogs against the Big 12’s Texas Tech two weeks ago. Now, UAPB will be big home favorites against the Oaklanders.
Lincoln (0-2), an unaffiliated team that plays exclusively road games, is coming off lopsided losses to Division II opponents. Lincoln (Mo.) defeated the Oaklanders 55-6 to open the season. Texas A&M-Kingsville followed that by handing Lincoln a 60-12 defeat last week.
UAPB will be the first of five Division I foes for Lincoln this season. The Oaklanders will play Idaho State next week with games against Alcorn State, Mississippi Valley State and Prairie View A&M in October. Lincoln is 0-17 all-time against Division I opponents and enters this week on a 26-game losing streak.
Despite Lincoln’s struggles, UAPB head coach Alonzo Hampton said the Golden Lions aren’t looking ahead to Alcorn or TSU. They are focused solely on Lincoln.
“This week, regardless of the opponent, we gotta go out there and do what we do,” he said. “We’re a spread offense. We’re a tempo offense, and when you’re a tempo offense, you need to be able to get first downs, right? When you doing the things we’re doing on defense, everybody needs to be locked in.”
Two quarterbacks have shared playing time for Lincoln in each of its first two games. Rob Brazziel has completed 19 of 49 passes for 293 yards with four interceptions. He rushed for a touchdown against TAMU-Kingsville. Jay Carney III has completed 9 of 28 passes for 76 yards and led the team in rushing against Lincoln (Mo.) with 27 yards.
The Oaklanders have totaled 66 rushing yards in their two games, which should provide relief for a UAPB defense that has given up an average of 306 rushing yards per game.
Hampton said the Golden Lions need to bring a winning mindset into this game if they are to secure their first victory this season.
“As we get into this week, it’s just being able to really focus on yourself and do your job, regardless of who the opponent is,” he said. “That’s the thing we’ve been trying to get over to our players, is just do your job on every single play. If we do that, we’ll come out and be successful. But that’s every game. It has nothing to do with the opponent this week, but we just need to do our job.”