PINE BLUFF, Ark. – University of Arkansas At Pine Bluff head coach Cedric Thomas participated in Monday’s Southwestern Athletic Conference football coaches conference call Monday.

Thomas reviewed Saturday’s 37-20 loss at Prairie View A&M and gave initial thoughts on the upcoming bye week ahead of the final game of the season Nov. 23 vs. Texas Southern.

The Golden Lions (5-5 overall, 2-4 SWAC) and Tigers (3-5, 2-3) will kickoff at 3 p.m. at Simmons Bank Field on Church, Community, and Football Senior Day. All groups tickets of 10 or more can be purchased for only $10 each. Call 870-575-8601 or email [email protected] for more information.

 

On Game vs. Prairie View: “(PVAMU Head) Coach (Eric) Dooley and his squad did a good job of taking some things away from us. We kind of moved the football early, but their defense came up with a turnover inside the red zone and kind of stymied us out of those seven points. We had a couple more drives early, but after that we kind of stalled out and that had a lot do with Mr. (Jason) Dumas up front. That kid really controlled the line of scrimmage. We didn’t do a good job of creating a new line of scrimmage on the offensive side, and (PV) did everything they should have done to win. I didn’t get my kids prepared well enough. We didn’t play well enough. We didn’t have enough enthusiasm about being out there. You can’t do that against good football teams.”

 

On What He Wants To See From Team During Bye Week: “The retention of a week’s practice. We make some key mistakes in the course of the game, and the bad thing is the mistake, but the good thing is as soon as the kid comes off the field, he can tell you pretty much why he did it. We still just have to go out and play. The more we do it, the better we’ll be.”

 

On Thoughts on Improvement From Last Year To This Year: “That’s only in regard to last year. (Otherwise), not at all. I think it’s two to three games that are still out there (from this year) that we had opportunities to win that were in our control and had nothing to do with the other team. Going forward, we have to continue to learn from all these games. Right now, we’re a .500 team, which entails meaning an average football team. (It) doesn’t mean we are average individuals. We’re just playing average football as a team. That all starts with me.”

 

NOTABLES vs. PRAIRIE VIEW:

 

  • RB Taeyler Porter went over the 2,000-yard rushing mark for his career and now has 2,040 in 19 career games.
  • QB Shannon Patrick passed for 237 yards and two touchdowns. He is second in the SWAC in passing yards (2,207) and is tied for third in TD passes (18).
  • WR Harry Ballard III posted his fifth 100-yard receiving game with three receptions for 108 yards and a touchdown. He is third in the SWAC in receptions (49), receiving yards (842), and touchdowns (nine).
  • WR DeJuan Miller caught a touchdown pass for the fourth straight game and had seven receptions for 91 yards. He ranks fifth in the SWAC in both receptions (40) and receiving yards (673) and tied for eighth in touchdowns.
  • DB Blake Conner and LB Kolby Watts each recorded their third 10+ tackle games of the season with 10 stops apiece.
  • LB A.C. Gilliam recorded a season-high nine tackles.
  • DE Jalen Steward made eight tackles and a career-high tying 3.5 tackles for loss.
  • P Myles Pini had two punts downed inside the 20 and leads the SWAC with 20 this season.