Having just completed the Harding-Ouachita Baptist gauntlet, the University of Arkansas at Monticello football team is going into what Coach Hud Jackson thinks can be a pivotal game in the season.
“This is a game that can push us forward in having the year we want to have,” Jackson said Thursday, a day before the Boll Weevils take off for Ada, Okla., to play East Central University. “I think we have (a) good football team, just like I think ECU does. Their coach has been the head coach the last couple of years and he’s establishing his own culture.”
John Litrenta was appointed East Central’s full-time head coach last November after serving most of the season in the interim. East Central (0-4 overall and Great American) is far from the championship-contention status of Harding and Ouachita Baptist, but the Tigers are looking to spark a turnaround of their own starting with their homecoming game against UAM on Saturday.
Kickoff at Koi Ishto Stadium — “Koi Ishto” meaning “Big Cat” in the Chickasaw language — is scheduled for 3 p.m.
UAM has also lost its last three meetings with East Central after winning 3 of 4 from the Tigers between 2016-19. East Central, which leads the all-time series 12-5, beat UAM 35-28 last year in Monticello.
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Also, the Weevils (2-2) are trying to pick up their third win in the first five games of the season, something they’ve only done once this decade (they started 3-1 in 2022).
“The last two years, it was a point we lost Demilon (Brown),” Jackson said, referring to his sixth-year quarterback who missed last year’s East Central game with a broken throwing hand and didn’t play the rest of the season. “We had penalties that were costly to us. As a head coach, I did a horrible job making sure we were prepared. The culture is a little different. We’re very detailed in what we do.”
UAM lost 63-3 to No. 1-ranked Harding and 49-14 to No. 16-ranked Ouachita Baptist over the past two weeks, but Jackson says the Weevils can build off what little offensive success they found against Ouachita. For instance, Brown completed 21 of 27 for 213 yards and two touchdowns.
“We felt like there were some things we were able to do,” Jackson said. “Sometimes our defense gets a bad rap. (Ouachita) converted 11 of 14 third downs on us, but no one else has been able to get them to third down. Our defense was right in the quarterback’s face. Our intent was to run Demilon a little more. Coach (Todd) Knight said it himself, his goal for the defense was to not let him run.”
UAM was held to 29 yards on 28 rushes, well below its 148-yard per-game average. Brown, who often faced a collapsing pocket against Ouachita, was sacked three times.
Line play, as Jackson often highlights, will be key for the Weevils on both sides of the ball against East Central, a team that lost 28-20 to Southern Arkansas in Week 2 but then dropped a 19-3 decision to Southwestern Oklahoma State (a team that has won two straight after losing 13 in a row) and lost last week at Oklahoma Baptist, 20-10. UAM scored 29 unanswered points to beat Southwestern 39-28 in Week 2.
“Defensively, they’re really big,” Jackson said of East Central. “A lot of confidence. They play man coverage. Up front, they’ve always been big. ECU’s a big team, big up front. We’ve got to be able to handle their offense and defensive lines.”
The Tigers average just 263.3 yards per game, ninth-best out of 12 teams in the Great American Conference. UAM goes for 331.5 per game, ranking sixth.
Defensively, UAM has the upper hand with 344.3 yards allowed per game above East Central’s 373.8.
UAM senior tight end Joshua Dixon will miss the rest of the season with a torn knee ligament he sustained on an incomplete pass in the third quarter against Ouachita, Jackson said. The transfer from Mississippi’s Coahoma Community College is eligible for a medical redshirt, however.
Senior D.J. Russell of Dumas has filled the role and caught his first two passes of the season for 31 yards.
“D.J. did a great job of stepping up,” Jackson said. “You have to work while you wait. He understands you have to be better with each play.”
Dylan Duhon, who converted both of UAM’s extra-point attempts last Saturday, will continue to handle kicking duties against East Central as Tanner Steenbock recovers from an unspecified injury sustained in practice. Steenbock should be available for UAM’s homecoming game against Southeastern Oklahoma State on Oct. 12, Jackson said.