Sports

UAM LOOKING FOR BOOM IN CLASSIC

By Sean Saunders/OF THE COMMERCIAL STAFF
Saturday, November 7, 2009 12:39 AM CST

One team has inexplicably had Arkansas-Monticello coach Gwaine Mathews’ number during his first four seasons at UAM. During the last three years, Southern Arkansas has gone 2-9, 3-7 and 2-8, but each year one of those wins was against a Mathews-coached Boll Weevils squad.

This year marks the first time Mathews gets a crack at the Muleriders on a neutral field when UAM faces Southern Arkansas in the inaugural Boomtown Classic today at Memorial Stadium in El Dorado. Mathews said he’s looking to even his conference record to potentially finish tied for fourth in the league standings, where the Weevils were predicted to finish in preseason.

“I think that would be a successful year,” Mathews said. “With us being shorthanded for almost the entire year, for us to live up to our preseason expectations would be the mark of a good season. I would like to be competing for the playoffs at this point, but that was pretty much determined at the beginning of the year.”

Southern Arkansas’ victory over UAM (4-6, 3-4 Gulf South Conference) last year at Convoy Leslie-Cotton Boll Stadium carried a little more sting than Mathews’ other setbacks. The Weevils still had a shot at making the playoffs at 7-3, but the Muleriders (3-6, 2-5) pulled off the 23-16 upset.

Mathews gets to see a new face on the opposite sideline in Bill Keopple after Southern Arkansas fired Steve Quinn right after the season ended. Quinn was 7-1 against UAM, but Keopple understands the rivalry between the Weevils and Muleriders, which dates back to 1913, by being in the same Arkansas Intercollegiate Conference during his 14 seasons as an assistant at Central Arkansas.

“I’m very aware of what this game means to both schools,” Keopple said. “We’re excited to be in it as a staff. I’ve been coaching in this state long enough to know that SAU and UAM don’t like each other.”

Keopple went to Southern Arkansas after leading Texarkana to back-to-back Class 6A state titles in 2006 and ‘07.

Keopple has brought a renewed defensive intensity to Magnolia, as Southern Arkansas’ defense has kept it in almost every game this year. The Muleriders are third in the GSC in total defense, giving up the second fewest passing yards per game.

But that unit’s scoring defense has suffered this year because the offense has put it in bad situations with 24 giveaways. The offense has struggled with injuries all year, especially with losing GSC Newcomer of the Year Mark Johnson in the first game, leading to the Muleriders standing last in rushing and total offense and next to last in passing and scoring offense.

It’s the defense that has Mathews concerned heading into the season finale. Practices haven’t been to his liking since the Weevils lost an emotional 27-13 game to No. 1 North Alabama on Saturday, and he said he’s afraid his team’s scoring output will mirror the one from last year.

“I think they’re kind of in shutdown mode right now, and that concerns me considering Southern Arkansas’ ability to make games ugly,” Mathews said. “I’ve had them out there in full pads a lot more than I would like this late in the year.”

The key to Southern Arkansas’ defense has been its pass rush. The Muleriders are third in the GSC in sacks with 19, keyed by 6 1/2 by junior defensive tackle Cedric Thornton.

That doesn’t bode well for UAM junior quarterback Scott Buisson, who has lost 224 yards rushing on the year primarily because UAM has given up 21 sacks. Buisson is looking to become the school’s all-time passing leader by throwing for at least 305 yards.

With Buisson facing his fifth potent pass rush in six weeks, outlet receiver Jywin Ceaser becomes yet another critical factor for the game. Ceaser has caught 18 passes for 311 yards over the last two games and is in the top five of the league in terms of receptions per game, yards per game, yards per catch and touchdowns.

“Scott is looking for Jywin on almost every play,” Mathews said. “You know he’s got great hands, and he’s been playing his tail off here lately.”

Since getting burnt for 59 points at Arkansas Tech on Sept. 26, Mathews has found a solution for his early defensive woes — blitz often and hit the quarterback as much as possible. Since nearly knocking Ouachita Baptist’s Eli Cranor out of the game in a 34-32 upset of the then-No. 14 Tigers on Oct. 3, UAM has held its opponents to only 22.4 points per game. That pressure forced North Alabama, which had only 14 giveaways in nine games, into four turnovers.

“We hit their quarterback early, but we didn’t hit him with the same force that we did Ouachita’s,” Mathews said. “Our philosophy is to make the quarterback barely know where he is by the fourth quarter.”

While the playoffs and a winning season aren’t in the cards for the Weevils this year, a strong finish to the season is still possible. Mathews said he’s looking to win four of the last six games and to end the year with a victory for the first time since 1996.

“If we don’t win this week, it puts last week’s effort to shame,” Mathews said.

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