WEEK 4 GAME NOTES (PDF)
MONTICELLO – The University of Arkansas at Monticello football team will take its second-longest road trip of the season this Saturday to Ada, Okla. to face off against the East Central University Tigers in Great American Conference action.
Kickoff is set for 6 p.m. at Norris Field on the ECU campus. The game can be heard on the UAM Sports Network (KHBM-FM 93.7 and online at uamsports.com). There will also be live statistics and live streaming video available courtesy of the ECU Athletics Department at
www.ecutigers.com. Those links will also be available via the UAM football schedule website at the following link:
http://www.uamsports.com/schedule.aspx?path=football&tab=football2.
Second-year head coach Hud Jackson visited with uamsports.com on Thursday to discuss UAM’s preparation for ECU. To view the entire interview, visit the following link:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=O-szIoQ9JBA&feature=youtu.be. The video will also be available at uamsports.com.
WEEK 4 STORYLINES
ON THE ROAD AGAIN
The Boll Weevils are back on the road this Saturday to face East Central University in Great American Conference action. Road games have not been kind to second-year head coach Hud Jackson, who is still seeking his first win away from Willis “Convoy” Leslie Cotton Boll Stadium. The Boll Weevils were 0-4 during the 2011 season and lost 31-24 on the road to Northwestern State during the second week of this season.
THE UAM-ECU SERIES
UAM and ECU will be meeting for the seventh time in the series history between the two squads on the football gridiron. The UAM-ECU series began in the 1969 season, when ECU captured a 47-14 win over UAM in Monticello. Including that win, ECU holds a 4-2 all-time series advantage and a 3-1 record in contests played at Norris Field in Ada, Okla. Last year’s meeting between the two squads resulted in a 34-9 win for ECU in Ada. Prior to that matchup, the two squads had not met on the football field since the 1993 NAIA playoff semifinals, which ECU won 27-0 in Ada. The last win for UAM in the series was during the 1989 season, a 26-14 victory in Monticello.
SCOUTING THE TIGERS
The ECU Tigers are 1-2 overall this season and 0-1 in GAC games heading into Saturday’s matchup with the Boll Weevils. ECU started the season with a 33-3 loss on the road to then-ranked No. 3 Northwestern Missouri State on August 30. The Tigers then posted a 37-15 win over GAC provisional member Southern Nazarene at home on September 8, before falling 13-10 to Southwestern Oklahoma State on the road this past Saturday. In that loss to SWOSU, the Tigers were limited to just 151 yards of total offense, including just 16 yards rushing. SWOSU all 13 of its points in the first half, before ECU attempted a comeback in the third quarter with 10 unanswered points. ECU was penalized 11 times in the loss and gave up 336 yards of total offense to the Bulldogs. ECU is tied for 1
st in the NCAA Division in sacks, led by Armonty Bryant’s average of 1.86 per game.
THE COACHES
UAM is led by second-year head coach Hud Jackson, who has totaled a 6-8 record during his first 14 games patrolling the UAM sidelines. Prior to taking over at UAM before the 2011 season, Jackson served as associate head coach at Central Arkansas for six years after a 13-year tenure as a high school coach in the state of Louisiana, most recently the head football coach and athletic director at Central Catholic High School in Morgan City… ECU is led by Tim McCarty, who is his fourth season of his second stint as head coach of the Tigers. McCarty sports a 42-53 overall record in 10 seasons as a collegiate head coach. He has a 22-33 record as head coach of ECU. McCarty began his coaching career at Tabor College in Kansas in 2000 and was hired at ECU for the first time before the 2003 season. McCarty left ECU prior to the 2005 season to become the assistant head coach at Kansas State, where he served for three seasons, before returning to Ada. McCarty led the Tigers to the 2010 Lone Star Conference-North Division championship in 2010 and helped the Tigers record its most successful season since 1993 with an 8-3 record in the 2011 season.
LAST TIME OUT: HARDING 52, UAM 7
Harding’s average of 325 rushing yards per game was no fluke after the results of its 52-7 win over UAM this past Saturday in Monticello in the GAC opener for both squads. The Bisons ran for 368 yards in the game and had five players with at least 45 rushing yards. HU posted a pair of 50-yard touchdown runs in the game, and also recorded an 81-yard touchdown pass on one of its two pass completions. UAM scored its lone touchdown on a three-yard run by quarterback Hunter Leppert midway through the second quarter to cap an eight-play, 69-yard drive that used 2:39. UAM was 4-of-13 on third-down conversions in the loss and just 1-of-4 on red zone scoring chances. The Boll Weevils managed 274 yards of total offense, mostly from its 188 yards passing on a 25-of-35 performance from UAM quarterbacks Leppert and Damon Wicker. Junior receiver Jamal Nixon, who ranks 36
th in all of NCAA Division II in receptions, recorded seven catches for 51 yards in the loss.
COACH’S PLAYERS OF THE GAME
Head Coach Hud Jackson and his coaching staff has named senior running back Blake Prince, sophomore cornerback Mike Early and sophomore defensive tackle Jalen Garmon the offensive, defensive and special teams players of the game for their efforts during UAM’s 52-7 loss to Harding this past Saturday at home. Prince finished the game with 10 carries for 33 yards and four receptions for 34 yards, in addition to his 21-yard kickoff return. Early totaled three tackles, including one tackle for a loss. He also recorded one interception in the loss. Garmon totaled four tackles in the loss, including one saving tackle on a kickoff return and his “effort” on special teams, according to Jackson.
