Tackling shows its ugly side

The University of Arkansas at Pine Bluff is going through its share of problems defensively

The Golden Lions have allowed a combined 1,741 yards and 152 points in their past 2 games. The potential for those numbers to grow increases when UAPB travels to Miami to play Conference USA member Florida International on Saturday.

The Golden Lions’ defensive woes didn’t begin in back-to-back defeats to South Dakota State and Prairie View. Those issues have been apparent since Week 1.

UAPB (1-3) gave up 567 yards in a 34-30 setback to Division II member Morehouse State thanks to faulty tackling. Coach Cedric Thomas addressed that problem immediately after the loss and vowed the Golden Lions would improve the following week against Cumberland (Tenn.) University. UAPB fared better in shutting out the Phoenix, but the poor tackling returned in a big way afterwards.

Thomas didn’t envision his team giving up an FCSrecord 920 yards against Football Championship Subdivision No. 3 South Dakota State in their third game, but UAPB had a chance to rectify things when it returned to face Southwestern Athletic Conference-rival Prairie View A&M on Saturday night, but its defensive showing wasn’t much better.

“It was over before it really even got started,” said Thomas, whose team allowed the Panthers to rack up 815 yards in a 62-13 loss. “The two fundamental things that this game has been developed on is blocking and tackling. We blocked pretty decent offensively, but we didn’t tackle well.

“Good players make you miss tackles, and we have tackling deficiencies. That was exposed going against a good football team. We’ve got to go to the drawing board, and we’ve got to get better.”

Prairie View A&M was met with little resistance for most of the game. The Panthers scored 28 of their 35 first-quarter points on just 10 plays. They eventually finished with 20 plays of at least 12 yards and had just one scoring drive that took more than six plays.

“Coach [Eric] Dooley did a great job of getting his guys prepared to come out and play fast with some tempo things, and we couldn’t counter,” Thomas said. “We couldn’t do anything to slow them down. We couldn’t even give our offense an