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WEEVILS
FACE #17 DELTA STATE ON THE ROAD
September 11, 2008
Contact: Brian Ramsey, UAM Sports Information
Gwaine
Mathews and the Weevils are 2-0
 MONTICELLO
– The University of Arkansas at Monticello football team
concludes its non-conference schedule with a 6 p.m. contest at
No. 17 Delta State on Saturday in hopes of breaking the 11-game
losing streak with the Statesmen.
The last Weevil win was in 1996, when then head coach Tommy
Barnes led UAM to a 41-34 win. Ironically, that game was the
third game of the season and was played in Cleveland, Miss.,
which are the same conditions for this weekend’s contest.
That said, the Weevils have won the only two contests in series
history during the third week of the season.
The only other time the scheduling worked in that matter was in
the 1958 AIC championship season, when the Weevils came away the
13-7 victors under then head coach Willis “Convoy” Leslie.
UAM enters Saturday’s contest 2-0 for the first time since 2000.
The news does not stop there. Also for the first time since
2000, UAM received one vote in the latest American Football
Coaches Association Top 25 Poll.
Headlining the Gulf South Conference news is Monday’s
announcement of sophomore quarterback Scott Buisson
(5-10, 175, Metairie, La.) as the conference’s offensive player
of the week after tallying 403 total yards of offense in the win
over Missouri S&T.
“This is an exciting time for our program,” said fourth-year
head coach Gwaine Mathews. “The football world is
respecting what we have done up to this point…We just can’t let
all of this get to our heads. Our players are excited, but at
the same time, they know they have business to take care of.”
At the end of the 2007 season, the UAM offense had the GSC’s
best rushing attack. Two weeks into the 2008 season, the team is
defending its ground, leading the way with just over 250 rushing
yards per game. Individually, sophomore Johnny Polite
(5-5, 190, McGehee, Ark.) leads the league with an average of
117.5 rushing yards per game, but as Mathews says, he has a
problem holding on to the football.
“You know, Johnny Polite leads the GSC in rushing, but he also
leads the universe in turnovers,” said Mathews in his weekly
luncheon. “Our staff is really working with him on his ball
position, but there is just something about putting that game
uniform on that makes him forget his fundamentals.”
This week’s opponent is no stranger to Mathews. He coordinated
the Statesmen defense that won the national championship in
2000.
Since then, Delta State has only had one losing season over a
span of seven years that included two NCAA D-II playoff
appearances and a GSC championship in 2007.
Last week, Delta State suffered a 52-27 loss to McNeese State in
its 2008 season opener, but racked up close to 500 yards of
total offense against one of the best NCAA Division I-FCS
programs in the country. McNeese State is ranked in the top 10
in most polls at its level.
The game can be heard live on the radio at KHBM-FM 93.7 in
Monticello. That broadcast will be streamed live over the
Internet at uamsports.com. The pre-game coach’s show starts at
approximately 5:30 p.m. with kickoff to follow at 6 p.m.
SERIES INFO: Delta State leads the all-time series 24-6 and has
won 11 consecutive contests. The series dates back to 1947. The
Statesmen won that game 25-20 in Monticello. The Weevils are 1-2
against the Statesmen in the eights of each decade. |
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